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PREVIEW/THREAD: Four Hawkeyes set to compete at U23 Worlds this week

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Tanner Lafever

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I’ve got all you need to know ahead of this week’s U23 World Championships in Las Vegas - which will feature four Hawkeyes between Team USA’s Men’s and Women’s Freestyle squads:

www.on3.com

Nevada native Larramendy among Hawkeye quartet at U23 Worlds

As a new college season draws ever closer for Iowa’s wrestling programs, the pursuit of international excellence also continues for the Hawkeyes. This
www.on3.com www.on3.com

Action gets underway this Wednesday - led off by Everest Leydecker (55kg) and Kylie Welker (76kg). Reese Larramendy (65kg) will followed a day later. And Jordan Williams (70kg) rounds things out starting Saturday.
 
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Tanner Lafever

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Draws are out for Women’s Freestyle - which begins tomorrow at 12:30pm (CT) with Leydecker/Welker:

IMG_0472.jpeg

IMG_0474.jpeg

A day later, it’ll be Larramendy’s turn (also starting at 12:30pm CT):

IMG_0473.jpeg
 
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Tanner Lafever

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Welker continues to lay waste to the 76kg field, teching a Russian (11-0) to reach her third consecutive U23 final:



Unfortunately, Leydecker lost by fall in her 55kg semifinal - getting snapped into a cradle after building an early 3-0 lead against 3x age-level World medalist Gerda Terek (Hungary):




That concludes things for today. Action will resume tomorrow at 12:30pm (CT) as Reese Larramendy begins her run at 65kg.

Leydecker (bronze) and Welker (gold) will return for their medal matches starting at 8:00pm (CT).
 
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Tanner Lafever

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Larramendy loses 10-0 in the 65kg semis to
Yuqi Rao (China) - the reigning U23 silver medalist.

An early shot by the Hawkeye got countered for a takedown. Then Rao rattled off four powerful gut wrenches to secure the TF.

With the loss, Larramendy will wrestle for bronze tomorrow night.
 
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Tanner Lafever

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Leydecker wins bronze in dominant fashion - securing an 11-0 TF over Senior Asian bronze medalist Ulmeken Esenbaeva (Uzbekistan):



All told, the Iowa freshman went 4-1, outscoring her opponents by a margin of 45-4.

The lone points she conceded all tournament were during the semifinal pinning sequence - to the wrestler who went on to win gold.

Pretty good!
 
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Tanner Lafever

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HawkAlum2002 said:
Leydecker cruised to the bronze. The Hungary girl that pinned her last round pinned the Japanese girl to win the gold, and her poor coach blew out his knee jumping up onto the mat to celebrate with her.
Click to expand...
I’ll have to go back and check that out 🤣
 
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Tanner Lafever

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Welker needs all of 0:47 to secure her third-consecutive U23 World title:



She becomes the first woman to ever accomplish that feat, and just the second wrestler in any discipline to do so.

I knew that final was going to be a bloodbath after watching her opponent in the semis, but to happen that quickly even surprised me a little bit 😅
 
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Corby2

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Williams can win his first 2 I think. Then his 1/4 would be MDA who Kozak picked as Silver. The winner of that has the Russian who Kozak picked to win it. So if things go chalk he goes 2-1 and he's eliminated. His 2nd round match against IND is no gimmie
 
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Tanner Lafever

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Here’s Williams’ draw at 70kg:

IMG_0519.jpeg

As @Corby2 said, the first two matches seem quite winnable on paper.

Williams would then face one of three tough foes in the quarters:

- Yarashev (UZB) placed 5th at the SR Asian Championships earlier this year
- Otinashvili (GEO) won U17 bronze back in 2022 & placed 5th at U20s in 2024-25
- Gaidarli (MDA) won U23 bronze in 2025 & also lost to PJ Duke (7-5) in the U20 title bout that same year

If Williams loses to one of them, he’ll need that guy to more than likely defeat Eltemirov (RUS) - who won U23 silver in 2024 - in order to be pulled back into repechage.

All of those things are on the table, but it starts with Williams starting 2-0 to give himself a realistic chance.
 
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azchief32

azchief32

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A few surprises today...at least imo. Sinclair got absolutely worked by the guy from Moldova. He headlocked Sinclair twice so it kind of halted Sinclair's forward pressure.Sinclair also lost the scrambles and his opponent actually looked like he had more gas. The guy lost in the semis so Sinclair is done.

I saw where Coby Merrill got throttled but homie made Merrill look small...absolute giant and athletic too. Even with a low center of gravity, Merrill couldn't keep him from his blast doubles. I think this is the same guy that Ross teched at U20s.He won his semis so Merrill is still in it.

Shumate looked very good today. Came back from a 7-0 deficit in one match with a couple of beautiful throws. In the quarters, he was cruising to victory when I think he dislocated his shoulder. He tried to keep on wrestling but his opponent started underhooking that side to get movement on it and he had to default. Tough for him. The guy lost so even if Seth could go tomorrow, he's out.

Ben Davino is just so good positionally and hard to get any movement...and that's if guys can even touch his legs. He had the Iranian right off the bat who he beat 7-1. Then he teched the half-mulleted Japanese guy and Gabe Whisenhunt who is wrestling for Romania to get to the finals.Should get the win tomorrow night.

Jaden James looked sharp as well today. He is just $$ in the whizzer seatbelt position and the foreign guys try some crazy **** and end up on their back. Tough first match as the guy was just shifty as hell rolling around. Got too smart, stood up and leaned way back into JJ to try and twist JJ up but JJ said "Thanks so much" and sucked him back for the fall. He also beat an Iranian in the semis by fall. He has a Russian in the finals. I think this is the same guy that beat Duke a few years back but also lost to Germany a few months back in the Euros. So who knows which guy will show up.
 
