By Gary Abbott
USA Wrestling
Shortly after one of the greatest Olympic performances in the history of USA Wrestling, the United States is sending an experienced and talented team to the Senior World Championships in Oslo, Norway, October 2-10.

Eight of the nine U.S. wrestlers who won Olympic medals at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 decided to also compete at the World Championships, giving Team USA an amazing foundation for success in Oslo. In addition, the other 22 team berths were determined during a competitive Senior World Team Trials in Lincoln, Nebraska, September 11-12.

The competition will be held at Jordal Amfi in Oslo, Norway. The event starts with men’s freestyle competition October 2-5, women’s freestyle action October 4-7 and Greco-Roman wrestling October 7-10.

The combined U.S. team includes 10 Olympic medalists including four who have won an Olympic gold medal. The group also has eight past Senior World champions, who have won a combined 18 World titles. A total of 12 of the team members have won a Senior World medal, and they have combined for a total of 36 Senior World medals.

The 2020 Olympic medalists on the World Team include gold medalists David Taylor (MFS,86 kg) and Tamyra Mensah Stock (WFS, 68 kg). 2020 Olympic silver medalists Adeline Gray (WFS, 76 kg) and Kyle Snyder (MFS, 97 kg) are also on the squad. 2020 Olympic bronze medalists Thomas Gilman (MFS, 57 kg), Kyle Dake (MFS, 74 kg), Helen Maroulis (WFS, 57 kg) and Sarah Hildebrandt.(WFS, 50 kg) will also compete in Oslo.

Snyder and Maroulis are both two-time Olympic medalists, as they were also 2016 Olympic gold medalists. Two other past Olympic medalists qualified for the team with victories at the World Team Trials, 2012 Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs (MFS, 79 kg) and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist J’den Cox (MFS, 92 kg).

We will look at each U.S. team separately, starting with the men’s freestyle wrestlers who compete first. This team has won a combined 28 World and Olympic medals, with 14 of them gold.

We start with the six past Olympic medalists: Gilman, Dake, Burroughs, Taylor, Cox and Snyder. From this group, Burroughs has won four World titles and seven World medals. Snyder is a two-time World champion and four-time World medalist. Cox has also won two World titles, and three World medals. Dake has won two World titles and Taylor, who was the national winner of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2009, has won one World title. Gilman, who was the Nebraska winner of the DSHSEA in 2012, won a World silver medal in 2017.

Also on the team is a two-time World medalist James Green at 70 kg, who has won a World silver and World bronze, plus two-time World bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski, who was the New York winner of the DSHSEA in 2011, at 125 kg. Daton Fix, who was the national winner of the DSHSEA in 2017, is competing at 61 kg and is on his second Senior World Team. The only team member who has not been on a Senior World team is Yianni Diakomihalis, who was the New York winner of the DSHSEA in 2017, at 65 kg, who has won two Cadet World titles.

Seven of the team members are past NCAA Div. I champions with Dake (4x), Snyder (3x), Cox (3x), Diakomihalis (2x), Burroughs (2x), Taylor (2x) and Gwiazdowski (2x), for a total of a combined 18 NCAA crowns.

Next up on the schedule is the women’s freestyle squad, with 2020 Olympic champion Mensah Stock, silver medalist Gray and 2020 bronze medalists Maroulis and Hildebrandt. Maroulis became the first U.S. women’s wrestler to win two career Olympic medals. Gray is a two-time Olympian, also a member of the 2016 Olympic squad.

Gray has won the most Senior World titles in U.S. history with five, regardless of style or gender, and has seven total career World medals. Maroulis boasts two World titles and four World medals. Mensah Stock was a 2019 World champion and has won two World medals. Hildebrandt also has won a World silver medal.

The women’s freestyle squad added past World Team members Jenna Burkett (55 kg), Kayla Miracle (62 kg) and Forrest Molinari (65 kg) with victories at the World Team Trials. Miracle was a member of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team and will be on her second Senior World Team. Burkert will be wrestling on her fourth Senior World Team. Molinari, who placed fifth at the World Championships twice, will wrestle on her third Senior World Team.

