Eierman knocks off Stieber, Coon advances to freestyle semis and aims for Greco gold at 2018 US Open

LAS VEGAS – Friday morning provided wrestling fans with entertaining matchups, crazy upsets and a chance to see some of the country’s best wrestlers. When the first session was all said and done, the semifinals for the Senior men’s freestyle U.S. Open were set and will take place on Friday night at 5 p.m. PT live on Flowrestling from the South Point Arena.

Here’s what you need to know about what’s happened so far:

Notable upsets:

• The upset of the day came at 65 kg, when NCAA All-American for Missouri and nine-seed Jaydin Eierman edged out 2016 World champion and 2017 World Team member Logan Stieber, the top seed, with a 6-5 decision, sending the crowd into a tizzy. Eierman will face Nick Dardanes in the semifinals.
• At 86 kg, Dominic Ducharme defeated No. 3 Patrick Downey in the first round of action with a decisive 18-10 win. Downey finished fifth at this tournament a year ago. Ducharme fell in the next round to Ryan McWatters.
• At 61 kg, No. 2 Jon Morrison suffered a 7-6 loss at the hands of seventh-seeded Seth Gross. The two last met up in the Bill Farrell International semifinals, with Morrison taking a 6-4 win. Morrison went on to take gold, while Gross finished with bronze.
• Another 2-seed to get knocked out of title contention was Zach Rey at 125 kg, who lost to No. 7 Tanner Hall in the semifinals, 3-2.
• Chase Pami, No. 2 at 70 kg, also lost to a No. 7 wrestler in Hayden Hidlay in the quarterfinals. Hidlay shut out Pami with a 5-0 decision.
• Evan Wick, the No. 4 seed at 74 kg, lost in the round of 16 to Jake Sueflohn, 6-4. Wick was an All-American for Wisconsin this year, taking third, and Sueflohn is a two-time Round of 12er at NCAAs.
• Unseeded Skyler Petry of Minnesota Storm outlasted No. 3 seed Frank Perrelli, 9-8, in the round of 16 at 57 kg. Perrelli has been active on the international scene and finished fifth at the Ivan Yarygin Memorial earlier this year.
  
   
  Quote from Eierman: "After I lost in the semi's at Nationals, it was a heart breaker for me. I didn't achieve what I wanted to, I told my coaches I would get to work and make a World Team. I am practicing every day and working my hardest...It's really hard to score on me in some positions so I had to really utilize that. There is not a lot out pressure right now, I am just going out there and wrestling my match. I started off not how I wanted to but I finished strong."

Semis to watch out for:

• At 61 kg, Nahshon Garrett will take on Seth Gross in the bottom side of the bracket. Garrett beat Tyler Graff earlier today with a 5-3 performance, while Gross defeated No. 2 seed Jon Morrison in the quarterfinals, 7-6. It’ll be interesting to see who emerges from this bout to earn a spot in the finals.
• The 125 kg bracket features some talented heavyweights, who have put on a show all day. One bout to look out for tonight pits two-time U.S. Open champion and National Team member Dom Bradley against NCAA runner-up from Michigan, Adam Coon. Both have significant success at the age-group levels with Bradley owning a 2009 Junior freestyle gold medal and Coon collecting Junior World bronzes in both freestyle and Greco.
• Familiar college foes will meet up in freestyle at 70 kg as Hayden Hidlay will face Alec Pantaleo. The two met up in the 2018 NCAA semifinals at 157 pounds. Hidlay, wrestling for NC State, defeated Michigan’s Pantaleo, 10-2, in the folkstyle bout.
• Another one to look out is the David Taylor-TJ Dudley matchup at 86 kg. Taylor has looked better than ever over the past year, winning the prestigious Ivan Yarygin Memorial and going undefeated at the World Cup. Fans don’t want to miss watching what Taylor can do against strong domestic competition.

Other interesting info:

• Adam Coon advanced to the 125 kg freestyle semifinals with an impressive first session that saw him earn a dominant 11-0 tech fall over three-time age-group World champion Gable Steveson in the quarters. He’ll face multiple-time National Team member Dom Bradley in tonight’s semifinals, which will take place just a couple of hours before his Greco-Roman finals match against four-time World Team member Robby Smith. Coon was unmatched yesterday, running through every opponent, ending every bout in less than 90 seconds. Should Coon win his Greco final, he’ll receive an automatic bid to the U.S. Greco World Team Trials best-of-three finals series.
• Another impressive heavyweight today was Jake Varner, a 2012 Olympic champion, who is back after a couple of years away from competition. Varner teched his first two opponents quickly, before beating out National Team member Tony Nelson with a 5-1 win.
• Enock Francois also competed in yesterday’s Greco competition, advancing to the semifinals at 97 kg where he lost a tough bout. He elected not to compete in Greco today as the consolation rounds were wrestled alongside the prelim rounds of the freestyle tournament, resulting in a sixth-place finish in Greco. So far today, Francois, a Greco National Team member, has advanced to the freestyle semifinals at 92 kg. He will face Greco and freestyle National Team member Hayden Zillmer later today for a spot in the finals.

2018 MARINES CORPS U.S. OPEN

at South Point Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.