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Corby2

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azchief32 said:
A few surprises today...at least imo. Sinclair got absolutely worked by the guy from Moldova. He headlocked Sinclair twice so it kind of halted Sinclair's forward pressure.Sinclair also lost the scrambles and his opponent actually looked like he had more gas. The guy lost in the semis so Sinclair is done.

I saw where Coby Merrill got throttled but homie made Merrill look small...absolute giant and athletic too. Even with a low center of gravity, Merrill couldn't keep him from his blast doubles. I think this is the same guy that Ross teched at U20s.He won his semis so Merrill is still in it.

Shumate looked very good today. Came back from a 7-0 deficit in one match with a couple of beautiful throws. In the quarters, he was cruising to victory when I think he dislocated his shoulder. He tried to keep on wrestling but his opponent started underhooking that side to get movement on it and he had to default. Tough for him. The guy lost so even if Seth could go tomorrow, he's out.

Ben Davino is just so good positionally and hard to get any movement...and that's if guys can even touch his legs. He had the Iranian right off the bat who he beat 7-1. Then he teched the half-mulleted Japanese guy and Gabe Whisenhunt who is wrestling for Romania to get to the finals.Should get the win tomorrow night.

Jaden James looked sharp as well today. He is just $$ in the whizzer seatbelt position and the foreign guys try some crazy **** and end up on their back. Tough first match as the guy was just shifty as hell rolling around. Got too smart, stood up and leaned way back into JJ to try and twist JJ up but JJ said "Thanks so much" and sucked him back for the fall. He also beat an Iranian in the semis by fall. He has a Russian in the finals. I think this is the same guy that beat Duke a few years back but also lost to Germany a few months back in the Euros. So who knows which guy will show up.
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The guy who beat Sinclair lost to Trent Hidlay 3-2 last year and has won a few world medals.

Merrill loss was odd Dreshaun teched the guy 12-0 this year in the u20 world 1/4.

Shumate looked like his pec but he wasn't screaming and it wasn't black and blue so hopefully he can be back this year.

Davino 1st match against Iran was probably the best guy he's had so far that guy lost to Ono in the 2024 U20 world finals

James is so good . The Russian he has in finals tomorrow beat Duke 5-5 at the 2024 u20 worlds
 
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Tanner Lafever

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Larramendy prevails via 10-4 dec. to earn bronze at 65kg - her first career World medal in three attempts:



Really nice job by Reese to (mostly) neutralize her opponent's blast double, and even open the scoring with a four-point double of her own.

Two more takedowns in the second period sealed the deal against a formidable foe - former U20 silver medalist Ayse Erkan (Türkiye).

With the victory, Iowa women go 3/3 medaling for Team USA:

- Welker (gold at 76kg)
- Larramendy (bronze at 65kg)
- Leydecker (bronze at 55kg)
 
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Tanner Lafever

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Williams wins his R32 matchup via 3-1 dec. over Spain.

An early single-to-body lock takedown was all the points he needed, and the Spaniard never really threatened JW on their feet:



He's got India's Sumit Bharaskar up next (Match #7 on Mat D) - the reigning U20 Asian champion.
 
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azchief32

azchief32

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Bo loses in the last secs to India. The score 3-2 and the Indian (Singh) had a single leg with Bo on one foot, pushes Bo to the edge and Bo seemed to expose himself diving through the guy's legs. If he would have just gave up the one, would have won on criteria 3-3...he had the only TD. I am guessing his training is peaking for Senior Worlds but that didn't look like a gas tank loss. Just had an opponent that was equal to the tank and very tough defensively.


v
 
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Corby2

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azchief32 said:
Bo loses in the last secs to India. The score 3-2 and the Indian (Singh) had a single leg with Bo on one foot, pushes Bo to the edge and Bo seemed to expose himself diving through the guy's legs. If he would have just gave up the one, would have won on criteria 3-3...he had the only TD. I am guessing his training is peaking for Senior Worlds but that didn't look like a gas tank loss. Just had an opponent that was equal to the tank and very tough defensively.


v
Click to expand...
And Singh now has Japan who teched him 12-0 at the 2023 u 20 worlds. Singh was world silver in 2021 at u17 worlds at 60kg but that's his only notable accolade
 
azchief32

azchief32

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Corby2 said:
And Singh now has Japan who teched him 12-0 at the 2023 u 20 worlds. Singh was world silver in 2021 at u17 worlds at 60kg but that's his only notable accolade
Click to expand...

Read somewhere that he was suspended for a few years for doping. Edit:



Still...Bo gave that match away. Kind of reminded me of Dennis...Didn't know how to run or stall a match out.
 
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RockySmith

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azchief32 said:
Read somewhere that he was suspended for a few years for doping. Edit:



Still...Bo gave that match away. Kind of reminded me of Dennis...Didn't know how to run or stall a match out.
Click to expand...

Just step out with 2 seconds left and win on criteria. Mind fart I guess?
 
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Tanner Lafever

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Corby2 said:
Williams guy lost he's eliminated
Click to expand...
Unlike the Russian in the 65kg semis, the guy that beat the guy that beat Williams (stay with me here) actually had a big enough gas tank to wrestle an entire six minutes.

If anyone wants to see somebody crash and burn in epic fashion, go watch the Iran/Russia semi at 65kg. This dude (Akhmadudinov) was cooked after about 3:30, and even with a seven-point lead (and several lengthy reviews/stoppages) couldn't hold on for the win.
 
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AJD

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sdvike said:
It just doesn't bother me much to hear Bo loses a match. Maybe after he is out of college, I can start pulling for him. Did he ever give Hawks wrestling $$ he made on their shirts?
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I returned mine to Rudis used and they actually accepted it and gave me my money back.
 
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