Competing on their first Senior World Teams are Amy Fearnside at 53 kg, Maya Nelson at 59 kg and Kylie Welker at 72 kg. Nelson and Welker are past Junior World champion, with Nelson winning in 2017 and Welker in 2021. Fearnside was a 2014 University World silver medalist.

On the college scene, Maroulis and Miracle were both four-time WCWA national champions. Hildebrandt and Mensah Stock both won two WCWA national titles, and Molinari won a WCWA national crown.

The Greco-Roman team does not feature any past Olympic or World medalist, but have five past Senior World Team members and two past U.S. Olympic Team members. The team is a nice mix of veteran stars and rising young talents.

Ben Provisor at 82 kg competed in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, while G’Angelo Hancock at 97 kg was a 2020 Olympian. Hancock will be competing on his fourth Senior World team, while Provisor is going to his second Senior World Championships.

The other past Senior World Team members include Max Nowry at 55 kg, Dalton Roberts at 60 kg and Patrick Smith at 77 kg. Smith will be on his third Senior World Team, while Nowry and Roberts are on their second Senior World Teams. Nowry reached a medal match at the 2019 Senior Worlds, placing fifth.

Five of the Greco-Roman team members will be on their first Senior World Team: Sam Jones at 63 kg, Peyton Omania at 67 kg, Jesse Porter at 77 kg, Alan Vera at 87 kg and Cohlton Schultz , who was the national winner of the DSHSEA in 2019, at 130 kg. Omania and Schultz are past age-group World medalists for the USA. Porter won the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at 77 kg, but the USA did not qualify to compete in the Tokyo Olympics at that weight class. Vera is a naturalized U.S. citizen who emigrated from Cuba.

The three U.S. teams had a short training camp in Hoboken, N.J. prior to heading to Oslo.

All of the competition will be broadcast live by FloWrestling. Oslo is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time zone.

2021 U.S. Senior World Team

Men’s freestyle
57 kg – Thomas Gilman (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)
61 kg – Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla./Cowboy RTC/Titan Mercury WC)
65 kg – Yianni Diakomihalis (Rochester, N.Y./Spartan Combat WC/Titan Mercury WC)
70 kg – James Green (Blacksburg, Va./Southeast RTC/Titan Mercury WC)
74 kg – Kyle Dake (Ithaca, N.Y./Spartan Combat WC/Titan Mercury WC)
79 kg – Jordan Burroughs (Philadelphia, Pa./Pennsylvania RTC/Sunkist Kids)
86 kg – David Taylor (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)
92 kg – J’den Cox (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/New Jersey RTC/Titan Mercury WC)
97 kg – Kyle Snyder (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)
125 kg – Nick Gwiazdowski (Ithaca, N.Y./Spartan Combat RTC/Titan Mercury WC)
Team Leader – Rich Tavoso, New York, N.Y.
Freestyle National Team Coaches – Bill Zadick, Joe Russell and Kevin Jackson (Colorado Springs, Colo.)

Women’s freestyle
50 kg – Sarah Hildebrandt (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/New York AC)
53 kg – Amy Fearnside (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC)
55 kg – Jenna Burkert (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP)
57 kg – Helen Maroulis (Rockville, Md./Sunkist Kids)
59 kg – Maya Nelson (Denver, Colo., Sunkist Kids)
62 kg – Kayla Miracle (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids)
65 kg – Forrest Molinari (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids)
68 kg – Tamyra Mensah-Stock (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC)
72 kg – Kylie Welker (Waterford, Wis./Titan Mercury WC)
76 kg – Adeline Gray (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/New York AC)
Team Leader – Kiki Kelley, Minneapolis, Minn.**
Women’s National Team Coaches – Terry Steiner and Clarissa Chun (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

