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What we learned from the 2024 U23 World Wrestling Championships
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What we learned from the 2024 U23 World Wrestling Championships

The college wrestling season starts in a week, but some college stars have already had the opportunity to compete against the world’s best at the 2024 U23 World Championships in Albania. Here’s what we learned about some of the best college wrestlers in the country at this event and what their performances could tell us about their potential success in the NCAA this year.

All-Americans Mitchell Mesenbrink and Jacob Cardenas show courage and win medals

Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink and Michigan’s Jacob Cardenas will now bring even more world-class accolades to the college stage this year, as both stars left Albania with a bronze and a silver medal at 74 kg and 92 kg respectively.

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Both of these athletes have already won medals at the age group world championships, with Mesenbrink winning a U20 silver in 2022 and a U20 gold in 2023 and Cardenas winning a U23 silver and bronze in 2022 and 2023 , respectively. This most recent performance of 2024, however, only sharpens these athletes again and gives them a new perspective on their game as they approach another folkstyle season.

Mesenbrink and Cardenas are both in discussions to be title threats this year at 165 and 197 pounds respectively, although Mesenbrink in particular is expected to roll with his weight and compete for a Hodge Trophy.

The fact that he was tested at the Worlds will only help him in this quest.

In his first round match in Albania, Mesenbrink defeated Kazakh Murat Dzhakupov 7-2 in the first round before losing to Japan’s Kota Takahashi 11-8 in the quarterfinals.

Only one athlete scored 11 points against Mesenbrink last season in folkstyle – Dean Hamiti – and that athlete is improving. Mesenbrink’s international experiences and the way he’s going to be able to use this one loss in Albania to help him identify the flaws in his game will only make it more unlikely that another NCAA athlete will generate this kind of offense against the Nittany Lion.

Mesenbrink is dangerous in any position, and while freestyle performances aren’t always tied to folkstyle dominance, he has shown he can translate those skills. His attack, which he demonstrated in the World Championship repechage to return to bronze with victories of 16-7 and 6-0, will continue to serve him well this year.

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Cardenas, meanwhile, was undefeated in the under-23 category until the final when he came up against Iran’s Amir Firouzpour and lost the fight 11-4. Before that, he coached Russian Mustafagadzhi Malachdibirov., defeated Serbian Filip Szucki 5-1, Georgian Andro Margishvili and Hungarian Musza Arsunkaev 5-2 before the final. These wins can give Cardenas some confidence heading into a fun and stacked 197-pound weight class this year.

Cardenas enters the folkstyle season ranked third behind 2021 NCAA champion AJ Ferrari and Iowa senior All-American Stephen Buchanan. He lost to Buchanan 9-4 in last year’s consolation final, but he had victories over All-Americans Rocky Elam, Stephen Little and Louie DePrez last season.

In addition to the U23 experience and confidence that being No. 2 in the world can bring, Cardnesas could also see improvement this season from his new training partners in the Michigan wrestling room.

Before moving to Ann Arbor, Cardenas previously spent four years at Cornell during his college wrestling career, finishing on the podium twice. But the Ivy League doesn’t allow graduate students to compete, meaning if Cardenas wanted to take advantage of his COVID bonus season, he had to do it elsewhere. He chose Michigan.

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The Wolverines have a history of developing high-profile athletes at the national and international levels, including three 2024 upperweight Olympians and former NCAA All-Americans Adam Coon, Mason Parris and Myles Amine. Cardenas is in the right place to make the next leap forward, and he’s in a weight class where that leap forward could mean competing Saturday night in March in the NCAA tournament for a national title at 197 pounds.

Depth of women’s wrestling highlighted by five medals at three colleges

Just like in the Olympics, the American women outperformed the American men, this time winning five medals, compared to two in the men’s freestyle. What we need to remember from the women’s tournament is not just the number of medals. It is also the success of some of the premier women’s college wrestling programs in developing athletes capable of competing on the international stage.

Three members of the U.S. women’s under-23 world team came from the Iowa Hawkeyes: Sophomore Kylie Welker won gold at 72 kg, graduate student Macey Kilty won silver at 62 kg and junior Skye Realin competed at 59 kg.

