Snyder, Parris, Richards, Berger advance to men’s freestyle finals at Pan American Games

SANTIAGO, Chile – The U.S. men’s freestyle team swept all eight of its matches as Kyle Snyder, Mason Parris, Zane Richards and Tyler Berger each advanced to the finals of the prestigious Pan American Games on Wednesday morning at Centro de Entrenamiento Olímpico in Santiago, Chile.

Olympic champion and three-time World champion Snyder was on the mat for less than four minutes in the opening session. He torched both of his opponents, Nishan Randhawa of Canada and Maxwell Lacey Garita of Costa Rica, by 10-0 technical superiority.

Up next for the nine-time Olympic and World medalist is Arturo Silot Torres of Cuba. The 97 kg finals will be a rematch from the 2023 Pan American Championships held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, back in May, which Snyder won going away, 14-3.

Snyder is one win away from his third gold medal at the Pan American Games. He stood atop the medal stand at this event in Toronto, Canada, in 2015 and in Lima, Peru, in 2019. The 27-year-old is currently riding the longest Olympic and World medal streak in American history at nine-in-a-row dating back to 2015.

Parris made quick work of his two opponents, scoring decisive technical falls over Elison Adames Garcia of Dominican Republic and Aaron Johnson of Jamaica. The 2023 World bronze medalist will face two-time Olympian and three-time Pan American Games medalist Jose Diaz Robertti of Venezuela in the 125 kg gold medal match.

U.S. World Team member Richards was awarded a forfeit from Juan Ramirez Beltre of Dominican Republic to start things off in Santiago. He picked up a dynamic 8-2 win over three-time Pan American medalist and past NCAA champion for Lehigh Darian Cruz of Puerto Rico in the 57 kg semifinals. Standing opposite Richards in tonight’s finals will be Tokyo Olympian Oscar Tigreros Urbano of Colombia.

U.S. National Team member Berger fought through a gritty three-point win against Anthony Montero Chirinos of Venezuela to open his day at 74 kg. The three-time NCAA All-American for Nebraska picked things up in his second match, an explosive 17-3 technical fall over Anthony Valencia of Mexico, who was a NCAA All-American at Arizona State. The level of competition ratches up for Berger in tonight’s championship contest as he takes on World bronze medalist Franklin Maren Castillo of Cuba.

The first day of wrestling competition at the Pan American Games will resume at 4 p.m. (ET) with the first batch of men’s freestyle medal matches. The Panam Sports Channel is broadcasting the event live at panamsportschannel.org. Brackets and updated results from this event can be found at arena.uww.org.