Jon Jay Chavez withdraws from World Championships due to injury, replaced at 72 kg by RaVaughn Perkins
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Jon Jay Chavez photo by Austin Bernard. RaVaughn Perkins photo by Tony Rotundo.
Jon Jay Chavez (Boise, Idaho/Finger Lakes WC) has withdrawn from the 2018 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary, at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. in Greco-Roman due to an injury.
Chavez, who made his first Senior World Team with his victory at the 2018 Greco-Roman World Team Trials in Tulsa, Okla., in June, will be replaced by World Team Trials runner-up RaVaughn Perkins (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids/OTC).
Perkins will be competing on his first Senior World Championships team. The 72 kg Greco-Roman competition in Budapest will be held on Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26.
Chavez was a 2013 Cadet World Greco-Roman bronze medalist, who has been on four age-group World teams, two as a Cadet (2013 in both styles) and two as a Junior (2014 and 2015). He qualified for his first Senior National Team in 2017, when he placed third in the Greco-Roman World Team Trials and second in the U.S. Open. Chavez was also a University Nationals Greco-Roman runner-up in 2017.
Chavez was an NCAA Div. I All-American for Cornell last year, placing seventh at 165 pounds. Chavez competed in high school in both Idaho and California.
A native of Omaha, Neb., Perkins has qualified for the Senior Greco-Roman National Team for the last three years. Perkins won the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials but did not compete at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games because the weight class was not qualified for the United States. He was second in the 2018 World Team Trials and third in the 2016 World Team Trials.
Perkins has won U.S. Open national titles in 2014 and 2018 and is a two-time Dave Schultz Memorial International champion (2016-17). He won a Pan American Championships gold medal in 2018 and was third in the Thor Masters in Denmark. After winning the 2016 Olympic Trials, he placed third in the 2016 World Olympic Games Qualifier in Mongolia, but lost in a special wrestle-off match for an Olympic spot. As a youth, he was also a 2010 Junior Nationals champion.
Perkins is a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete. He was a three-time Nebraska state champion for Omaha North High School, and competed at Ellsworth CC for a time before focusing full-time on Greco-Roman.
72 kg Greco-Roman
RaVaughn Perkins (Colorado Springs, Colo., New York AC/OTC)
College: Ellsworth CC High School: Omaha North (Neb.) Born: Aug. 7, 1992
- 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials champion
- 2014 and 2018 U.S. Open champion
- 2018 Pan American Championships champion
- Second in 2018 Greco-Roman World Team Trials
- Two-time Dave Schultz Memorial International champion (2016-17)
- Third at 2017 World Team Trials
- 2012 New York AC International champion
- Second in 2018 Dave Schultz Memorial International
- Third in 2016 World Olympic Games Qualifier (Mongolia)
- 2010 Junior Nationals Greco-Roman champion
