Mekhi Lewis selected as USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week

Mekhi Lewis (Somerset, N.J./Southeast RTC) has been selected as TheMat.com Athlete of the Week on Sept. 25, 2018.

Last week, Lewis competed at the 2018 Junior World Championships in Trnava, Slovakia, where he captured the only gold medal for the United States. Lewis competed at 74 kg/163 lbs. in men’s freestyle.

Lewis picked up freestyle this summer and entered Slovakia with only two freestyle events under his belt, including the UWW Junior Freestyle Nationals and the Junior World Team Trials.

Off to a hot start in Slovakia, Lewis rattled off three dominant wins to secure a spot in the Junior World finals.

To open his tournament, the Hokie wrestler put up a quick 10-0 win over Erik Reinbok of Estonia and followed it up with a first-period fall over four-time African Championships silver medalist Matthew Bartlett of South Africa to advance to the semifinals.

In the semis, Lewis took on Junior Asian Championships runner-up Bat-Erdene Byambasuren of Mongolia. The American cruised to a 12-1 tech fall, executing a leg lace for three turns, which he learned moments before the match.

The finals pitted Lewis against 2016 Cadet World champion Abubakr Abakarov of Azerbaijan.

Despite Abakarov scoring first on passivity, Lewis took a 2-1 lead into the break, and from there, shut down the Azeri’s offense for an eventual 5-1 win and a Junior World title.

Lewis’ performance helped the U.S. to a second-place team finish.

Others winning medals for the Red, White and Blue at the Junior World Championships included Greco-Roman bronze medalist Cohlton Schultz, women’s freestyle silver medalist Macey Kilty, men’s freestyle bronze medalists Daton Fix and Brady Berge and men’s freestyle silver medalists Aaron Brooks and Zach Elam.

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.
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.