Penn State and the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club will have several members competing in the 2023 Final X Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
It will be a freestyle event in a best-of-3 series with the winners advancing to the 2023 USA World Team
The World Team will compete in Serbia at Septembers Senior World Championships.
Thomas Gilman will wrestle Zane Richards at 57 kg, while Nick Lee will challenge Yianni Diakomihalis for his spot. Diakomihalis was a 2022 World medalist at 65 kg.
Zain Retherford (70 kg) and Kyle Dake (74 kg) were both 2022 World medalists. Dake announced his move to the NLWC last September. Retherford will take on Tyler Berger and Dake will challenge teammate Jason Nolf.
Another pair of teammates will face off at 86 kg. David Taylor will look to retain his spot after winning a gold medal last year and will have to go through Aaron Brooks.
Also at 97 kg, Kyle Snyder will defend his spot against J’den Cox.
Women’s freestyle and men’s Greco-Roman matches will also be wrestled, but no competitors are members of the NLWC.
Here’s a look at Saturday night’s pairings:
Men’s Freestyle
57 kg: Thomas Gilman vs. Zane Richards
61 kg: Vito Arujau vs. Nahshon Garrett
65 kg: *Yianni Diakomihalis vs Nick Lee
70 kg: *Zain Retherford vs Tyler Berger
74 kg: *Kyle Dake vs Jason Nolf
79 kg: *Jordan Burroughs vs Chance Marsteller
86 kg: *David Taylor vs Aaron Brooks
92 kg: Michael Macchiavello vs Zahid Valencia
97 kg: *Kyle Snyder vs J’den Cox
125 kg: Gable Steveson vs Mason Parris
*Denotes 2022 World Medalist
Women’s Freestyle
50 kg: *Sarah Hildebrandt vs Audrey Jimenez
53 kg: *Dominique Parrish vs Katie Gomez
55 kg: Alisha Howk vs Jacarra Winchester
57 kg: *Helen Maroulis vs Xochitl Mota-Pettis
59 kg: Michaela Beck vs Jennifer Page
62 kg: *Kayla Miracle vs Adaugo Nwachukwu
65 kg: Mallory Velte vs Macey Kilty
68 kg: Forrest Molinari vs Emma Bruntil
72 kg: *Amit Elor vs Joye Levendusky
76 kg: Kennedy Blades vs Adeline Gray
*Denotes 2022 World Medalist
Men’s Greco-Roman
55 kg: Brady Koontz vs Dalton Duffield
60 kg: Dalton Roberts vs Ildar Hafizov
63 kg: Hayden Tuma vs Xavier Johnson
67 kg: Robert Perez III vs Alejandro Sancho
72 kg: Justus Scott vs Patrick Smith
77 kg: Kamal Bey vs Aliaksandr Kikiniou
82 kg: Spencer Woods vs Ryan Epps
87 kg: Alan Vera vs Zachary Braunagel
97 kg: Josef Rau vs Christian Dulaney
130 kg: Cohlton Schultz vs Adam Coon
Men's Freestyle is all set for Final X!
Here's what goes down June 10th in Newark. pic.twitter.com/2hEzGINgS4
— Justin Basch (@JustinJBasch) May 21, 2023
