2023 Senior Nationals Day 2 Recap

Greco-Roman Finals – Six weights, Women’s Freestyle – 3 weights and Men’s Freestyle six weights
December 16th, 2023
Fort Worth Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

The Army World Class Athlete Program, focused and battle tested, won four of six weight classes at the Senior National Finals in Fort Worth, Texas. Two time Olympian Ildar Hafizov (60kg) received at medical forfeit from NYAC’s Hayden Tuma. Fellow Olympian Alejandro Sancho (67kg) survived a scare from Peyton Omania. Peyton took a 5-0 lead into the break. Sancho was able to hit a 4 point move in the second period and another two, equaling the match at 6-6. A late challenge by Omania was lost. Three time World Team member Kamal Bey (77kg) was too much for Peak and earned a fall at 50 seconds of the first period. Alaska native Spencer Woods battled a petulant and over matched Mahmoud Sebie to win the Championship at 87kg.

Alan Vera (97kg) showed great patience in finding a path through Josef Rau’s defense and with a flurry of turns amassed enough points for the tech fall victory. In the 130kg finals match, Cohlton Schultz put on a control clinic. Adam Coon struggled to find any advantage while Schultz was building a lead he would not relinquish.

Greco-Roman Finals Results
60 kg – Ildar Hafizov (Army WCAP) won by injury default vs. Hayden Tuma (New York Athletic Club)
67 kg – Alejandro Sancho (Army WCAP) won by decision vs. Peyton Omania (Michigan) 7-6
77 kg – Kamal Bey (Army WCAP) won by fall vs. Benjamin Peak (Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club) :50
87 kg – Spencer Woods (Army WCAP) won by tech fall vs. Mahmoud Sebie (Florida) 11-3
97 kg – Alan Vera (New York Athletic Club) won by tech fall vs Josef Rau (Titan Mercury WC) 12-5
130 kg – Cohlton Schultz (Sunkist Kids WC) won by decision vs. Adam Coon (Cliff Keen WC) 4-1

The winners of the 2023 Senior Nationals in Greco-Roman will be the representatives for the United States at the Pan American Olympic Games Qualifier. The United States has not yet qualified any of the Greco-Roman Olympic weight classes for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The top 5 finishers at Senior Nationals will qualify for the Olympic Trials tournament in April of 2024.

Finals were also held for 3 of the Women’s Freestyle Olympic weight classes – 50kg, 53kg, and 57kg.

Mortimer and Chavez put on quite a show, trading throws and turns ending with a championship for Sage at 50kg. Amanda Martinez outlasted Alexandra Hedrick 4-1 to close out the Finals for the women. Three more weight classes will finish on Sunday.

50 kg – Sage Mortimer (Titan Mercury WC) winner by decision vs Samara Chavez (Team Tornado WC) 12-10
53 kg – Vayle Baker (West Point WC) winner by decision vs Katie Gomez (Sunkist Kids WC) 5-2
57 kg – Amanda Martinez (Titan Mercury WC) winner by decision vs Alexandra Hedrick (Titan Mercury WC) 4-1

The top five placers in each weight class qualify to compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, April 19-20, 2024 hosted by Penn State University.

The men’s freestyle competition got underway in all six Olympic weight classes. Upsets were the norm throughout the day. Spencer Lee was the exception – dominating his matches, concluding with a 12-1 tech fall in the semi-final round.

Men’s Freestyle Semi-Final Results

Freestyle 57
Spencer Lee (HWC/TMWC) won by tech fall vs Joshua Rodriguez (NLWC/TMWC) TF 12-1
Nico Megaludis (Pitt WC/TMWC) won by tech fall vs Luke Lilledahl (X-Calibur Athletics WC) TF 10-0

Freestyle 65
Beau Bartlett (NLWC/TMWC) won by decision vs Joseph McKenna (PENN/TMWC) Dec 5-5
Andrew Alirez (NCRTC/TMWC) won by decision vs Alec Pantaleo (CKWC/TMWC) Dec 4-3)

Freestyle 74
Quincy Monday (NJRTC/TMWC) won by decision vs Jarrett Jacques (Tiger Style WC) Dec 6-0
Alex Marinelli (HWC/TMWC) won by decision vs Alex Facundo (NLWC/TMWC) Dec 6-0

Freestyle 86
Mark Hall (PENN/TMWC) won by decision vs Connor Mirasola (Askren Wrestling Academy) Dec 9-2
Alex Dieringer (CKWC/TMWC) won by injury default vs David McFadden (PENN/TMWC) Inj. 0:51

Freestyle 97
Kollin Moore (OHIO RTC/TMWC) won by decision vs Jonathan Aiello (CAVALIER WC/TMWC) Dec 5-0
Nathan Jackson (New York Athletic Club) won by decision vs Eric Schultz (Nebraska Wrestling Training Center) Dec 9-8

Freestyle 125
Dominique Bradley (Sunkist Kids WC) won by decision vs Trent Hillger (Gopher WC/RTC) Dec 2-1
Christian Lance (Sunkist Kids WC) won by decision vs Demertius Thomas (Pittsburgh WC) Dec 8-2