Men’s freestyle semifinal matchups

57 kg
Tony Ramos (Sunkist Kids) vs. Zach Sanders (Minnesota Storm)
David Terao (DCAC) vs. Daton Fix (TMWC)

61 kg
Joe Colon (TMWC) vs. Brandon Wright (NYAC/IndWC)
Nahshon Garrett (Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Seth Gross (Sunkist Kids WC)

65 kg
Jaydin Eierman (Missouri Wrestling RTC) vs. Nick Dardanes (TMWC)
Evan Henderson (TMWC) vs. Joseph McKenna (OSC-Unattached)

70 kg
Frank Molinaro (TMWC) vs. Jason Chamberlain (TMWC)
Alec Pantaleo (Michigan RTC) vs. Hayden Hidlay (Wolfpack WC)

74 kg
Isaiah Martinez (TMWC) vs. Jake Sueflohn (Boilermaker RTC)
Quinton Godley (Wolfpack WC) vs. Dan Vallimont (NYAC/Penn RTC)

79 kg
Kyle Dake (TMWC) vs. Joshua Asper (Navy-Marine Corps RTC)
Michael Evans (Buies Creek Regional Training Center) vs. Alex Dieringer (TMWC)

86 kg
David Taylor (Nittany Lion WC) vs. Timothy Dudley (Sunkist Kids WC)
Ryan Mcwatters (Unattached) vs. Richard Perry (NYAC/Penn RTC)

92 kg
J’den Cox (TMWC) vs. Deron Winn (TMWC)
Enock Francois (NYAC/FLWC) vs. Hayden Zillmer (Minnesota Storm)

97 kg
Kyven Gadson (Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club) vs. Austin Schafer (NYAC/FLWC)
Nathan Burak (TMWC) vs. Ty Walz (TMWC)

125 kg
Dom Bradley (Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Adam Coon (NYAC/MWC)
Jake Varner (Nittany Lion WC) vs. Tanner Hall (Arizona State University)

Men’s freestyle quarterfinal results
57 kg
Tony Ramos (Sunkist Kids) dec. Josh Rodriguez (Nittany Lions), 2-1
Zach Sanders (Minnesota Storm) dec. Darian Cruz (Lehigh Valley), 4-1
David Terao (DCAC) dec. Skyler Petry (Minnesota Storm), 12-8
Daton Fix (Titan Mercury/Cowboy WC) dec. Daniel DeShazer (Minnesota Storm), 4-0

61 kg
Joe Colon (TMWC) dec. Nico Megaludis (NLWC), 5-2
Brandon Wright (NYAC) dec. Darius Little (NYAC), 5-1
Nahshon Garrett (Sunkist Kids) dec. Tyler Graff (TMWC), 5-3
Seth Gross (Sunkist Kids) dec. Jon Morrison (NYAC), 7-6

65 kg
Jaydin Eierman (MWRTC) dec. Logan Stieber (TMWC), 6-5
Nick Dardanes (TMWC) dec. John Simmons (NYAC), 9-0
Evan Henderson (TMWC) dec. Anthony Abidin (NYAC/Valley RTC), 9-8
Joey McKenna (OSC) tech. fall Robbie Mathers (Sunkist Kids), 11-0

70 kg
Frank Molinaro (TMWC) dec. Ryan Deakin (Northwestern), 10-4
Jason Chamberlain (TMWC) tech fall Hunter Stieber (TMWC), 15-4
Alec Pantaleo (Michigan RTC) tech. fall Dylan Ness (Minnesota Storm), 11-1
Hayden Hidlay (Wolfpack WC) dec. Chase Pami (Sunkist Kids), 5-0

74 kg
Isaiah Martinez (TMWC) TF Jacen Petersen (Arizona State University), 10-0
Jake Sueflohn (Boilermaker RTC) TF Carson Brolsma (Minnesota Storm), 12-2
Quinton Godley (Wolfpack WC) TF Nick Bonomo (Warhawk WC), 11-0
Dan Vallimont (NYAC/Penn RTC) TF Alex Smythe (NYAC/BWC), 12-2

79 kg
Kyle Dake (TMWC) TF Stacey Davis (Wolfpack WC), 10-0
Joshua Asper (Navy-Marine RTC) TF Aaron Trygstad (Colorado Mesa WC), 10-0
Michael Evans (Buies Creek RTC) TF Michael Thelen (Western Colorado WC), 10-0
Alex Dieringer (TMWC) TF Nathan Jackson (NJRTC), 10-0

86 kg
David Taylor (Nittany Lion WC) fall Noe Garcia (Roadrunner WC), 0:33
Timothy Dudley (Sunkist Kids WC) TF Bryan Battisto (Roadrunner WC), 10-0
Ryan McWatters (Unattached) TF Dominic Ducharme (Roadrunner WC), 13-2
Richard Perry (NYAC/Penn RTC) fall Reed South (Roadrunner WC), 0:24

92 kg
J'den Cox (TMWC) TF Tanner Orndorff (Utah Valley RTC), 10-0
Deron Winn (TMWC) TF Matt Williams (Roadrunner WC), 11-0
Enock Francois (NYAC/FLWC) dec. Morgan Smith (Simon Fraser University), 9-0
Hayden Zillmer (Minnesota Storm) TF Nikko Reyes (Valley RTC), 10-0

97 kg
Austin Schafer (NYAC) tech fall Blaise Cabell (ValleyRTC), 10-0
Nathan Burak (TMWC) dec. Joshua Roetman (NMC-RTC), 4-0
Kyven Gadson (Sunkist) dec. Ben Honis (Cornell), 4-1
Ty Walz (TMWC) dec. Braden Atwood (Sunkist), 11-6

125 kg
Dom Bradley (Sunkist) dec. Mike Kosoy (TMWC), 7-0
Adam Coon (NYAC/Michigan) tech fall Gable Steveson (MNST), 11-0
Jake Varner (NLWC) dec. Tony Nelson (Minnesota Storm), 5-1
Tanner Hall (ASU) dec. Zach Rey (NYAC), 3-2