2019 USA World Teams to be decided next two weekends

Over the next two weeks, WIN Magazine is previewing the two Final X events that will be held at Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J. (June 8), and the University of Nebraska in Lincoln (June 15). WIN will also provide comprehensive coverage of Final X in our next issue of WIN, which will be printed on June 25. Click here to subscribe to WIN or call 888-305-0606.

This week we are examining one men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman Best-of-3 matchup per day of the 14 meetings that will take place this Saturday at the Rutgers Athletic Center. There will be two sessions in this event with six weights determined in Session I, which begins at noon EDT. The second session, which begins 6 p.m. EDT, will determine eight other weights.

There will not be a match between 2019 World champion David Taylor and World Team Trials Challenge winner Pat Downey at 86 kilos after Taylor was forced to withdraw from the event because of a knee injury.

Here are previews for Monday, June 3:

MFS-65k/143.5lb — Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Zain Retherford

Diakomihalis, the two-time NCAA champion who will be a true junior at Cornell, earned the automatic berth to Final X, when the native of Rochester, N.Y., defeated Retherford, 6-4, in the 2019 U.S. Open in April in Las Vegas.

Retherford, the former three-time NCAA champion (2016-18) and two-time Hodge Trophy winner (2017-18) from Penn State, earned a rematch against Diakomihalis when the native of Benton, Pa., defeated former Oklahoma State national champion Jordan Oliver at the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament in Raleigh, N.C., in May.

Diakomihalis, a two-time Cadet World champion (2015 and ’16), competed in the Beat the Streets Gala event in May when he defeated India’s two-time World silver medalist Barang Punia, 10-8, in New York City.

Retherford also won a Cadet World championship in 2012 and qualified for the 2017 Worlds, when he finished 11^th. The former Nittany Lion did not compete in international freestyle in 2018.

GR-55k/121lb — Max Nowry vs. Brady Koontz

Nowry, member of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program, earned the first Final X spot at this weight when he defeated Dalton Duffield, 5-3, at the U.S. Open in April. The 29-year-old native of Wheeling, Ill., who trained at the USOEC at Northern Michigan, finished as high as second in the 2012 Olympic Team Trials and claimed third place in the 2017 World Team Trials. Nowry competed in two Junior World Championships, finishing sixth in 2009 and fifth in 2010.

Koontz earned a trip to Rutgers when the native of Plover, Wisc., and redshirt freshman at Ohio State, won two matches over Duffield at the World Team Trials Challenge tournament in Raleigh, N.C., where he was the No. 7 seed. Koontz also competed in two age-group World Championships, the 2015 Cadet at 46 kilos and 2018 Juniors at 55 kilos, but did not place.

WFS-50k/110lb  — Whitney Conder vs. Victoria Anthony

This is a rematch of the 2018 Final X in Bethlehem, Pa., where Conder won two out of three matches at 50 kilos, including an 11-0 technical fall in the third bout. Conder also won the first bout, 10-4, before Anthony forced a third match by beating Conder, 4-2.

Conder, 31, claimed the first Final X spot at this weight when the member of the Army WCAP and native of Puyallup, Wash., won the U.S. Open in April; defeating Anthony on criteria in the semifinals and Erin Golston in the finals in Las Vegas. Anthony, who will turn 28 on June 24, later earned a second Final X appearance when the native of Huntington Beach, Calif., beat Golston in three matches in the World Team Challenge tourney at NC State.

Both women have represented the United States at past World Championships.

Conder, a 2007 Junior World champ, lost her only match at the 2018 Worlds to North Korea’s Sonhyang Kim. She also wrestled at the 2011 (51k), 2014 (53k) and 2015 (53k) Worlds and finished as high as ninth in 2014. She also finished second at the 2016 Olympic Trials at 53 kilos.

Anthony, a 2009 and ’10 Junior World champ, finished fifth in both the 2013 and 2017 World Championships.

Upcoming Final X Rutgers Daily Previews