Camacho to wrestle for a spot on national team at Final X

Jakob Camacho, top, in a victory over Matthew Ramos at the 2022 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament in Iowa. (Photo courtesy Sam Janicki /SJanickiPhoto.com)

Danbury’s Jakob Camacho will wrestle at Final X at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday, June 10, with a spot on the U.S. national team on the line.

The North Carolina State wrestler will face Nick Suriano, a two-time NCAA champion from Michigan and Rutgers in the 57 kilograms (125 pounds) freestyle weight class. The winner will become the third wrestler in the 2023-24 U.S. Senior National team.

Suriano, who won the NCAA title at 125 for Michigan in March, finished second at the recent U.S. Open national championship meet in Las Vegas at 57 kg while Camacho was third. But the two wrestlers didn’t meet in the tournament, setting up their match in New Jersey in a true third place bout.

Winning a spot on the senior national team is important and valuable with the top three in each weight class earning stipend support and a chance to win bonus funds, based upon performance, as well as receive access to international tours and national team training camps.

The last Connecticut wrestler on the U.S. national team was Middletown’s Richard Perry, who earned a spot on the team in 2018 before being injured in a training camp accident in San Diego.

The 19 national team true third place matches will begin at 12:30 p.m. and will be streamed through FloWrestling.

There will be seven men’s freestyle bouts, six women’s freestyle bouts and six Greco-Roman bouts among the true third place matches.

Among those in national team true third place matches are two-time world bronze medalist Alyssa Lampe at 50 kg in women’s freestyle and 2021 world silver medalist Daton Fix at 61 kg in men’s freestyle. Two-time Olympian Ben Provisor at 82 kg in Greco-Roman will also be featured.

Past senior world team members going for true third are Maya Nelson at 59 kg, Dymond Guilford at 76 kg and Kylie Welker at 76 kg in women’s freestyle, plus Sammy Jones at 63 kg and RaVaughn Perkins at 77 kg in Greco-Roman.

Final X will determine the 2023 U.S. senior world team in all three Olympic disciplines: men’s and women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman. There will be 30 weight classes contested, 10 in each Olympic discipline.

The winner of each Final X best-of-three championship series will represent the United States at the 2023 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

The first match of the best-of-three series will be during the first session (2-4:30 p.m.). The second match and third match, if necessary, will be in the second session (6-9 p.m.).

The Final X field features five Olympic gold medalists: 2012 champion Jordan Burroughs (74 kg men’s freestyle), 2016 champions Helen Maroulis (57 kg women’s freestyle) and Kyle Snyder (97 kg men’s freestyle) and 2020 champions Gable Steveson (125 kg men’s freestyle) and David Taylor (86 kg men’s freestyle).

The field includes 11 world champions who have won a combined 30 world titles: Burroughs (six times), Adeline Gray (6, 76 kg women’s freestyle), Kyle Dake (4, 74 kg men’s freestyle), Maroulis and Snyder (3) and Taylor and J’den Cox at 92 kg men’s freestyle (2). Thomas Gilman (1, 57 kg men’s freestyle), Dominique Parrish (1, 53 kg women’s freestyle), Jacarra Winchester (1, 55 kg women’s freestyle) and Amit Elor (1, 72 kg women’s freestyle).

Final X
At Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.
Saturday, June 10
Men’s Freestyle Pairings
57 kg – Thomas Gilman (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Zane Richards (Champaign, Ill./Illinois RTC/Titan Mercury WC)
61 kg – Vitali Arujau (Ithaca, N.Y./Spartan Combat RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Nahshon Garrett (Bethlehem, Pa./Titan Mercury WC/Lehigh Valley WC)
65 kg – Yianni Diakomihalis (Rochester, N.Y./Spartan Combat RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Nick Lee (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)
70 kg – Zain Retherford (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Tyler Berger (Philadelphia, Pa./Pennsylvania RTC/Sunkist Kids WC)
74 kg – Kyle Dake (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Jason Nolf (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)
79 kg – Jordan Burroughs (Philadelphia, Pa./Pennsylvania RTC/Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Chance Marsteller (Hoboken, N.J./New York City RTC/Titan Mercury WC)
86 kg – David Taylor (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Aaron Brooks (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)
92 kg – Michael Macchiavello (Raleigh, N.C./Wolfpack WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Zahid Valencia (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids WC)
97 kg – Kyle Snyder (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. J’den Cox (Ann Arbor, Mich./Cliff Keen WC/Titan Mercury WC)
125 kg – Gable Steveson (Minneapolis, Minn./Gopher WC-RTC) vs. Mason Parris (Ann Arbor, Mich./Cliff Keen WC/Titan Mercury WC)