Welker, who has been a figurehead at her weight since high school, won an under-23 bronze medal in 2021 and will also be the senior representative for the U.S. World Team. Her teammate, Macey Kilty, will join her on this senior world team.

Collegiately, Welker and Kilty have very different backgrounds, but both will benefit this season from the opportunity to compete at international level and the confidence that comes with achieving such significant victories at this level.

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Welker came to Iowa right out of high school as the No. 1 pound-for-pound recruit in her class. She, along with her entire team, redshirted during the 2022-23 season before racking up big national wins the following season. She became the NCWWC champion at 170 pounds and her victory in the final over Yelena Makoyed of North Central (Ill.) secured the Iowa team title. Welker was recognized with 2024 NCAA Open Mat Women’s Wrestler of the Year honors for her performance. The world championship title is another notch under her belt for one of the most successful wrestlers in the short history of the Iowa women’s program.

Kilty adds even more firepower to this program. A first-year graduate student with the Hawkeyes, Kilty started the season strong with this silver medal in Albania, and she will look to repeat and possibly improve on that performance at the senior world championships next week. She brings experience and confidence to the Iowa gym and gives the Hawks more depth at middleweight where they had a national champion last year in Reese Larramendy at 143 pounds and Marlynne Deede at 155 books.

Iowa isn’t the only program with two representatives who brought home worlds hardware, however. North Central, the team Iowa narrowly beat at last year’s national championship, also saw two standouts in Albania at 50 kg, with Amani Jones winning bronze at 55 kg and assistant coach Yelena Makoyed winning gold at 76 kg.

Makoyed, a North Central alumna, showed her athletes what is possible for graduates of the program as she dominated her category, pinning three of her opponents and passing one. Her victory makes her the first athlete in North Central program history to win a world gold medal and raises the standard and expectations for future Cardinals.

His athlete, Jones, also added bronze to his list of achievements, his second world bronze medal of his career. These performances give North Central and Iowa a boost heading into the year as they once again compete for the top spot.

Grand Valley State’s Sage Mortimer shouldn’t be left out, however, as she also brought home gold for her program. Mortimer transferred from King University in 2023 and will begin her junior season with the Lakers on Nov. 2 at the Pointer Open after redshirting last season. She has already won the 2022 U20 Pan American Championships, but this U23 gold brings a new spotlight to her program and once again highlights the depth and growing success of female wrestlers across all teams.

Greco’s world championship experience gives Hunter Garvin and Wyatt Voelker important experience

Greco wrestling has been a difficult style for the United States in recent years, and although the team won a medal thanks to Beka Melelashvili’s silver in the 82 kg class, no current student-athlete has finished on the podium in this weight.

The experience of competing on the world stage more generally can only be a positive for Stanford All-American Hunter Garvin, who represented the United States in Greco at 77 kg, and Northern Iowa’s Wyatt Voelker who competed at 97 kg.

Garvin also won a match, defeating India’s Karan Karan in the first round before losing to Uzbekistan’s Doniyorkhon Nakibov 7-1. Garvin will be in the running to compete for a spot in the national finals this year at 165 pounds after finishing sixth last season. He will also be part of the first matchup of the season broadcast on the Big Ten Network when the Cardinal faces the Iowa Hawkeyes on Nov. 7 in Iowa City. His match will likely pit him against All-American Mikey Caliendo for a battle between the No. 2 and No. 3 athletes at weight. U23 World Team member Mitchell Mesenbrink is currently ranked #1.

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Unlike Garvin, UNI’s Voelker didn’t have a victory in Albania, but being able to represent the Panthers and Team USA is never a bad thing. Voelker fought hard against Greece’s Christos Chatsatourov, losing 6-4, and a match like that will benefit him heading into the NCAA season just because of his experience. Voelker finished in the round of 16 last year and will begin this season ranked 16th at 197 pounds. He has a first test on Nov. 24 against No. 8 Zach Glazier of South Dakota State – expect Voelker to make some noise and surprise some people this year.

Between his back-to-back world championship appearances (he finished fifth in the under-20 category last year) and training in the same gym as 2024 NCAA 184-pound champion Parker Keckeisen, Voelker is ready for a season in small groups.