Top Reasons To Watch The 2024 Bill Farrell
Top Reasons To Watch The 2024 Bill Farrell
Check out the top 3 biggest stories to watch out for at the 2024 Bill Farrell Memorial.
The 2024 Bill Farrell is set to go down November 8-9 and will feature some incredible matches. Check out the below article for a quick breakdown of the top things to watch out for at this year's Bill Farrell.
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Can Anyone Challenge Kyle Snyder?
Outside of Final X, Kyle Snyder hardly ever competes inside the United States. In fact, Snyder has only wrestled at the Bill Farrell once - all the way back in 2019. The field this year at 97 kg is small right now but there are some interesting challengers for Snyder including Justin Rademacher, Michael Macchiavello, and Jay Aiello. Of that group, Rademacher is the wrestler I’m most interested in seeing compete after the summer of competition he had at U20 trials and U20 Worlds. Rademacher continued to get better every time we saw him on the mat culminating in a bronze medal at U20 Worlds. I’m not saying he has the goods to beat Snyder yet but it will be great to see Snyder challenged by some of the young up-and-comers at 97 kg.
Rademacher's bronze medal match at the 2024 U20 World Championships:
Several Top High Schoolers In The Field
One of the unique aspects of the Bill Farrell this year is all of the top-level high school wrestlers entered. There are 7 top 6 ranked high schoolers in the field that will compete against some tough senior-level competition at the Farrell. Check out the current high schoolers entered:
- 57 kg: #2 Jax Forrest
- 57 kg: #5 Nate Desmond
- 61 kg: #5 Billy Dekraker
- 61 kg: #6 Sam Herring
- 70 kg: #1 PJ Duke
- 70 kg: #4 Kollin Rath
- 125 kg: #6 Coby Merrill
Of the above group, Jax Forrest and PJ Duke are the two wrestlers I’m most interested in watching because of the potential matches at their respective weights. At 57 kg, Forrest could wrestle NCAA Runner-Up Brandon Courtney, All-American Liam Cronin, and former national team member Daniel DeShazer. Forrest already has two tech fall wins over Cronin, and a close win over DeShazer, but has never wrestled Courtney. Even though he's just a junior in high school, it's not crazy to say that Forrest is the favorite to win 57 kg at the Farrell.
Forrest's win over Cronin at the 2024 World Team Trials:
Duke’s field is just as deep at 70 kg with national team member Jarrett Jacques, two-time All-American Will Lewan, and three-time All-American Bryce Andonian. Similar to Forrest, Duke already has wins over two of these three wrestlers. Duke defeated both Will Lewan and Jarrett Jacques at the 2024 World Team Trials in September but has never wrestled Bryce Andonian. Duke, who is committed to wrestle at Penn State next year, already has incredible hype behind him and if he can come away with gold at the Farrell, that hype will only build into his college career.
Duke's win over Lewan at the 2024 World Team Trials:
Guilford vs Makoyed Round 13!?!
On the women’s side of things there are several incredible matchups but the best might be the renewal of the rivalry between Yelena Makoyed and Dymond Guilford. From what I can find, these two have wrestled TWELVE TIMES over the past four years with each winning six matches. Makoyed, fresh off a U23 World title has won four of the past 5 matches but Guilford notably defeated Makoyed at 2022 Final X to make the senior world team. Both Makoyed and Guilford are the main contenders to challenge Kennedy Blades for the world team next year at 76 kilograms and their potential meeting at the Farrell could set the stage for who we can expect to see in next year’s Final X.
Makoyed's win over Guilford for 3rd place at the 2023 US Open:
Guilford's win over Makoyed to make the 2022 World Team:
2024 Bill Farrell Schedule
*All times listed below are Eastern Standard Time
Friday, November 8th
Session I - Senior Greco-Roman and Senior Women's Freestyle
- 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM - Preliminaries and Repechage
Session II - Senior Greco-Roman & Senior Women's Freestyle
- 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM - All Medal Matches
Saturday, Nov. 9th
Session III - Senior Men’s Freestyle
- 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM - Preliminaries and Repechage
Session IV - Senior Men’s Freestyle
- 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM - All Medal Matches
*Repechage = All athletes who have lost to a Semifinalist will be placed in a repechage