Takedown Report

David Taylor named 2018 John Smith Award winner, as USA Wrestling’s Freestyle Wrestler of the Year

By Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling | March 28, 2019,
David Taylor (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC) has been named the winner of the 2018 John Smith Award as the Freestyle Wrestler of the Year by USA Wrestling. It is the first time that Taylor has received this prestigious award. Taylor received the award at the Kickoff Party, organized by Jordan and Lauren Burroughs, in Pittsburgh, Pa. on March 20. Taylor won a gold medal at 86 kg in freestyle at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary. It was his first Senior World Championships appearance for the United States. Seeded second based upon his successful season, Taylor was randomly drawn into an opening bout against Olympic and World champion Hassan Yazdani Charati of Iran. In a memorable match where he trailed 6-2 at the break, Taylor powered back in the second period for an 11-6 win.

Taylor won three more times on his first day just to reach the finals. After a dominant 10-0 technical fall over 2015 European Junior champion Hajy Rajabau of Belarus, he shut down a difficult opponent for him, Cuba’s Yurieski Torreblanca of Cuba, 8-0 in the quarterfinals. The semifinal against 2017 European champion Dauren Kurugliev of Russia became a classic. Taylor fell behind 5-1 at the break, but also, when Kurugliev kicked out of a Taylor leg attack, the kick struck Taylor’s head and actually knocked him out. In the second period, Taylor rallied with two takedowns to tie it at 5-5, gaining the tiebreaking criteria. In the final seconds, Taylor converted another takedown to shut the door for a rough 7-5 win. His gold-medal bout was against Fatih Erdin of Turkey, the talented No. 1 seed, who Taylor dominated on the way to a 12-2 technical fall. He finished the 2018 season undefeated, including competition at the international and domestic levels. Taylor qualified for his first U.S. Senior World Team by winning Final X at State College in June, defeating Nick Reenan in the best-of-three finals series in two straight matches. Taylor was also the 2108 U.S. Open champion in Las Vegas, Nev. in April, defeating Richard Perry in the championship finals. It was Taylor’s fourth career U.S. Open title. Rest of the story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/March/28/Taylor-named-USA-Wrestling-Freestyle-Wrestler-of-the-Year?mc_cid=4103084d40&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 3, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized