The American wrestling showcase event will be held in State College on April 19th and 20th in a quadrennial extravaganza. The highest weight class in this tournament will probably be the 74kg weight class, which is likely to be the most successful weight class in American men's freestyle wrestling history.
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Kyle Dake
jordan burrows
Jason Nolf
How tall is the American 74kg class? Kyle Dake (who missed the Challenge Tournament due to a bye in the best two of the three finals) and Jordan Burroughs (presumptive No. 1 seed into the Challenge Tournament) have won 16 World or Olympic medals between them. ing.
Burroughs represented Team USA in the 74kg weight class for nine consecutive years from 2011 to 2019, during which time he won one Olympic gold medal, four world gold medals, and three world bronze medals.
Watch Burroughs win gold in the 74kg category at the 2017 World Championships.
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Dake then defeated Burroughs at the Tokyo Olympic Trials, and at age 74 represented the United States in three subsequent world championships, winning two world gold medals, one world silver medal, and another at the Tokyo Games. won a silver medal.
Before the 2020 Olympics, Dake went up to 79kg and won two gold medals. After the Olympics, Burrows will take over the 79kg mantle at least in 2021 and 2022, where he also won gold.
Watch Dake win gold at the 2022 World Championships.
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The legacies of Burrows and Dake, and their 74kg stranglehold in the US, will forever be intertwined. JB kept Dake away from four world teams, while Dake returned the favor at the Tokyo Olympic Trials. Both are on the north side of 30 years old. Dike will be 33 and Burrows 36 by the time the Paris Games begin.
Jason Nolf, the presumptive No. 2 seed in the Challenge Tournament, is 28 years old. Nolf also won the US Open in 2022 and 2023, the Zagreb Open in 2023 and 2024, and Bill Farrell in 2023. Nolf's performance on the mat over the past few years has set him apart from other contenders.
Not long after Emimi won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships, watch Nolf win the gold medal at the 2023 Zagreb Open by defeating Iran's Emimi.
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Dake will have the advantage over everyone thanks to the bye in the finals he earned by returning as a medalist at this weight. That means they can scout the field on Friday and be ready to face the winner of the challenge tournament on Saturday night.
Burrows and Nolf will likely end up on either side of the Challenge Tournament bracket.
Will Nolf be able to stop Burroughs' quest for his final Olympic appearance? Or will it be another showdown between two highly acclaimed American legends? Or will we see a new challenger step up and take the 74kg crown?
Contenders
Vincenzo Joseph
carter starocci
Keegan O'Toole
quincy monday
david carr
Mitchell Mesenbrink
Disentangling the next challengers and their respective seeds will be a more difficult task.
Quincy Monday won the 2023 Senior Nationals last December, the latest national test to replace the former U.S. Open during the Olympics.
Vincenzo Joseph, the 2023 US Open runner-up who sprinted to the top of the podium in the recent Last Chance OTT qualifier, could also be considered the next best challenger.
David Kerr and Keegan O'Toole have just concluded one of the fiercest and most iconic collegiate rivalries (though O'Toole has one more year of eligibility remaining) and are currently competing on the freestyle senior circuit. There is a possibility of a rematch. Both have won world U20 gold medals (Kerr in 2019, O'Toole in 2022). O'Toole still has a gold medal left at the 2023 U23 World Championships, while Kerr was unable to compete at the 2022 U23 World Championships.
Watch Mezenbing win the aforementioned gold medal.
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They all have the freestyle talent and qualifications needed to advance to the top in State College. They also all have youth on their side, with Censo being the oldest, despite losing his NCAA eligibility just four years ago.
challengers
Meyer Shapiro
Alex Marinelli
tyler burger
Levi Haynes
Alex Facundo
Jarrett Jacks
Radallion Rocket
The remaining spots are a mix of youth and experience, all of whom could be potential challengers for the 74kg title.
Ladarion Lockett is the youngest of the remaining qualifiers and earned an invitation to the slot by winning gold at the U17 World Championships last July.
In addition to the NCAA third-place medal he won last March, Meyer Shapiro has won the U17 gold medal from 2021 and the U20 gold medal from 2023.
Watch Shapiro win a gold medal at the 2023 U20 World Championships (as seen in the video above, Mazenbrink also won a gold medal).
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Alex Facundo won two U17 gold medals in addition to the U20 bronze medal. Nittany Lion teammate Levi Haynes missed out on a medal at the 2021 U17 World Championships, the only age-group world championships he has qualified for thus far, but Haynes won the recently enacted 2024 NCAA Individual He has two NCAA medals, including a championship.
Tyler Berger played in the Final X last season, and Marinelli and Jack are on the national team. Marinelli also added several international medals to his trophy case.
prediction
1) Gaku
2) Burroughs
3) Norf
4) Joseph
This will be an emotional division for many American wrestling fans, as Jordan Burrows has said in the past that this year will be his last. We may still see Burrows compete in Paris, but for now I'm looking forward to 2021, when Dake wins his second straight match over Burrows and makes his first World or Olympic team in the 74kg weight class. I'm stuck with the results.
I think Nolf is still over a year away from making his first world or Olympic team, but I wouldn't be surprised if he finds a way to crack the JB/Dake code. It wouldn't be surprising if any number of sumo wrestlers could take that fourth place. I'm willing to follow Cenzo's enthusiasm, but if Starocci can survive the weight cut and is healthy (he defaulted with an injury in two games at the Big Ten Championships and then wrestled in a leg brace for quite some time in the NCAAs), Big story), I could easily see him being ranked high or even on the team.
What's worth keeping in mind is not only the depth of NCAA accomplishments at this weight (19 titles and even more AA honors!), but also the depth of honors at the UWW age level. Ten wrestlers who have won UWW world medals will be in this slot. Regardless of the outcome, it's a great time for American wrestling fans to watch matches in the 74kg division.
