Updating The Race To Make The Pan Am Team At FloNats
Updating The Race To Make The Pan Am Team At FloNats
Detailing who is still left in the race to make the Pan Am team on the final day of FloNationals.
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Tomorrow morning closes out the tenth edition of FloNationals, and the first time we've used freestyle and Greco. As the Pan American trials, the representative being sent to the UWW Cadet continental championships in Morelia, Mexico at the end of June will be determined.
9:00 AM Eastern
The finals will be at 1PM tomorrow, alongside all the other placing matches. Willie did a day one update after the Greco finals, which detailed the champs and notable events from Thursday.
Before the tournament, I explained the process to make the Pan Am team, detailing the point system used by USA Wrestling. Below are the guys left alive in each weight who still are in the race to represent America in a couple months. Remember, you get 10 points for winning a weight and eight for making the finals. That means a win in the semis gives you five points in the Pan Am race, bumping you up from sixth place points (3).
Semifinal Matchups | Brackets in FloArena
45kg
Daniel Sheen controls his destiny right now, as the Greco champ is in the semis. Once Marc-Anthony McGowan registered for Greco though, he was basically the whole world's pick to be the Pan Am rep. Jaden Pepe also has an outside shot, but it seems like it will come down to McGowan and Sheen once again.
48kg
It's pretty simple here. Joey Fischer beat Sefton Douglass in the Greco finals, and they wrestle again tomorrow morning in the freestyle semis. The winner of that match will go to Pan Ams.
51kg
None of the freestyle semifinalists wrestled Greco, so we're looking at the backside. Guys still left in the consis who placed in Greco are Gary Steen and Nico Provo. They wrestle each other in the consi quarters tomorrow, but a Steen win does not guarantee him a spot on the team. Provo made the finals and has eight points, while Steen placed fourth and earned five points. If Provo wins, however, the National Prep All-American could represent Team USA in Mexico.
55kg
Along with 65kg, the race for the spot at 55kg is still wide open. The top three placers from Greco all made the freestyle semis, and fourth placer Garrett Lautzenheiser is still alive in the consi bracket fighting for third. Champ Jacob Rundell has top seed Jesse Ybarra tomorrow morning, while runner-up Sheldon Seymour and third placer Nicolar Rivera meet in the bottom half semi; Seymour won 8-0 when they wrestling in Greco on Thursday. We're going to have to wait until after the placing matches to know who's coming out on top here.
60kg
Going into the weekend, Willie and I both thought the Pan Am spot was Ryan Franco's to lose. Well, Jesse Mendez had other ideas. After getting knocked out in the bloodround of Fargo and Akron in both styles, he refocused and is now in the driver's seat to be on the Pan Am team. The freshman from Indiana was on the U15 Pan Am team in 2016, winning Greco and getting bronze in freestyle.
As the Greco finalist here, he has eight points and is in the bottom half semis. The two other contenders are Benjaman Alanis, a surprise semifinalist from Arizona who got fourth in Greco, and Ramon Ramos, also Arizona. Alanis is four points behind Mendez right now, so if he loses, the spot goes to Mendez. Ramos is also four points behind Mendez, and he would need to get third and have Mendez go semi slide to get the spot.
65kg
There are still three guys left who can make the Pan Am team. Robert Paul Perez, who is #1 on the Junior High Big Board, won Greco but was upset in the freestyle quarters by Paniro Johnson. He earned 10 points for Greco, so he maxes out at 16 if he finishes third. Perez beat NHSCA freshman champ Matthew Singleton in the Greco finals, and Singleton wrestles Johnson in tomorrow's semis, so he maxes out at 18 if he wins freestyle.
Super 32 finalist Caleb Henson, who like Singleton is from Georgia, was fourth in Greco and so maxes out at 15 points as he's in the semis tomorrow morning. The least likely to make the team is Chase Warden of Texas, who needs both Perez and Singleton to lose out to keep his chances alive. They both already have 11 points earned, and Warden maxes out at 12 if he fights back to third.
71kg
John Martin Best (Team West Virginia) will be your Pan Am team member. He scored six points yesterday by placing third, and as a semifinalist is guaranteed three points already. Stoney Buell is the only other Greco placer to make the podium, and he maxes out at eight total points. Congratulations to the junior from Parkersburg high school.
80kg
The three guys who can make the team are all fighting it out in the consi rounds. Greco finalist Jack Darrah faces Cacartney Parkinson of Indiana tomorrow morning. With nine points, he controls his destiny. Darwin Hull of Texas beat Jake Richardson of Pennsylvania in the third place Greco match, and they will have a rematch tomorrow morning. The loser is out, but the winner still has to win another match to overtake Darrah.
92kg
Greco finalist Silas Allred is the clubhouse leader after day two. If he wins his semi, the only way he doesn't make the team is if Kolby Franklin gets a pin in the semis or finals. Franklin, who was third in Greco on Thursday, basically has to win freestyle to give himself a chance. Sam Fisher, the Virginia Tech commit who Allred in the Greco finals, maxes out at 16 points and needs to win at least two matches tomorrow to stay in contention for the spot.
110kg
Braxton Mikesell won Greco and currently has 13 points. Tomorrow morning he'll face top seed Hunter Catka in the semis. Catka did not wrestler Greco but did make the Akron finals in freestyle last June. On the bottom side, Nathaniel Deasey has 11 points after losing to Mikesell on Thursday. Deasey will have to avenge a loss to Kyonte Hamilton from last year's NHSCA finals to not guarantee Mikesell gets the spot.