Adam Coon selected as USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week

Adam Coon (Ann Arbor, Mich./New York AC/MWC) has been selected as TheMat.com Athlete of the Week on May 1, 2018.

Coon put up impressive performances at the 2018 Marines Corps Senior U.S. Open last week in Las Vegas, Nev., winning the men’s freestyle heavyweight title and earning a silver medal in Greco-Roman.

In his first day of competition, the Greco tournament, Coon collected an 11-0 technical fall and two pins to wrestle his way to the next day’s 130 kg Greco finals. He was set to face four-time World Team member and Olympian Robby Smith, in a rematch of the 2016 Olympic Trials finals.

But before that, Coon entered the Senior freestyle tournament. The 2017 NCAA runner-up notched back-to-back 11-0 techs, one of which came over 2017 Junior World champion and two-time Cadet World champion Gable Steveson.

In the semifinals, just an hour before his Greco finals match, Coon defeated multiple-time National Team member Dom Bradley on criteria, 3-3.

Despite falling to Smith in the Greco finals, Coon pressed on to Saturday night’s freestyle finals, where he faced off against 2012 Olympic champion Jake Varner.

The two were locked in a pretty even battle that took a turn in the final 90 seconds where Coon snagged the only takedown in the match and held off Varner for a 3-1 win.

Each week USA Wrestling will select an Athlete of the Week based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling from youth programs through the senior level. Twitter fan votes also play a part in decision.

To nominate a wrestler for this honor please send the athlete's name, wrestling program, weekly accomplishments and career accolades to USA Wrestling Communications Coordinator Taylor Miller at tmiller@usawrestling.org.