U.S. Cadet Team to close out summer World Championships in Athens, Greece

2016 World champion Kurt McHenry at the Cadet World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Among the U.S. men’s freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle teams, there are 17 Fargo champions with 38 titles, eight past World Team members, two Cadet World bronze medalists and one Cadet World champion.

Cadet World champion Kurt McHenry returns to the World’s biggest stage for the second-consecutive year, representing men’s freestyle and looking to repeat his 2016 gold. 

Suiting up for the women’s freestyle teams are 2016 Cadet bronze medalists Gracie Figueroa and Alara Boyd.

The tournament kicks off with Greco-Roman action on Sept. 4.

Bringing the most experience to this year’s Greco squad is 16-year-old Cohlton Schultz of Colorado, who has two World tournaments under his belt. Schultz heads to his second World Championships of the summer, having competed at the 2017 Junior World Championships in Tampere, Finland, in early-August. He competed at 120 kg/264 lbs., weighing in 40 pounds under the rest of the competition. Next week, he will wrestle at 100 kg/220 lbs.

Schultz also competed at the 2016 Cadet World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he finished 12th.

2015 Cadet Greco national champion Malik Johnson, the U.S. representative at 58 kg/128 lbs., is a two-time Cadet World Team member, who placed 10th at last year’s championships.

2017 Triple Crown winner Ashton Sharp at 85 kg/187 lbs., three-time Fargo champion Dylan Ragusin at 46 kg/101 lbs., two-time Fargo champion Mason Phillips at 63 kg/139 lbs. and 2016 Cadet Greco national champion Ridge Lovett at 54 kg/119 lbs. are also featured in the lineup.

Rounding out the U.S. Greco squad is Kase Mauger at 42 kg/92 lbs., Lucas Byrd at 50 kg/110 lbs., Mason Reiniche at 69 kg/152 lbs. and Jake Hendricks at 76 kg/167 lbs.

The Cadet women’s freestyle competition is set to start on Sept. 6. Headlining the squad are 2016 bronze medalists Boyd and Figueroa.

Figueroa is a three-time Cadet World Team member and competed in her first Junior World Championships earlier this summer. Nationally, Figueroa seems nearly unbeatable, with five women’s freestyle national titles and three folkstyle national championships to her name.

At Junior Worlds, Figueroa competed at 59 kg/130 lbs. In Athens, she’ll wrestle at 56 kg/123 lbs.

Boyd is heading to her second World Championships in hopes of a spot on the top of the podium. Boyd is a 2017 Junior Folkstyle national champion and has two runner-up finishes at Fargo.

At 40 kg/88 lbs., Caitlyn Walker makes her second-straight Cadet Worlds appearance. Last year she finished seventh. Since then Walker earned more international experience, wrestling at the Cadet Pan American Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she returned home with a gold medal.

2015 Cadet World Team members Vayle Baker and Alexandria Liles return to the Cadet World Championships at 49 kg/108 lbs. and 60 kg/132 lbs., respectively.

Both Baker and Liles turned in championship performances at the Junior Women’s Freestyle Nationals in Fargo, N.D., earlier this summer.

Baker, who finished eighth in the world in 2015, fell just short of also making the Junior World Team this summer, losing in the best-of-three finals series.

Liles is a two-time Junior Women’s Freestyle national champion and also has a 2016 Cadet national title on her resume. In her last showing at the Cadet World Championships, Liles took ninth.

Overall, eight of the nine U.S. Cadet Women’s World Team members combine for 18 Fargo national titles. Four of them own multiple titles, including five for Figueroa, four for Emily Shilson, three for Liles and two for Alisha Howk. Other Fargo champions include Walker, Baker, Olivia Shore and Kelani Corbett.

The men’s freestyle competition will close out the tournament, starting on Sept. 8.

Leading the charge for the squad is World champ McHenry, who won four impressive matches to take the Cadet crown last summer. He is the only freestyler that has been on the World stage.

Will Lewan won the Cadet World Team Trials in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at 69 kg/152 lbs., but elected to compete in just the freestyle portion of the World tournament. Lewan has national credentials in both styles, winning the 2016 Cadet Greco national title and taking the Junior Freestyle national crown this summer in Fargo.

