Greco-Roman Storylines To Watch At The 2018 U.S. Open
Greco-Roman Storylines To Watch At The 2018 U.S. Open
The best Greco-Roman storylines for the upcoming U.S. Open
This Thursday and Friday will be the 2018 U.S. Open in Greco-Roman, setting the stage for the World Team Trials in June. The champs at all 10 weights will sit in the best-of-three WTT finals, giving the winners a massive advantage to be the guy wrestling in Budapest in October at the world championships.
The Return Of Adam Coon
The last time Coon wrestled on the senior level was at the 2016 Olympic Team Trials. There, he lost 4-1 and 7-2 to Robby Smith, who has held the heavyweight Greco spot five years in a row. Coon will be doing both styles in Vegas, and Greco goes first. The finals get set on Thursday, April 26th, and then the finals happen Friday night at 7pm pacific.
Greco is a drastically different animal for Coon than folkstyle, as his opponents can't run out of bounds from his underhook. The 2014 junior world bronze medalist is almost always the biggest guy in every match he wrestles, and can physically overwhelm anyone he faces.
77kg: Kamal Bey vs Jesse Porter
Unquestionably the best rivalry in Greco right now. Their Bill Farrell final last month had one of the most insane first minutes you'll ever see. Bey had to win the February 2017 Schultz final with an absurd four pointer in the final minute, and these two also met at the 2016 Farrell. The best part about these matches is that Porter always gets a big move, and there is some kind of controversy or crucial flurry. This is not a rivalry decided by passive points.
Standing in the way of this match happening once again are Kendrick Sanders and Jon Jay Chavez. This will probably end up being the best bracket of the weekend.
Will America Be Spread Too Thin?
Particularly at the lower weights, Team USA will be scrambling for depth. Looking at last year's national team members at 59kg, they're now spread out across three weights. Max Nowry is at 55kg, Ildar Hafizov is at 60kg and Hayden Tuma is at 63kg. Going back to the 2016 Olympic Trials and 2015 Senior Nationals top three at 59kg, Spenser Mango and Jermaine Hodge are retired, and Thielke is up at 63kg.
Getting the benefit of most of the 59kg athletes is 63kg, where Sammy Jones, Ryan Mango and Xavier Johnson still live, but the likes of Taylor LaMont and Dalton Roberts at down at 60kg, and Randon Miranda is the 55kg favorite. That's not ideal for a country coming off its worst performance at the world championships in years. It might take even longer now to build the kind of depth America needs to contend for medals again.
87kg: Joe Rau vs Ben Provisor
Coming off a long layoff from injury, Rau appears to be in the best shape of his life; Provisor had a similar experience after some back issues years ago. Even though it only went two matches, their series was one of the best last year. Hopefully they run it back to decide who gets the bye to the Trials finals.
