It's finally 2018 U.S. Open week. That means the last chance to qualify for the World Team Trials challenge tournament next month in Rochester, MN, as well as the opportunity to win Final X berths at five weights.

Men's freestyle kicks off this Friday, April 27, at 9 AM Pacific time. All 10 weights will be going that day in Vegas, and today's preview covers the middle four brackets. Registration can be found in FloArena, which will soon turn into brackets. The top seven placers at each weight qualify for the Trials.

There are massive favorites at these middle weights. Frank Molinaro looks like the guy at 70kg, at least here with James Green sitting in the Final X in Lincoln, NE, on June 9. Kyle Dake holds all the cards at 79kg, a weight with a Final X berth on the line. David Taylor is poised to win his second straight U.S. Open and earn himself a bye to Final X in State College, PA.

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When: April 25-28 | Where: Las Vegas, NV

70kg

Frank Molinaro has gone from an NCAA champ to a freestyle maven. In his time on the senior level, he’s learned the shot-clock game, figured out a nasty head pinch, and made his high crotch even more efficient. Gorilla Hulk is up a weight and looks as ready as anyone to win on Saturday night.

Jason Chamberlain has been a fixture on the senior level for years and has a perpetual freestyle beard. A consistent performer, Chamberlain’s only tough loss this season was to Kellen Russell in the Schultz semis, but he has otherwise dominated American opponents. If pre-seeds hold, Chamberlain and Molinaro will meet in the semis.

Two current college stars may be in a good position to make the finals. Hayden Hidlay seems to have made a big jump this year, as his first loss of the NCAA season came in the national finals. Hidlay lives in underhooks and only lost to Alex Marinelli at last year’s Junior Trials up at 74kg. Ryan Deakin has the length of a condor and made the Junior world finals last year at 66kg. Both Hidlay and Deakin seem more suited for 70kg. They'll meet in the round of 16.

Just like he always was in college, Dylan Ness is once again a wild card. There’s not many in this bracket that he can’t beat, but can he win a match if his opponent doesn’t give up a big move? I really like his draw as the seven seed, having to go through Matt Kolodzik, Chase Pami, and Alec Pantaleo in order to make the finals.

Hunter Stieber and Mario Mason add some veteran credentials to the field—they traded wins against each other this season. Chase Pami, ever the fountain of youth, is the two seed but has not competed much since last year's Trials.

Matt Kolodzik is the face of the Princeton program right now, as well as of the Princeton WC on the freestyle side. He beat Deakin this year and placed ahead of him at NCAAs and won two Fargo titles while in high school. Other interesting college stars include Steve Bleise of Minnesota and Josh Heil of Campbell.

Last but not least, we would be remiss to not mention MMA star Lance Palmer. Who knows when his last competitive match was, but it’s always fun to see hammers like that get back on the mat.

Nomad's Picks

1) Frank Molinaro  2) Dylan Ness  3) Jason Chamberlain  4) Hayden Hidlay

74kg

The point has already been made that the cupboard is relatively bare at 74kg this year. The top seed at the Open will be Nazar Kulchytskyy, who was fourth at 70kg in last year’s Trials. He is 9-2 at this weight this season, with his best performance coming at the World Clubs Cup when he went 5-0. He also got a 12-0 tech over Dylan Ness and beat Kadyrov Cup champ Rasul Dzhukaev of Russia in the finals of the Dave Schultz, which is when he qualified for WTT.

Isaiah Martinez is now done with college wrestling, having won two titles as a four-time finalist. He also has aged out of the U23 age group, where he wrestled for bronze last year in Poland at the world championships. It seems like fewer weigh-ins and competitions will be a good environment for IMar, allowing him to use the strength that was always his inherent advantage while also helping him grow in his technique.

Dan Vallimont is a veteran of the game but is an example of the current depth at 74kg. He has qualified for just one Trials the past four years, the Olympic Trials in 2016. Likewise, Quinton Godley made it to every WTT from 2013-15 but has not qualified either of the past two years. Vallimont is pre-seeded third and Godley comes in fourth.

