Emily Shilson and Robert Howard selected as USA Wrestling Athletes of the Week

Emily Shilson (Maple Grove, Minn./Titan Mercury WC) and Robert Howard (Cranford, N.J./Titan Mercury WC) has been selected as TheMat.com Co-Athletes of the Week on Oct. 21, 2018.

Both wrestlers made history in Buenos Aires, Argentina, becoming the first Youth Olympic Games gold medalists for USA Wrestling.

Shilson, a 2018 Cadet World champion, represented the U.S. at 43 kg/94.5 lbs. in women’s freestyle, where she had to win five matches to claim the gold.

She went unscored upon in her first two matches, registering a 5-0 decision over Justine Vigouroux of France before securing a 10-0 technical fall against Heloisa Martinez of Brazil.

In her third match, Shilson scored a dominant 12-1 win over Cadet World runner-up Shahana Nazarova of Azerbaijan, who she also teched in the 2018 Cadet World finals earlier this summer.

Shilson went on to take out a pair of continental medalists to finish off her tournament, defeating African champion Christianah Tolulope Ogansanya of Nigeria with a pin and taking out Asian bronze medalist Simran Simran of India with an 11-6 decision to pick up the first YOG wrestling gold medal for the U.S.

The next day, Howard became the first YOG champion for the U.S. in men’s freestyle as he navigated a tough 55 kg pool.

Howard, a two-time Cadet World Team member, began the tournament with an impressive 13-2 tech fall over 2018 Cadet World silver medalist Hayato Fujita of Japan. He then stopped 2018 Cadet European champion Vladyslav Ostapenko of Ukraine with a 10-5 decision to advance to the finals.

For gold, Howard put together a 17-6 second-period tech fall over Pan American Cadet bronze medalist Hernan David Almendra of host Argentina.

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.