Greco-Roman
55 kg – Max Nowry (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP)
60 kg – Dalton Roberts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP)
63 kg – Sam Jones (East Lansing, Mich./New York AC)
67 kg – Peyton Omania (Concord, Calif./New York AC)
72 kg – Patrick Smith (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm)
77 kg – Jesse Porter (Shenedahowa, N.Y./NMU-OTS/New York AC)
82 kg – Ben Provisor (Des Moines, Iowa/New York AC)
87 kg – Alan Vera (Jersey City, N.J./NYC RTC/New York AC)
97 kg – G’Angelo Hancock (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
130 kg – Cohlton Schultz (Parker, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
Team Leader – Joshua Weintraub (New York, N.Y.), Assistant Team Leader - Bill Kloos (New York, N.Y.)
Greco-Roman National Team Coaches – Matt Lindland and Mohammed Abdel-Fattah (Colorado Springs, Colo.)

Referees – Jason Babi (Centennial, Colo.), Danny Blackshear (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Tim Pierson (Virginia Beach, Va.).
USA Wrestling President – Bruce Baumgartner (Edinboro, Pa.)

World Championships schedule in Oslo, Norway
Saturday, October 2 – MFS 61 kg, 74 kg, 86 kg, 125 kg through semifinals
Sunday, October 3 – MFS 61 kg, 74 kg, 86 kg, 125 kg finals, MFS 57 kg, 65 kg, 79 kg, 92 kg through semifinals
Monday, October 4 – MFS 57 kg, 65 kg, 79 kg, 92 kg finals, MFS 70 kg, 97 kg WFS 55 kg, 62 kg through semifinals
Tuesday, October 5 –MFS 70 kg, 97 kg WFS 55 kg, 62 kg finals, WFS 50 kg, 53 kg, 65 kg, 76 kg through semifinals
Wednesday, October 6 –WFS 50 kg, 53 kg, 65 kg, 76 kg finals, WFS 57 kg, 59 kg, 68 kg, 72 kg through semifinals
Thursday, October 7 –WFS 57, 59, 68, 72 kg finals, GR 55, 72, 77, 82 kg through semifinals
Friday, October 8 - GR 55, 72, 77, 82 kg finals, GR 60, 97, 130 kg through semifinals
Saturday, October 9 - GR 60, 97, 130 kg finals, GR 63, 67, 87 kg through semifinals
Sunday, October 10 - GR 63, 67, 87 kg finals

Hometowns for Team USA members (where they went to high school): New York 5 (Diakomihalis, Dake, Gwiazdowski, Burkert, Porter), Colorado 4 (Nelson, Gray, Hancock, Schultz), California 3 (Fearnside, Molinari, Omania), Indiana 2 (Hildebrandt, Miracle), Maryland 2 (Snyder, Maroulis), New Jersey 2 (Burroughs, Green), Wisconsin 2 (Welker, Provisor), Cuba 1 (Vera), Illinois 1 (Nowry), Louisiana 1 (Jones), Michigan 1 (Roberts), Minnesota 1 (Smith), Missouri 1 (Cox), Nebraska 1 (Gilman), Ohio 1 (Taylor), Oklahoma 1 (Fix), Texas 1 (Mensah Stock),

Colleges attended as undergrads: Northern Michigan 6 (Burkert, Nowry, Roberts, Jones, Porter, Provisor), Cornell 2 (Diakomihalis, Dake), King 2 (Hildebrandt, Molinari), Missouri Baptist 2 (Maroulis, Molinari), Nebraska 2 (Green, Burroughs), Arizona State 1 (Schultz), Binghamton 1 (Gwiazdowski), Campbellsville 1 (Miracle), Cumberlands 1 (Nelson), Daymar 1 (Hancock), Devry 1 (Gray), Iowa 1 (Gilman), Jamestown 1 (Fearnside), Michigan State 1 (Omania), Minnesota 1 (Smith), Missouri 1 (Cox), NC State 1 (Gwiazdowski), Ohio State 1 (Snyder), Oklahoma State 1 (Fix), Penn State 1 (Taylor), Simon Fraser 1 (Maroulis), UCCS 1 (Gray), Wayland Baptist 1 (Mensah Stock)