Junior Greco-Roman wrestle-off between Bey and Porter set for Friday night in Lincoln

2016 Junior Greco-Roman World Team member Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) and 2017 Junior World Team Trials champion Jesse Porter (Clifton Park, N.Y./New York AC/NMU-OTS) will face off on Friday night in a best-of-three bouts wrestle-off for the 74 kg/163 lbs. spot on the 2017 Junior Greco World Team, which will be held in conjunction with the Junior Freestyle World Team Trials finals.

Because Bey is a returning 2016 Junior World Team member, who won the 2017 Senior Greco Nationals and competed in the 2017 Senior World Team Trials, he was afforded the opportunity for a delayed wrestle-off for the Junior World Team spot.

Bey and Porter will weigh-in Thursday night along with the Junior freestyle wrestlers. Friday night’s finals will begin at 5 p.m. CT. The winner will head to the UWW Junior World Championships in Tampere, Finland, Aug. 1-6.

 At the Junior World Team Trials in Las Vegas in April, Porter dominated the 74 kg bracket, easing his way into the finals against Jake Allar. Porter gave up only one point to Allar in their two matches. In fact, it was the only point Porter surrendered throughout the entire tournament.

That same weekend, Bey, a 2017 National Team member, advanced to the Senior Greco World Team Trials finals at 75 kg/165 lbs., where he went head-to-head with Mason Manville. Although a heavy favorite entering the weekend, Bey fell in two matches to Manville.

Bey and Porter have clashed in three tournament finals recently, with Bey taking home the gold in each of them. In February, Bey defeated Porter in the Dave Schultz Memorial International finals, 5-3, in their most recent meeting. That outcome was much closer than Bey’s 9-0 technical fall over Porter in the U.S. Senior Nationals finals in December.

Prior to that, the two battled it out for the 74 kg/163 lbs. spot on the 2016 Junior World Team. Porter took the first bout in a best-of-three finals series, but Bey responded with two-straight wins to earn the World Team spot and went on to finish eighth in the world.

This is the second special wrestle-off for the 2017 Junior Greco-Roman World Team. Last weekend in Akron, 2017 Senior World Team member and 2016 Junior World bronze medalist G’Angelo Hancock (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC/Sunkist Kids) defeated 2017 Junior World Team Trials champion Blake Smith (Peoria, Ariz./NMU-OTS) for the 96 kg/211 lbs. spot.

Fans can keep up with all the action, watching live on Flowrestling.org or following @USAWrestling on Twitter.