Cadet Freestyle World Team Trials runner-up Aaron Brooks of Maryland is taking over for 2016 Cadet World bronze medalist Travis Wittlake, who is out due to injury, at 76 kg/167 lbs. Brooks is a three-time Fargo champion, winning his most recent title at the Junior level in July.

There are three other freestyle national champions on the roster, including Julian Tagg at 50 kg/110 lbs., Jordan Decatur at 58 kg/128 lbs. and Jacori Teemer at 63 kg/138 lbs.

Also competing for the Red, White and Blue is Cole Skinner at 42 kg/92 lbs., Robert Howard at 54 kg/119 lbs., Gavin Hoffman at 85 kg/187 lbs. and Daniel Kerkvliet at 100 kg/220 lbs.

The Cadet World Championships are a different format from the other UWW World Championships, as all Cadet weights will be contested as two-day tournaments with two morning weigh-ins.

Wrestlers will compete through the semifinals in their first day of competition with repechage and medal matches to be contested the following day.

The preliminary rounds and repechage begin at 10:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET), with semifinals beginning at 5:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET) and finals set for 6 p.m. (11 a.m. ET).

The final day of competition has men’s freestyle repechage slated for 3:30 p.m. with the finals at 5 p.m.

Fans can find live streams and brackets on Trackwrestling.com.

2017 CADET WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Athens, Greece, Sept. 4-10 (9 hours ahead of ET)

Schedule
Monday, Sept. 4
9:30 a.m. – Weigh-in
10:30 a.m. – Qualification rounds (Greco 50 kg, 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 100 kg)
6 p.m. – Opening ceremonies
6:30 p.m. – Semifinals (Greco 50 kg, 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 100 kg)

Tuesday, Sept. 5
9:30 a.m. – Weigh-in
10:30 a.m. – Qualification rounds (Greco 42 kg, 46 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg)
10:30 a.m. – Repechage (Greco 50 kg, 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 100 kg)
5:30 p.m. – Semifinals (Greco 42 kg, 46 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg)
6 p.m. – Finals (Greco 50 kg, 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 100 kg)

Wednesday, Sept. 6
9:30 a.m. – Weigh-in
10:30 a.m. – Qualification rounds (Women’s 38 kg, 43 kg, 49 kg, 56 kg, 65 kg)
10:30 a.m. – Repechage (Greco 42 kg, 46 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg)
5:30 p.m. – Semifinals (Women’s 38 kg, 43 kg, 49 kg, 56 kg, 65 kg)
6 p.m. – Finals (Greco 42 kg, 46 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg)

Thursday, Sept. 7
9:30 a.m. – Weigh-in
10:30 a.m. – Qualification rounds (Women’s 40 kg, 46 kg, 52 kg, 60 kg, 70 kg)
10:30 a.m. – Repechage (Women’s 38 kg, 43 kg, 49 kg, 56 kg, 65 kg)
5:30 p.m. – Semifinals (Women’s 40 kg, 46 kg, 52 kg, 60 kg, 70 kg)
6 p.m. – Finals (Women’s 38 kg, 43 kg, 49 kg, 56 kg, 65 kg)

Friday, Sept. 8
9:30 a.m. – Weigh-in
10:30 a.m. – Qualification rounds (Men’s freestyle 42 kg, 50 kg, 58 kg, 69 kg, 85 kg)
10:30 a.m. – Repechage (Women’s 40 kg, 46 kg, 52 kg, 60 kg, 70 kg)
5:30 p.m. – Semifinals (Men’s freestyle 42 kg, 50 kg, 58 kg, 69 kg, 85 kg)
6 p.m. – Finals (Women’s 40 kg, 46 kg, 52 kg, 60 kg, 70 kg)

Saturday, Sept. 9
9:30 a.m. – Weigh-in
10:30 a.m. – Qualification rounds (Men’s freestyle 46 kg, 54 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 100 kg)
10:30 a.m. – Repechage (Men’s freestyle 42 kg, 50 kg, 58 kg, 69 kg, 85 kg)
5:30 p.m. – Semifinals (Men’s freestyle 46 kg, 54 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 100 kg)
6 p.m. – Finals (Men’s freestyle 42 kg, 50 kg, 58 kg, 69 kg, 85 kg)