Even the junior pipeline was not a big help this year. Mark Hall, last year’s junior world team rep at 74kg, is not competing at the Open, and neither is the guy he beat in the finals, Alex Marinelli. Hayden Hidlay was third at Junior Trials and is down at 70kg, leaving Evan Wick. 

The redshirt freshman was third at NCAAs for Wisconsin this year and should definitely qualify for the WTT challenge tournament. A semifinal between Wick and Kulchytskyy could be interesting since they train together in Madison, WI.

Nomad's Picks

1) Isaiah Martinez  2) Nazar Kulchytskyy  3) Evan Wick  4) Dan Vallimont

79kg

What started off as the best weight in America slowly dwindled down to a heavyweight fight between seven NCAA titles. Kyle Dake and Alex Dieringer are the top two seeds at 79kg and have no real challengers to keep them from making the finals on Saturday night, a match that will give the winner a berth to Final X at Lehigh.

Dake already has three competitions and 12 matches under his belt at the new weight. He only gave up points in three of those matches and got shutout techs in the other nine bouts. It’s a more explosive and offensive Dake than we’ve ever seen.

Dieringer is 8-0 so far up a weight, with titles in Ukraine and at the Bill Farrell. He teched his way through the Farrell, using his triceps carry in every match. It's unlikely, but that may be the big move that could be his ticket to beating Dake. They wrestled three times last year, and every time Ringer made it closer.

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There is quite a bit of dropoff after those two, with Jon Reader, Zahid Valencia, and Mark Hall all not competing. Hall is not qualified for the Trials, so he won't be doing senior level this year. Reader and Valencia we should hopefully both see next month in Minnesota.

The three seed will be Mike Evans, now an assistant coach at Campbell. Competing for Buies Creek RTC, Evans finished third at the Farrell, beating Josh Asper 8-5 in that match. Evans does not have a long freestyle resume but was a three-time All-American for Iowa.

Asper, a two-time AA during his time wrestling for Maryland, is the four seed. The X-factor is Princeton assistant Nathan Jackson, himself a multiple time AA while he was at Indiana. In fact, Jackson was a 184 in college, wrestling that weight at Midlands this year. He'll be enormous for the weight and have a distinct reach advantage over everyone in the field.

Nomad's Picks

1) Kyle Dake  2) Alex Dieringer  3) Nathan Jackson  4) Mike Evans

86kg

It appears to finally be David Taylor's year. The tall, skinny kid from Wyoming who moved to St. Paris, Ohio, is now a full grown man and one of the best wrestlers in the world. He's beaten world and Olympic champs, battled all over the world, and is ready to claim his throne at 86kg.

The weights are now spread out in such a way that Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Dake, David Taylor, and J'den Cox can all wrestle for America on one team, as opposed to those being WTT finals last year. So, who will Taylor have to beat to get there?

Between the Dave Schultz and Bill Farrell, America's two domestic senior level tournaments, only five wrestlers competed at 86kg: Richard Perry, Pat Downey, Josef Rau, Nick Reenan, and Evan Hansen. Rau is primarily a Greco guy and Reenan may still have junior eligibility, though he is wrestling seniors this weekend.

Perry and Downey are the two main competitors for Taylor, and he 10-0'd both of them a year ago at the Open. Taylor teched Downey in 2:11 in the quarters, then ran through Perry in 3:58 in the finals.

Perry is 3-0 all-time against Downey, most recently beating him 2-1 at the Schultz in November. Additionally, Perry has been on an upward trajectory the last four years and his last three losses are all to guys with world medals.

The winner of this weight gets a bye to Final X. Where will that be held? State College of course. All the stars are aligning for Taylor right now.

Nomad's Picks

1) David Taylor  2) Richard Perry  3) Pat Downey III  4) Nick Reenan