Heinselman, McKee, Hall and Moore weigh-in for 2017 Junior Worlds

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TAMPERE, Finland – The first four U.S. men’s freestyle athletes have received their draws for Tuesday’s competition at the 2017 Junior World Championships in Tampere, Finland.

First up for the U.S. are Malik Heinselman, Mitchell McKee, Mark Hall and Kollin Moore.

At 50 kg/110 lbs., Heinselman (Castle Rock, Colo./Olympian WC) will make his Junior World debut against Junior European Championship bronze medalist Horst Lehr of Germany, who will also compete in his first Junior World Championships tomorrow.

Heinselman is a three-time age-group World Team member.  He competed at the UWW Cadet World Championships in 2015 and 2016. Against Lehr, he’ll seek his first win at the World-level.

McKee (Hanover, Minn./Minnesota Storm) returns to the World Championships for the first time since 2012, where he competed as a Cadet.

McKee will face off against Edemi Bolkvadze of Georgia in his opening round at 60 kg/132 lbs. Bolkvadze won a bronze medal at the Junior European Championships. At Junior Worlds last year in Macon, France, Bolkvadze finished eighth at 55 kg/121 lbs.

2016 Junior World champion Hall (Apple Valley, Minn./Nittany Lion WC) looks to defend his title on Tuesday, wrestling at 74 kg/163 lbs. He drew Ukraine’s Adlan Bataiev.

Should he advance, he’ll face the winner of Radik Valiev of Russia and Ismail Abdullaev of Azerbaijan.

Both wrestlers own World silver medals at the Cadet level. 2014 World runner-up Valiev has been tough at the Senior level, claiming silver at Russian Nationals and bronze at the respected Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix, while 2015 World silver medalist Abdullaev won bronze at this year’s U23 European Championships.

Two-time Junior World Team member Moore (Burbank, Ohio/Titan Mercury WC) will receive a first-round bye at 96 kg/211 lbs. before taking on Asian Championships gold medalist Danyal Shariatinia of Iran. This is Shariatinia’s first age-group World Championships.

The first session, which includes preliminary rounds through semifinals and repechage, will begin at 10 a.m. local time. The medal matches will take place at 6:30 p.m. local time.

Tampere, Finland is seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time, meaning those wishing to watch live can tune in at 3 a.m. (ET). A live stream of the event, as well as brackets, can be found at Trackwrestling.com.

JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Aug. 1-6, 2017

Schedule
Tuesday, Aug. 1
10 a.m. – Preliminaries and repechage
6:30 p.m. – Medal matches

U.S. men’s freestyle draws
50 kg/110 lbs. – Malik Heinselman (Castle Rock, Colo./Olympian WC)
vs. Horst Lehr (Germany), bronze at 2017 Junior European Championships, seventh at 2016 Cadet Worlds

60 kg/132 lbs. – Mitchell McKee (Hanover, Minn./Minnesota Storm)
vs. Edemi Bolkvadze (Georgia), bronze at 2017 Junior European Championships, eighth at 2016 Junior Worlds

74 kg/163 lbs. – Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn./Nittany Lion WC)
vs. Adlan Bataiev (Ukraine), no credentials

96 kg/211 lbs. – Kollin Moore (Burbank, Ohio/Titan Mercury WC)
vs. Danyal Shariatinia (Iran), gold at 2017 Asian Championships, bronze at 2016 Grand Prix of Spain