57 kg
On this episode Ben Askren and Matt Dernlan breakdown the 2019 U.S. Open Wrestling Championships Finals. They start at 57 kg where Daton Fix got the win over Tomas Gilman 8-4. There was a controversial moment as Fix and Gilman were falling out of bounds if Fix’s knee touched the ground. The referee called it and Fix immediately went to his coaches to throw a challenge brick. In the replay Fix’s leg does not touch but as a coach, if you challenge and the refs don’t overturn it all of a sudden it’s a tie match. This is what happens the call is not overturned at the match is tied. The conversation shifts to the rest of the 57 kg bracket and the world team trials. Askren sees Gilman being able to win at World Trials and challenging Fix at Final X.
61 kg (5:50)
Cody Brewer took out Nico Megaludis in an exciting 4-3 match. Dernlan says Brewer has really shown himself to be dominant at 61 kg. Joey Palmer took third place and had huge matches throughout this tournament as a relatively unknown name.
65 kg (10:55)
In the marquee match of the finals, Yianni Diakomihalis beats Zain Retherford 6-4. Now Retherford has to make weight for trials and if he wins again for Final X on top of going through one of the toughest weight classes of wrestlers. It goes to show how important winning the Open is.
70 kg (12:45)
One of if not the biggest upset in the finals came at 70 kg with Ryan Deakin getting the win over James Green 8-6. Askren and Dernlan discuss how if they were proposed with the question of who they thought out of the younger wrestlers could beat Green it would have been Jason Nolf. That being said Dernlan has been a huge Deakin supporter all year long at Northwestern.
74 kg (18:10)
Isaiah Martinez beat Thomas Gantt 6-4. The score was 6-0 with 2 seconds left and then Gantt got a trip getting him last second 4 points.
79 kg (19:59)
Alex Dieringer dominates Chance Marsteller in an 11-0 first-period tech fall. Dieringer is a guy who could be on the world team every year but has been stuck behind all-timers such as Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Dake, and David Taylor.
86 kg (22:51)
Pat Downey beat Nick Heflin 10-4. Askren and Dernlan agree as good as these guys are they just can’t compete with David Taylor. The question is if David Taylor goes up or down in weight.
92 kg (26:13)
Bo Nickal dominated the U.S. Open and looks ready to take on J’Den Cox. The eye test does not work on Nickal as he more than handled Hayden Zillmer in the finals who looks really big for 92 kg.
97 kg (27:31)
Kyven Gadson beats Ben Honis in the finals 5-0. If he can win his finals match at World Trials he’ll face Kyle Snyder at Final X.
125 kg (29:23)
Adam Coon looked good throughout the tournament and got the win over Anthony Nelson in the finals 5-2.
Women’s Finals (30:30)
For Dernlan one of the stand out stories of the Women’s Finals was the performances from members of the Hawkeye Wrestling Club. HWC had three women champions including Alli Ragan, Forrest Molinari, and RUDIS’ recently signed Kayla Miracle who won her third straight U.S. Open. Look forward to an interview with Miracle on the RUDIS Wrestling Podcast in the near future.
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Ben Askren and Matt Dernlan host the RUDIS Wrestling Podcast. Askren, World Champion, and Olympic Wrestler joins in official partnership as a content provider for all things RUDIS. Matt Dernlan joins from years of experience in D1 college coaching at Binghamton, Clarion, and Penn State University.
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