Final X Lincoln Preview: Rematch between Deakin and Green; battle of HWC women teammates Ragan and Louive

Lincoln, Neb., was once the alma mater of James Green and is just four hours away from Iowa City, Iowa. Green hopes to feed off his old Husker fans to avenge a U.S. Open loss to Ryan Deakin this Saturday at the Devaney Center at 70 kilograms. At the same time, Hawkeye Wrestling Club teammates Alli Ragan and Lauren Louive will be shooting to make the 2019 World Team at 59 kilograms.

Check out these Best-of-3 meetings, as well as a Greco-Roman match-up between Raymond Bunker and Alex Mossing, that will take place in either the 12 noon or 6 p.m. sessions on the University of Lincoln campus. The winner of each series will have landed a spot in the 2019 UWW World Championships in Kazakhstan this September.

WIN Magazine will provide comprehensive coverage and analysis of both Final X locations in next issue, which will be mailed June 27. Click here to subscribe to WIN Magazine or call 888-305-0606.

Green is a two-time World medalist and a four-time Worlds participant, but it was Deakin, the sophomore All-American from Northwestern, who earned the automatic berth to Final X Lincoln. Deakin defeated Green, 8-6, at the U.S. Open in April. Green, the former NCAA All-American from Nebraska, earned his spot in Final X when he won the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament this past May in Raleigh, N.C., where he won by injury default over Anthony Ashnault.

While Deakin, a 22-year-old native of Broomfield, Colo., is shooting for his first Senior World Championships, he did earn a silver medal in the 2017 Junior World Championships. In the past two years, Deakin has had a 63-14 career record at the Big Ten school where he qualified for both NCAA tournaments and placed sixth this past March.

Nebraska’s Devaney Center has sent Green to the World Championships the past two summers, including 2018 when he defeated Jason Chamberlain for a World Team berth (splitting two matches in Budapest). One year earlier, Green won the World Team Trials and eventually claimed a silver medal in the 2017 Worlds in Paris.

Overall, Green, the 26-year-old native of Willingboro, N.J., has represented the USA the past four years at the Worlds. In 2015, he claimed a bronze medal in Las Vegas, then finished seventh in 2016 in the World Championships of non-Olympic weights.

Ragan, a five-time World Team member and two-time medalist, won last year’s Final X event, but was unable to compete in the World Championships because of injury. That forced the native of Carbondale, Ill., to win the U.S. Open — outscoring four foes 35-2 — to earn the automatic spot in Final X Lincoln.

Louive, who finished fourth at the Open, became Ragan’s Final X opponent when she used three matches to beat Michaela Beck for the World Team Trial Challenge tournament championship.

This does guarantee that the Hawkeye Wrestling Club will have a wrestler at this weight in the 2019 Worlds as both Ragan and Louive (as well as Beck) train in Iowa City, Iowa. This Final X winner will also join HWC teammate Forrest Molinari, a Final X Rutgers winner, at the 2019 Worlds. Meanwhile, another HWC wrestler, Kayla Miracle will be competing at 62 kilograms in Final X Lincoln.

Ragan, who will turn 27 the day after Final X Lincoln in 2019 and is a former two-time WCWA champion from King University, has competed in five World Championships; highlighted by two silver medals (in 2016 and ’17). She also claimed ninth in 2013, fifth in 2014 and split two bouts in the 2015 Worlds.

Louive, a 28-year-old graduate at The Cumberlands, who also served as a volunteer assistant coach at Cornell College (under the late Mike Duroe), will be shooting for her first Senior Worlds Championships. In 2010, she wrestled in the Junior World Championships.

The U.S. Marines have certainly made a name for themselves this spring at the U.S. Open in April and the World Team Trials Challenge tournament in May as four Greco-Roman wrestlers earned spots in the two Final X locations.

The most successful was Bunker, who upset 2016 Olympic Trials champion RaVaughn Perkins at the U.S. Open, which guaranteed the Marine a spot in Final X Lincoln.

Mossing, meanwhile, will represent the Air Force at Final X Lincoln when he first pinned Perkins in a quarterfinal bout at the World Team Trials Challenge tourney before eventually winning two bouts over Mike Hooker in the Best-of-3 finals.

Bunker, who also has competed in MMA, has moved up the ranks and from the 66-kilogram weight class in Greco-Roman the past four years.The native of Chicago won the Dave Schultz Memorial this past winter.

Mossing, a native of Toledo, Ohio, spent the past four years wrestling in college at the Air Force Academy, where he compiled a 61-41 career record

While Bunker will be shooting for his first World Championships at any age group, Mossing did compete in last fall’s U23 World tournament.

Previous/Upcoming Daily Previews of Final X, Lincoln, Neb., June 15

(Click on date to read preview)

Monday, June 10

Tuesday, June 11

Thursday, June 13

Friday, June 14

Last weekend in Rutgers, 14 other World Team weights were determined in another Final X event that was also hosted by USA Wrestling and FloWrestling. The only exception was at 79 kilograms, where World champ Kyle Dake requested a postponement for his meeting against Alex Dieringer because of an injury.

Click here to view results from Session I of Final X Rutgers.

Click here to view results from Session II of Final X Rutgers.