Koelzer collects Greco-Roman gold Haparanda Cup

HAPARANDA, Sweden – The U.S. Greco-Roman group competing at Sweden’s Haparanda Cup secured a gold medal finish from upstart Jace Koelzer at 60 kg on Saturday at Haparanda Aspen Arena.

Koelzer, who trains out of Edmond, Okla., under Olympian Sam Hazewinkel, won four bouts in a five-man round-robin bracket on his way to the title. He earned shutout technical fall wins over three Swedish opponents—Mark Loitto, Julius Kingberg and Pontius Stahl. His lone match to go to decision was a 4-1 victory over Alyosha Iliev of Bulgaria, who recently won silver at the Haavisto Cup.

In 2025, Koelzer was sixth at the CLAW U.S. Open. He competed collegiately at Northern Colorado and Oklahoma, becoming an NCAA qualifier at both schools.

2023 U.S. World Team member Zac Braunagel and 2025 U20 Nationals champion Aidan Squier took the mats at 87 kg for Team USA.

Braunagel posted a 1-2 record, with his lone win coming by 8-0 technical fall against Finland’s Jesper Harkanen. He wound up with a sixth-place finish after dropping decisions to Lukas Ahlgren of Sweden, 6-1, and Andrey Atanasov of Bulgaria, 5-5. Braunagel is fresh off a gold medal win at the Bill Farrell Memorial International.

Squier ended in 10^th place with a 0-2 record. He was defeated by a pair of Swedes—Algot Kallman and Oskar Johansson.

Archived matches from the Haparanda Cup are available at brottningplay.se. Complete results for each weight class can be found at swedewrestling.se.