Final X runners-up Koontz and Schultz to receive Special Wrestle-Offs for U23 World Team in Greco-Roman

Final X runners-up Brady Koontz (Plover, Wisc./Titan Mercury WC) and Cohlton Schultz (Parker, Colo./Sunkist Kids) have formally requested a best-of-three Special Wrestle-Offs at their respective weights for the 2019 U23 World Championships.

2018 Junior World Team member Koontz, a student-athlete at Ohio State, was the runner-up at Final X: Rutgers in Greco-Roman at 55 kg, while 2017 Cadet World champion and 2018 Junior World bronze medalist Schultz, an incoming freshman at Arizona State, was second at Final X: Lincoln in Greco-Roman at 130 kg.

This provision was included in the 2019 UWW U23 Greco-Roman World Team Trials Procedures, as follows:

Delay of final wrestle-off may only occur in the following situation:

If a U23 age eligible athlete qualifies for Final X at the senior level, they do not have to participate in the U23 World Team Trials and can request a wrestle-off against the U23 World Team Trials champion at a date after Final X.

• The request for a wrestle-off must be made by end of day June 22, 2019, to Matt Lindland.
• If there are two age eligible athletes at the weight class for Final X, the Final X champion will be the eligible athlete for the U23 wrestle-off. If the Final X champion declines the wrestle-off, the runner-up at Final X will receive the option for the wrestle-off.

For the spot at 55 kg, Koontz will take on Liam Cronin, a junior at Indiana. At 130 kg, Schultz will face past Senior National Team member David Tate Orndorff, a Utah Valley student-athlete.

Koontz and Schultz are the first Greco-Roman athletes to make the formal request for the Special Wrestle-Off. Kamal Bey (77 kg) is another Greco athlete who is eligible as Final X finalists and meets U23 age-group requirements.

There are also five men’s freestyle athletes eligible to request a wrestle-off, which will be announced separately.

Currently, the date and site of the wrestle-off has not been determined.