Women’s Freestyle Pairings
50 kg – Sarah Hildebrandt (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/New York AC) vs. Audrey Jimenez (Tucson, Ariz./Sunkist Kids WC)
53 kg – Dominique Parrish (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Katie Gomez (Van Nuys, Calif./Sunkist Kids WC)
55 kg – Alisha Howk (River Falls, Wis./Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Jacarra Winchester (Colorado Springs, Colo./Titan Mercury WC/USOPTC)
57 kg – Helen Maroulis (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Xochitl Mota-Pettis (Humble, Texas/Rise RTC)
59 kg – Michaela Beck (New York, N.Y./Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Jennifer Page (State College, Pa./Titan Mercury WC/Nittany Lion WC)
62 kg – Kayla Miracle (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Adaugo Nwachukwu (San Jose, Calif./Titan Mercury WC)
65 kg – Mallory Velte (Corvallis, Ore./Beaver Dam RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Macey Kilty (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids WC)
68 kg – Forrest Molinari (Mesa, Ariz./Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Emma Bruntil (Colorado Springs, Colo./Titan Mercury WC/USOPTC)
72 kg – Amit Elor (Walnut Creek, Calif./New York City RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Joye Levendusky (Avon, N.Y./Southern Oregon RTC)
76 kg – Kennedy Blades (Chicago, Ill./Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Adeline Gray (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC)

Greco-Roman Pairings
55 kg – Brady Koontz (Dubuque, Iowa/Titan Mercury WC/Dubuque RTC) vs. Dalton Duffield (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP)
60 kg – Dalton Roberts (Fountain, Colo./Army WCAP) vs. Ildar Hafizov (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP)
63 kg – Hayden Tuma (Nampa, Idaho/Suples WC) vs. Xavier Johnson (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP)
67 kg – Robert Perez III (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Alejandro Sancho (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP)
72 kg – Justus Scott (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP) vs. Patrick Smith (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm)
77 kg – Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP) vs. Aliaksandr Kikiniou (Poway, Calif.)
82 kg – Spencer Woods (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP) vs. Ryan Epps (Cannon Falls, Minn., Army WCAP)
87 kg – Alan Vera (Jersey City, N.J./New York AC) vs. Zachary Braunagel (Belleville, Ill./Illinois RTC/Illini WC)
97 kg – Josef Rau (Chicago, Ill./Titan Mercury WC) vs. Christian DuLaney (Shakopee, Minn./Minnesota Storm)
130 kg – Cohlton Schultz (Parker, Colo./Sunkist Kids WC) vs. Adam Coon (Ann Arbor, Mich./Cliff Keen WC/New York AC)

NATIONAL TEAM TRUE THIRD PLACE MATCHES
At Newark, N.J., June 10, 12:30 p.m. prior to Final X
Women’s freestyle
50 kg – Alyssa Lampe Sunkist Kids, vs. Erin Golston, New York AC
53 kg – Samara Chavez, Team Tornado WC, vs. Felicity Taylor, Iowa Women’s WC/Titan Mercury WC
57 kg – Alexandra Hedrick, USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC vs. Amanda Martinez, Cardinal WC/Titan Mercury WC
59 kg – Maya Nelson, Sunkist Kids, vs. Brenda Reyna, Army WCAP
72 kg – Rose Cassioppi, New York AC/USOPTC vs. Brooklyn Hays, Minnesota Gold WC
76 kg – Dymond Guilford, USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC vs. Kylie Welker Iowa Women’s WC/ Titan Mercury WC

Greco-Roman
60 kg – Randon Miranda, Rise RTC vs. Dylan Koontz, Dubuque RTC/Titan Mercury WC
63 kg – Sammy Jones, Sunkist Kids WC vs. Dylan Gregerson, Brunson UVRTC
72 kg – Noah Wachsmuth, New York AC, vs. Michael Hooker, Army WCAP
77 kg – Payton Jacobson, Sunkist Kids WC, vs. RaVaughn Perkins, New York AC
82 kg – Ben Provisor, New York AC, vs. Barrett Stanghill, Minnesota Storm
130 kg – Donny Longendyke, Minnesota Storm, vs. Brandon Metz, North Dakota

Men’s freestyle
57 kg – Nick Suriano, Sunkist Kids WC, vs. Jakob Camacho, Wolfpack WC/Titan Mercury WC
61 kg – Daton Fix, Cowboy RTC/Titan Mercury WC, vs. Austin DeSanto, Hawkeye WC/Titan Mercury WC
65 kg – Joseph McKenna. Pennsylvania RTC/Titan Mercury WC, vs. Matthew Kolodzik, New York AC/NJRTC
70 kg – Sam Sasso, Ohio RTC/Titan Mercury WC, vs. Alec Pantaleo, Cliff Keen WC /Titan Mercury WC
74 kg – Vincenzo Joseph, Sunkist Kids WC vs. Keegan O’Toole, Tiger Style WC
79 kg – Alex Dieringer, Cliff Keen WC/Titan Mercury WC, vs. David McFadden, Pennsylvania RTC/Titan Mercury WC
92 kg – Kollin Moore, Ohio RTC/Titan Mercury WC vs. Nathan Jackson, New York AC/New Jersey RTC

Content from USA Wrestling included in this report