Colon, Burkert & Perkins take over World Team spots

The 2018 UWW World Championships are less than 10 days away and three wrestlers, who qualified for the Oct. 20-28 Worlds in Budapest, Hungary, were forced to withdraw from competing.

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Nahshon Garrett, the former NCAA champion from Cornell, suffered an injury during his recent training, and will not be able to compete in men’s freestyle at 61 kilograms.

Garrett will be replaced by Joe Colon, who lost to Garrett in the Best-of-3 Final X Series. This will be the first World Championships for Colon, a native of Mason City, Iowa, and former All-American from Northern Iowa. This summer, he won gold at the 2018 Pan American Championships, silver at the Alexander Medved International in Belarus and bronze at the Ziolkowski Memorial in Poland.

Joe Colon

“It is very unfortunate that Nahshon Garrett was injured and unable to compete in Budapest with our World Team,” national freestyle coach Bill Zadick said. “His preparation had been superb and we expected great things from him.

“Joe Colon has been training hard as part of our National Team, and we have confidence in his ability to compete at the highest level and challenge for a World medal at 61 kg.”

In women’s freestyle, two-time World silver medalist Alli Ragan was also forced to withdraw because of an injury from the 59-kilogram tournament of the World Championships.

Ragan will be replaced by Final X runner-up Jenna Burkert, who will compete in her second World Championships. The native of Rocky Point, N.Y., and member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program also competed in the 2014 Worlds at 60 kilograms.

Jenna Burkert

“It is disappointing that Alli Ragan can’t compete in the World Championships in Budapest and go after another World medal,” said National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner.“She has earned the right to represent Team USA at the Worlds for six straight years and has been very important to our team’s success.

“Jenna Burkert has been training hard as part of our National Team, and we are confident she will contend for a World medal herself. As a past Senior World Team member, Jenna has the experience and the ability to be very successful in Budapest.”

The most recent World qualifier to withdraw was current Cornell All-American Jon Jay Chavez, who suffered an injury while training and will be replaced in the Greco-Roman tournament at 72 kilograms by RaVaughn Perkins, who lost to Chavez at the World Team Trials this summer.

RaVaughn Perkins

A native of Omaha, Neb., Perkins had qualified for the Senior Greco-Roman National Team for the last three years. Perkins won the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials but did not compete at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games because the weight class was not qualified for the United States. He was second in the 2018 World Team Trials and third in the 2016 World Team Trials.

Meanwhile, World and Olympic champion Helen Maroulis qualified for the final spot on the women’s freestyle team when she dominated Alex Hedrick in two straight bouts, Oct. 9, for the 57-kilogram weight class.

The following is a list of the 30 USA qualifiers in the three styles, including the dates each will compete. Each weight class will take place over two days of competition.

Men’s Freestyle

Women’s Freestyle

Greco-Roman