Bracket set for FloWrestling’s 195 pound tournament on Oct. 31
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by JD Rader, Flowrestling
All eight competitors for FloWrestling's 8-man tournament at 195 pounds have signed the dotted line. Additionally, Macey Kilty's opponent has been announced. The event will be streamed live on FloWrestling on Oct. 31.
The following athletes will be competing to win the first-place prize of $20k.
- Gabe Dean
- Sammy Brooks
- Drew Foster
- Nate Jackson
- Myles Martin
- Taylor Lujan
- Keith Gavin
- Shakur Rasheed
Two-time NCAA champion Gabe Dean will be coming out of a three-year retirement. The Cornell grad won NCAA titles in 2015 and 2016 and has been on staff as an assistant since finishing his competitive career in 2017. Dean last took the mat at 2017 U23 where he competed in Greco-Roman. On the Bader Show back in March, Dean mentioned that he was missing the high of NCAA wrestling.
Sammy Brooks was a two-time All-American and two-time Big Ten champion for the Iowa Hawkeyes and currently trains at the Hawkeye Wrestling Club. Last season Brooks made the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament finals. The Illinois native made a name for himself on the age-level scene winning a Cadet World bronze medal and also making Junior and U23 World teams.
Drew Foster already has a Dean win under his belt. The Northern Iowa alum defeated Gabe's younger brother, Max, for the 2019 184 pound NCAA title. In Foster's last match he and Brooks put up a combined 30 points.
Nate Jackson is a two-time All-American and won more than 100 matches at Indiana University. He is entering his fourth season as an assistant coach at Princeton. He and Brooks also put up 30 points the last time they wrestled.
Arguably the most intriguing and coming with the biggest question mark will be Pitt head coach Keith Gavin. Gavin won a national title for the Panthers back in 2008 and continued to compete through 2016. However, Gavin has been focusing on coaching the past four years and has not competed since the 2016 Olympic Trials.
While wrestling on the Senior level and representing the Lehigh Valley Athletic Club and Ohio Regional Training Center, Gavin made six National Teams and the 2013 World Team.
Northern Iowa and the Panther Train have a lot to be excited about as they will have two former wrestlers competing in the event. Four-time national qualifier Taylor Lujan will be taking the mat for the first since winning the Big 12 Tournament. Few competitors, if any, were more affected by the canceling of the 2020 NCAA Championships than Lujan who had earned the #1 seed as a senior.
2016 NCAA champion and four-time All-American, Myles Martin, will be making his vivacious return to FloWrestling.org. The New Jersey native is currently ranked #3 in the US and 86 kg and #8 in the world. In his last tournament appearance, Martin defeated three-time NCAA champion Alex Dieringer.
And last but not least is Penn State All-American Shakur Rasheed. When healthy, Rasheed can do things like pin fellow All-American Jacob Holshlag in the first period. In his last match, Rasheed got out to an early lead, but fell to Sammy Brooks, 8-6. This was in a cage, however, so it will be interesting to possibly see if that match will be different under a normal freestyle ruleset.
Last week, FloWrestling announced that Cadet World champ and two-time Junior World silver medalist Macey Kilty would be competing, and now we have her opponent. Desiree Zavala, the No. 8 US woman at 62kg, will be taking the mat. Kilty and Zavala have not met since Kilty made her way from 65kg, where she competed last year, to 62kg for the Olympic year. Zavala is proven at the weight as a 2019 World Team Trials finalist. This match should be exciting.