Sunday, Sept. 10
9:30 a.m. – Weigh-in
3:30 p.m. – Repechage (Men’s freestyle 46 kg, 54 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 100 kg)
5 p.m. – Finals (Men’s freestyle 46 kg, 54 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 100 kg)

U.S. Cadet Greco-Roman roster
42 kg/92 lbs. – Kase Mauger, Wendell, Idaho (Delchev Trained Academy)
46 kg/101 lbs. – Dylan Ragusin, Elk Grove Village, Ill. (Izzy Style)
50 kg/110 lbs. – Lucas Byrd, Cincinatti, Ohio (Team Ohio)
54 kg/119 lbs. – Ridge Lovett, Post Falls, Idaho (Team Real Life)
58 kg/128 lbs. – Malik Johnson, Florissant, Mo. (Team Punishment)
63 kg/139 lbs. – Mason Phillips, Stanwood, Wash. (Top Notch Training Center)
69 kg/152 lbs. – Mason Reiniche, Hixson, Tenn. (Chattanooga, WC)
76 kg/167 lbs. – Jake Hendricks, New Ringgold, Pa. (X Calibur)
85 kg/187 lbs. – Ashton Sharp, Kansas City, Mo. (Greater Heights WC)
100 kg/220 lbs. – Cohlton Schultz, Parker, Colo. (New York AC)

U.S. Greco-Roman National Coach – Matt Lindland, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Manager of U.S. Greco-Roman Programs – Gary Mayabb, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Coach – Zac Dominguez, Papillion, Neb.
Coach – Lucas Steldt, Blue River, Wisc.

U.S. Cadet women’s freestyle roster
40 kg/88 lbs. – Caitlyn Walker, Hatboro, Pa. (Team Pennsylvania)
43 kg/95 lbs. – Emily Shilson, Maple Grove, Minn. (Minnesota Storm)
46 kg/101 lbs. – Olivia Shore, St. Paris, Ohio (Ohio National Team)
49 kg/108 lbs. – Vayle Baker, Benton, Pa. (Team Pennsylvania)
52 kg/114 lbs. – Alisha Howk, River Falls, Wisc.
56 kg/123 lbs. – Gracie Figueroa, Selma, Calif. (Titan Mercury WC)
60 kg/132 lbs. – Alexandria Liles, Allen, Texas (Best Trained WC)
65 kg/145 lbs. – Alara Boyd, Muncie, Ind. (CIA)
70 kg/154 lbs. – Kelani Corbett, Mililani, Hawai’I (Team Hawai’i)

U.S. Women’s Freestyle National Assistant Coach – Emma Randall, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Coach – Chad Shilson, Maple Grove, Minn.
Coach – Sam Schmitz, Lebanon, Ill.  

U.S. Cadet men’s freestyle roster
42 kg/92 lbs. – Cole Skinner, Middleton, Ohio (G2 World WA)
46 kg/101 lbs. – Kurt McHenry, Leesburg, Va. (Ranger WC)
50 kg/110 lbs. – Julian Tagg, Broadview Heights, Ohio (Seasons WC)
54 kg/119 lbs. – Robert Howard, Cranford, N.J. (Bitetto Trained)
58 kg/128 lbs. – Jordan Decatur, Akron, Ohio (Seasons WC)
63 kg/138 lbs. – Jacori Teemer, Long Beach, N.Y. (Long Beach)
69 kg/152 lbs. – Will Lewan, Chicago, Ill. (Izzy Style)
76 kg/167 lbs. – Aaron Brooks, Hagerstown, Md. (Hagerstown)
85 kg/187 lbs. – Gavin Hoffman, Cogan Station, Pa. (Bison Legend WC)
100 kg/220 lbs. – Daniel Kerkvliet, Inver Grove Heights, Minn. (Pinnacle WC)

U.S. Men’s Freestyle National Assistant Coach – Kevin Jackson, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Coach – Troy Nickerson, Greeley, Colo.
Coach – Sean Bormet, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Referee – Jason Babi, Centennial, Colo.
Referee – Ron Fazio, Wayne, N.J.