Beat the Streets Alumni Showdown Headlines four youth matches at 2026 Final X, presented by Kerberos Capital Management
by Brandon Cain, Beat the Streets New York
Beat the Streets New York alumni Sulayman Bah and Oumar Tounkara will square off in a featured freestyle exhibition match between sessions at 2026 Final X, presented by Kerberos Capital Management, on Friday, June 19 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Bah and Tounkara both started their wrestling journeys through the BTSNY Junior League, New York City’s only elementary and middle school wrestling program, at M.S. 129 in The Bronx. The duo continued to excel on and off the mat through BTSNY during high school and now compete at the NCAA Division 1 level, with Bah at Columbia University and Tounkara at Drexel University.
Bah is a three-year starter for Columbia, posting a 25-16 record this past season and helping the Lions win the regular-season Ivy League team title. He earned an at-large bid to compete at the 2026 NCAA Championships, where he claimed a 17-4 major decision to become the first BTSNY alumnus to win a match at the men’s NCAA tournament. Bah attended high school at The Kiski School in Pennsylvania, earning All-America honors at the NHSCA All-American and Prep Nationals.
Tounkara went 5-3 during his freshman season at Drexel. He was a two-time NHSCA national champion and claimed All-America honors at Prep Nationals twice and once at Super 32 while competing for St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark and New York Military Academy.
Three additional matchups featuring current BTSNY student-athletes will take place between Final X sessions. On the men’s freestyle mat, standouts Tristan Levin and Brennan Sprague will meet in an all-Staten Island showdown. On the women’s freestyle mat, two New York City Public Schools Athletic League girls freestyle champions will collide with Nicole Kremyanskiy of Brooklyn and Alexandra Shuster of Staten Island facing off, plus Carolina Lockard of Brooklyn taking on Keishara Tulloch of Uniondale.
Levin and Sprague are set to meet for the third time this year, and for the first time in freestyle competition. Sprague is 2-0 in folkstyle, earning a 12-3 major decision in the finals of New York City Donald Douglas Memorial Championships and an 8-1 win in the New York state semifinals. Sprague went on to win the 126-pound state title, while Levin secured third place for his second career state medal after taking eighth in 2025. Sprague entered the state tournament as a first-time Catholic High School Athletic Association section champion, while Levin qualified as a four-time PSAL section champion.
Levin and Sprague both earned NHSCA All-America honors this spring, though they did not meet head-to-head. Sprague took third, while Levin placed seventh. Sprague also won a state freestyle title, and Levin captured a Greco-Roman championship at the Northeast Regional Championships. Sprague will attend New York Military Academy in the fall, while Levin enters the NCAA Division I ranks at Binghamton University.
Kremyanskiy and Shuster each won a PSAL title this spring. After finishing second in 2024 and third in 2025, Kremyanskiy claimed her first city championship in her junior season. Shuster secured her second career city title. Both student-athletes have also achieved success at the state level. This spring, Shuster won a Girls Junior Greco-Roman state crown and a bronze medal in freestyle. Kremyanskiy placed fourth in both styles and was the Girls Greco-Roman state runner-up in 2025. Shuster holds a 1-0 record against Kremyanskiy, with a second period fall in the semifinals of the 2025 PSAL city championships.
Lockard is among the most accomplished student-athletes in BTSNY history. She is a two-time NHSCA All-American, two-time Eastern States Classic place winner and three-time New York state girls freestyle champion. Lockard made history this spring, becoming the first New York City student-athlete to win four PSAL girls freestyle titles. She also has two PSAL girls folkstyle titles. Lockard will continue her wrestling and academic career at Lehigh University next school year.
Tulloch is a two-time New York state girls folkstyle all-state place-winner, earning third in 2025 and fifth this year, and two-time Nassau County section champion. The Long Island native is also a two-time New York state girls freestyle placer, with a fourth-place finish in 2025 and third in 2026.
Final X will determine the 2026 U.S. World Team in two international disciplines—men’s freestyle and women’s freestyle. In total, 20 weight classes will be contested, 10 in each discipline. The top two U.S. athletes in each weight classes will wrestle a best-of-three series at Final X to determine the U.S. representative at the 2026 Senior World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Final X will serve as the 2026 Beat the Streets New York Annual Benefit, its 16th to date. These unique electrifying events help BTSNY raise critical funds each year to support local youth wrestling programs, which empower young people in New York City. The BTSNY Annual Benefit after-party takes place at the conclusion of Final X.
Get Final X Tickets
BTSNY Annual Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages, which include access to premier seating at Final X, plus the exclusive after-party, are currently available at btsny.org. For more information on ticket packages, email BTSNY Executive Director Bob Seidel at bseidel@btsny.org. Donations and BTSNY Annual Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages directly help BTSNY make a lifelong impact on New York City youth in need.
Event-only tickets for Final X without access to the BTSNY after-party celebration are available on Ticketmaster.
Final X Event Schedule
12:30 p.m. (ET): U.S. National Team true-third matches
2 p.m. (ET): Session I (Round 1)
4 p.m. (ET): Beat the Streets Exhibition Matches
5 p.m. (ET): Session II (Rounds 2 & 3, if necessary)
FloWrestling will serve as the host broadcast partner for Final X. Fans can watch the event live or on-demand at FloWrestling.com. Online results for Final X will be available on USA Bracketing.
For more information about Final X, please visit TheMat.com.
Brennan Sprague (Staten Island, N.Y.) vs. Tristan Levin (Staten Island, N.Y.)
Nicole Kremyanskiy (Brooklyn, N.Y.) vs. Alexandra Shuster (Staten Island, N.Y.)
Carolina Lockard (Brooklyn, N.Y.) vs. Kieshara Tulloch (Uniondale, N.Y.)
Oumar Tounkara (The Bronx, N.Y.) vs. Sulayman Bah (The Bronx, N.Y.)
About Beat the Streets New York
Beat the Streets Wrestling is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing the full human and athletic potential of New York City’s urban youth through the sport of wrestling. Beat the Streets has pioneered a movement that now includes 110 individual wrestling programs, a youth league and the first girls high school league. Through wrestling, Beat the Streets instills discipline, perseverance, self-reliance, humility, and a strong work ethic, creating lifelong impact for more than 4,000 student-athletes while strengthening NYC’s wrestling culture. To learn more and support the mission, visit btsny.org/donate and follow Beat the Streets on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.