Takedown Report

USA men’s freestyle sweeps all 10 Pan American gold medals in Buenos Aires

By Taylor Miller, USA Wrestling | April 21, 2019,

Photo: David Taylor in the 2019 Pan Am finals. Photo by Lucia Cruz. 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – The United States men’s freestyle team won all 10 Pan American Championships gold medals over the last two days, collecting eight titles on Sunday evening in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the first time in the history of the event that a team has gone undefeated, winning every weight. Team USA went 34-0 over the weekend in men’s freestyle action and claimed the team title, racking up 250 points. Four-time World champion and 2012 Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs won his third overall Pan Am Championships title (fifth including Pan Am Games) on Sunday night, defeating 2015 Pan Am silver medalist Jevon Balfour of Canada in the 74 kg finals. While the score was one-sided, the match featured a lot of action with several exciting scrambles. Burroughs took a 5-0 lead in to the break with a takedown and leg lace and scored one more takedown in the final frame for a 7-0 win.

Winning his second-straight Pan Am title was 2018 World champion David Taylor at 86 kg. Taylor spent minimal time on the mat en route to a dominating 10-0 tech fall over Pedro Ceballo Fuentes of Venezuela. Overall, Taylor finished the day with two pins and two tech falls. Because of his performance, Taylor was recognized as the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.  2016 Olympic champion and two-time World champion Kyle Snyder picked up his second-career Pan Am championship on Sunday, winning by injury default over two-time World silver medalist Reineris Salas Perez from Cuba.

Though he didn’t have to wrestle his finals match, Snyder still put together a great performance earlier in the day with a pair tech falls. Two-time World bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski surrendered only one point the entire day on his way to his second Pan Am title, winning all four bout by tech falls and outscoring his opponents 41-1. In his final, Gwiazdowski put up a 10-0 first-period tech over nine-time Pan American medalist Korey Jarvis of Canada. At 61 kg, 2018 World bronze medalist Joe Colon went 3-0 on the day in round-robin action to win his first Pan American title. Rest of the story and details at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/April/21/USA-mens-freestyle-sweeps-all-10-Pan-American-gold-medals-in-Buenos-Aires?mc_cid=c1aaf85871&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 22, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized