Kyle Snyder leads USA’s 10 freestyle wrestlers in UWW’s June rankings

Ten American freestyle wrestlers made the cut in United World Wrestling’s most recent edition of freestyle world rankings. Six wrestlers have earned top-six honors at their respective weight classes.

Leading the way is 2015 World champion and 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Snyder (Woodbine, Md./Titan Mercury WC/Ohio RTC), who takes the No. 1 spot at 97 kg/213 lbs. Snyder recently bulldozed his way to a gold medal at the Pan-American Championships in Salvador, Brazil, in May. He also competed in the Beat the Streets dual against Japan, where he defeated Koki Yamamoto with a 10-0 technical fall in New York’s Times Square.

2015 World bronze medalist James Green (Lincoln, Neb./Titan Mercury WC/Nebraska RTC) checks in as the world’s second-best wrestler at 70 kg/154 lbs. Similar to Snyder, Green won gold at the continental championships and put on an exciting 10-0 performance over Japan’s Nobuyoshi Takojima at Beat the Streets. Green also won the 70 kg bracket at the U.S. Open in April in Las Vegas.

Logan Stieber (Columbus, Ohio/Titan Mercury WC/Ohio RTC), the 2016 World Champion, fell to the No. 3 spot after holding the No. 1 spot. Stieber suffered a 13-12 upset to Cuba’s Dabian Quintana in the Pan Am semifinals but went on to win bronze at 61 kg/134 lbs. At BTS in New York, he took out Shingo Arimoto of Japan, 11-0.

2012 Olympic champ and three-time World champion Jordan Burroughs (Lincoln, Neb./Sunkist Kids/Nebraska RTC) is down a spot at 74 kg/163 lbs., coming in at No. 4. At the end of April, Burroughs was crowned the U.S. Open champion at the weight, defeating Kyle Dake in the finals, 2-2. His most recent international showing was at Beat the Streets, where he defeated 2014 World silver medalist and then-No. 13 Sohsuke Takatani, 9-2.

At 86 kg/189 lbs., the U.S. is represented at the No. 5 and No. 6 spots.

2016 Olympic bronze medalist J’den Cox (Columbia, Mo./Missouri Wrestling Foundation) stays put at No. 5. Cox’s most recent competition was the 2017 NCAA Div. I Championships, where he won his third NCAA title, becoming the first in Mizzou wrestling history to accomplish the feat. Internationally, Cox has not competed since the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Right behind Cox is David Taylor (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC), who has been extremely active on the international scene this year. Taylor won the Paris International in January, before going undefeated at the World Cup just weeks later, defeating 2016 Olympic champion Hassan Yazdanicharati of Iran and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Sharif Sharifov of Azerbaijan in the process. Domestically, he recently won the 2017 U.S. Open in Las Vegas in April.

Other Americans featured in the rankings are No. 15 at 125 kg Dom Bradley, No. 16 at 57 kg Tyler Graff, No. 16 at 65 kg Bernard Futrell and No. 19 at 74 kg Alex Dieringer.

All 10 wrestlers are qualified to compete at this weekend’s freestyle World Team Trials in Lincoln, Neb., on June 10. Snyder, Green, Stieber, Burroughs and Cox have all earned byes to the tournament’s best-of-three finals.

Click here to read full UWW Story on men’s freestyle World rankings

U.S. men's freestyle wrestlers ranked in the UWW rankings
No. 1 at 97 kg – Kyle Snyder, Woodbine, Md. (Titan Mercury WC/Ohio RTC)
No. 2 at 70 kg – James Green, Lincoln, Neb. (Titan Mercury WC/Nebraska RTC)
No. 3 at 61 kg – Logan Stieber, Columbus, Ohio (Titan Mercury WC/Ohio RTC)
No. 4 at 74 kg – Jordan Burroughs, Lincoln, Neb. (Sunkist Kids/Nebraska RTC)
No. 5 at 86 kg – J’den Cox, Columbia, Mo. (Missouri Wrestling Foundation)
No. 6 at 86 kg – David Taylor, State College, Pa. (Nittany Lion WC)
No. 15 at 125 kg – Dom Bradley, Ames, Iowa (Sunkist Kids WC)
No. 16 at 57 kg – Tyler Graff, New Brunswick, N.J. (Titan Mercury WC)
No. 16 at 65 kg – Bernard Futrell, Philadelphia, Pa. (Titan Mercury WC/Pennsylvania RTC)
No. 19 at 74 kg – Alex Dieringer, Stillwater, Okla. (Titan Mercury WC)