Steveson, Warner, Saunders, Lewis and Deprez receive draws for 2018 Junior Worlds in Slovakia

TRNAVA, Slovakia – The final five representatives of the U.S. men’s freestyle Junior World Team received their draws for Saturday’s action of the 2018 Junior World Championships in Trnava, Slovakia.

Wrestling for the Red, White and Blue tomorrow is three-time World champion Gable Steveson at 125 kg, 2016 Cadet World bronze medalist Jacob Warner at 92 kg, 2018 Cadet World Team member Joshua Saunders at 61 kg and international newcomers Mekhi Lewis at 74 kg and Lou Deprez at 86 kg.

Steveson, a two-time Cadet World champion and the reining heavyweight Junior World champion, will open his tournament at 125 kg against Lkhagvegerel Munkhtur of Mongolia, who was 10th at last year’s U23 World Championships. Munkhtur won silver at the 2017 Junior Asian Championships.

Iowa wrestler Warner will kick things off at 92 kg, facing Junior European silver medalist Askhab Hamzatov of Azerbaijan. Similar to Warner, Hamzatov also owns a bronze medal from the 2016 Cadet Worlds.

After representing the U.S. at the Cadet World Championships earlier this year, Saunders gets another shot on the World stage after World Team Trials champion Austin Gomez pulled out of the Junior Worlds, due to injury.

Saunders, who will wrestle at 61 kg, will take on Nurahamed Mukhudzinau from Belarus, who finished seventh at the Junior European Championships.

Lewis, a Virginia Tech student-athlete, will make his international debut against Estonia’s Erik Reinbok at 74 kg. Reinbok took eighth at Euros earlier this year.

At 86 kg, Deprez of Binghamton drew Mher Markosyan from Armenia to open his first World Championships. Markosyan was fifth at Junior Euros and tallied a fifth-place finish at the 2016 Cadet World Championships.

Saturday morning’s action is set for 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET). Fans can watch all the action live on Trackwrestling.com.

2018 JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

at Trnava, Slovakia

U.S. men’s freestyle draws

61 kg: Joshua Saunders (St. Louis, Mo./Titan Mercury WC)
vs. Nurahamed Mukhudzinau (Belarus), 7th at 2018 Junior European Championships

74 kg: Mekhi Lewis (Somerset, N.J./Southeast RTC)
vs. Erik Reinbok (Estonia), 8th at Junior European Championships

86 kg: Lou Deprez (Hilton, N.Y./Bearcat WC)
vs. Mher Markosyan (Armenia), 5th at 2018 Junior European Championships, 5th at 2016 Cadet Worlds

92 kg: Jacob Warner (Washington, Ill./Hawkeye WC)
vs. Askhab Hamzatov (Azerbaijan), 2018 Junior European silver medalist, 2016 Cadet World bronze medalist, 5th at 2018 World Military Championship

125 kg: Gable Steveson (Apple Valley, Minn./Minnesota Storm)
vs. Lkhagvegerel Munkhtur (Mongolia), 10th at 2017 U23 World Championships, 2017 Junior Asian silver medalist