Team USA receives draws in all three styles for the Pan American Olympic Qualifier

All 14 Americans competing at the Pan American Olympic Qualifier received their draws this afternoon. The finalists at each weight class will qualify their country for the Olympic Games.

This summer, at the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, the U.S. qualified the men’s freestyle 74 kg and 97 kg weight classes and the women’s freestyle 68 kg and 76 kg weight classes. At 74 kg, Jordan Burroughs earned a World bronze medal and Kyle Snyder also brought home bronze at 97 kg. Tamyra Mensah-Stock earned her first world title at 68 kg, while Adeline Gray took gold at 76 kg. In order to qualify the weight class, a wrestler needed to place top-five by making it to a medal match.

Day one will exclusively feature Greco-Roman wrestling. The U.S. has six wrestlers slated to compete.

At 60 kg, 2019 World Team member Ildar Hafizov drew Andres Roberto Montano Arroyo of Ecuador, the 2019 Pan American Games champion.

Alejandro Sancho will represent the Red, White and Blue and 67 kg, replacing Ellis Coleman who was originally scheduled to compete. He received a bye in the opening round and will see either Cristobal Torres Nunes of Chile, who placed fifth at last weekend’s Pan Am Championships, or Enyer Feliciano of the Dominican Republic, who finished 9th at the Pan Am Championships.

77 kg features Pat Smith opening his tournament with John Yeats of Canada. Yeats is a 2017 Junior Pan Am champion.

Joe Rau has a bye to the 87 kg quarterfinals where he will see the winner of Luis Eduardo Avendano Rojas of Venezuela and Carlos Munoz Jaramillo of Columbia. Avendano Rojas finished fifth at the 2020 Pan Am Championships and is the 2019 Pan American Games champion. Munoz Jaramillo finished runner-up at the 2020 Pan Am Championships and fifth at the 2019 Pan American Games.

G’Angelo Hancock drew Luis Rivera Alvarado of Mexico in the first round of his pool at 97 kg. His opponent does not have any recorded results.

2018 World Silver medalist at 130 kg Adam Coon drew Yasmani Acosta Fernandez of Chile in the opening round. Acosta Fernandez, formerly of Cuba, is a 2011 Pan Am Championships gold medalist and four-time place winner. In 2020 he finished eighth.

Saturday will be exclusively women’s freestyle action. Kicking it off for the women at 50 kg will be 2018 World silver medalist at 53 kg Sarah Hildebrandt. She will open with the winner of Rita Rojas Chavez of Mexico, a 2018 Junior Pan Am Championships bronze medalist, or Jacqueline del Rocio Mollocano Eleno of Ecuador, a 2020 Pan Am Championships bronze medalist.

2019 55 kg World champion Jacarra Winchester will be the U.S. representative at 53 kg. In the opening round of her pool she will wrestle Lienne de la Caridad Montero Herrera of Cuba, a 2018 World bronze medalist at 55 kg and the 2020 Pan Am Championships bronze medalist.

At 57 kg, 2016 Olympic champion Helen Maroulis drew 2019 World champion at 59 kg Linda Morais of Canada in the first round of her pool. Morais also holds a bronze from the 2016 World Championships.

Rounding out the women’s team will be Kayla Miracle at 62 kg. Miracle has Nathaly Josefina Griman Herrera of Venezuela in her opening match in the pool. Griman Herrera placed fourth at the 2020 Pan Am Championships.

The tournament will conclude with men’s freestyle, which will take place on Sunday. Thomas Gilman, a late lineup change for Team USA, will compete at 57 kg. Gilman will square off in a pigtail with Ligrit Sadiku of Canada, who placed fifth at the 2020 Pan Am championships. If he wins, he will see Cuba’s Reineri Andreu Ortega, a two-time U23 World champion.

At 65 kg, Zain Retherford opens his tournament with Jose Javier Rodriguez Colon of Puerto Rico. Rodriguez Colon placed fifth at the 2020 Pan Am Championships.

2018 World champion David Taylor makes his return to the mat at 86 kg after a hiatus due to injury. In the opening round, Taylor will take on Venezuela’s Pedro Francisco Ceballos Fuentes of Venezuela. A fifth place finisher at the 2016 Olympic Games, Ceballos Fuentes finished runner-up at the 2019 Pan Am Games and ninth at the 2020 Pan Am Championships.

Two-time World bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski will represent the U.S. at 125 kg. In his first match he will face Charles Merrill of Puerto Rico. Merrill placed fifth at the 2020 Pan Am Championships.

If the wrestlers fail to qualify the weight class for the Olympic Games, there will be one more opportunity to do so at the last chance Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. The tournament is currently being postponed and a new date has yet to be announced.

Action will start tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. EST and can be streamed live on WrestlingTV.

2020 Pan American Olympic Qualifier
at Ottawa, Canada (March 13-15)

Men’s freestyle roster
57 kg: Thomas Gilman (Iowa City, Iowa/Titan Mercury WC)
vs. Ligrit Sadiku (Canada), 2020 Pan Am Championships 5th

65 kg: Zain Retherford (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC)
vs. Jose Javier Rodriguez Colon (Puerto Rico), 2020 Pan Am Championships 5th

86 kg: David Taylor (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC)
vs. Pedro Francisco Ceballos Fuentes (Venezuela), Silver at 2019 Pan Am Games, 9th at 2020 Pan Am Championships

125 kg: Nick Gwiazdowski (Raleigh, N.C./Titan Mercury WC/Wolfpack WC)
vs. Charles Merrill (Puerto Rico), 5th at 2020 Pan Am Championships