2019 Cadet World Championships

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Yankeefan33

Well-known member
And we back! The 2019 Cadet World Championship will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria from July 29th-August 4th. Sofia is 7 hours ahead of EST, which means wrestling will start each day at 3:30am, with semis at 12:30 and finals at 1. This will be a two day format, so wrestlers will compete through the semis on day 1, with repechage/medal matches on day 2.

Schedule for USA wrestlers:
Day 1 (Monday)- Stevo Poulin (48kg), Robbie Howard (55kg), Ryan Sokol (65kg), Clayton Ulrey (80kg), and Hunter Catka (110kg)
Day 2 (Tuesday)- Marc-Anthony McGowan (45kg), Richie Figueroa (51kg), Jesse Mendez (60kg), Alex Facundo (71kg), and Kyle Haas (92kg)

An important note on Cadets, most of these wrestlers have little to no international experience and results, so predicting results/top wrestlers is a bit tougher. The top men's freestyle countries like USA, Russia, Iran, Georgia, and Azerbaijan are usually tough and bring good teams. Also, this is probably the USA's best event, and with two returning medalists, a Youth Olympic Games champ, and many other good wrestlers, expect more medals this week as well.
 
 
Day 1 Bracket Breakdown:

Stevo Poulin (48kg)- First round match against Kazakhstan, who won silver at Cadet Asians this year. I think Stevo should go to the semis, where I would think the Iranian (who won Cadet Worlds last year) should win. Unfortunately for Stevo, his bronze match will probably be against the Georgian, who won Cadet Euros this year. Will have to pull an upset to win a medal.

Robbie Howard (55kg)- There are three returning Cadet World medalists at the weight, and they are all opposite Robbie. His first round match is against an Armenian who finished 5th last year at Cadets. If he wins that, he should move to the semis against maybe the Iranian, another 5th place finisher. This has the possibility of a good tourney for Robbie, and if he wins round 1 I'm pretty confident in him winning a medal.

Ryan Sokol (65kg)- A weak bracket in terms of guys with returning credentials, meaning Sokol has an opening here. His biggest worry in his quarter will be the Georgian, who won bronze at Cadet Euros this year. Wrestlers from Iran and Turkey would be the favorites to meet him in the semis, while the Russian is probably the favorite on the top.

Clayton Ulrey (80kg)- Ulrey is probably the guy I'm least confident in, but like Sokol his bracket isn't awesome. His 1st round opponent is from Azerbaijan, and won bronze at U15 Cadets last year. He would have the Russian in the quarters, a tough matchup for sure. However, the winner of the Russian's quarter may be the favorite, so Ulrey could get pulled back in should he lose there.

Hunter Catka (110kg)- I'm very excited to see Catka tomorrow, and think he has a shot at the finals. Russia, Iran, Bulgaria, and Azerbaijan are all on the opposite side of Catka, and his opponents haven't won much at the youth levels. If he is healthy and ready to go, he can make the finals tomorrow.
 
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Yankeefan33 said:
Day 1 Bracket Breakdown:

Stevo Poulin (48kg)- First round match against Kazakhstan, who won silver at Cadet Asians this year. I think Stevo should go to the semis, where I would think the Iranian (who won Cadet Worlds last year) should win. Unfortunately for Stevo, his bronze match will probably be against the Georgian, who won Cadet Euros this year. Will have to pull an upset to win a medal.

Robbie Howard (55kg)- There are three returning Cadet World medalists at the weight, and they are all opposite Robbie. His first round match is against an Armenian who finished 5th last year at Cadets. If he wins that, he should move to the semis against maybe the Iranian, another 5th place finisher. This has the possibility of a good tourney for Robbie, and if he wins round 1 I'm pretty confident in him winning a medal.

Ryan Sokol (65kg)- A weak bracket in terms of guys with returning credentials, meaning Sokol has an opening here. His biggest worry in his quarter will be the Georgian, who won bronze at Cadet Euros this year. Wrestlers from Iran and Turkey would be the favorites to meet him in the semis, while the Russian is probably the favorite on the top.

Clayton Ulrey (80kg)- Ulrey is probably the guy I'm least confident in, but like Sokol his bracket isn't awesome. His 1st round opponent is from Azerbaijan, and won bronze at U15 Cadets last year. He would have the Russian in the quarters, a tough matchup for sure. However, the winner of the Russian's quarter may be the favorite, so Ulrey could get pulled back in should he lose there.

Hunter Catka (110kg)- I'm very excited to see Catka tomorrow, and think he has a shot at the finals. Russia, Iran, Bulgaria, and Azerbaijan are all on the opposite side of Catka, and his opponents haven't won much at the youth levels. If he is healthy and ready to go, he can make the finals tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Great summary - thanks for the breakdown!
 
Morning update:

Team USA puts 2/3 in the semis, with Stevo Poulin, Robbie Howard.
- Stevo had a pretty easy 1st match with a 10-0 tech. His second match wasn't as close as the 8-7 score indicates, as 5 of his opponents points were on a nice move near the out of bounds and the last two were at the buzzer. Will have a tough task in the semis against the Iranian.
- Robbie Howard has looked great today and has won both matches 6-3. Looked great his first match against a returning Cadet 5th, and had a tactical win in the quarters which caused his opponent to elbow him. Like Poulin, he will have an Iranian in the semis, although I give Robbie a better chance at winning than Stevo.
- Ryan Sokol was overmatched his second match after winning his first match with ease. His loss to the Georgian took about a minute, and he was leg laced separate times. The Georgian is still alive in the quarters but I will be back asleep before he wrestles his match.
-Clayton Ulrey had two nice wins before running into a buzzsaw Russian in the quarters (losing 10-0). Had a great Hi-C working the first two matches, but it was well scouted by the Russian, and turned into a couple go-behinds for easy points. He has a nice chance at getting pulled back into repechage with a Russian win in the semis.
- Hunter Catka ran into a large human from Turkey round one and lost 7-4. His opponent lost the next round, so he has been eliminated. A disappointing trip for sure.
 
Final Day 1 Update:

- Poulin and Howard both lost in the semis and will be wrestling for bronze tomorrow. Poulin ran into a former Cadet world champ who looks great, and will face the winner of Georgia-Japan. I think that's a tough matchup either way. Howard lost a close one in the semis and has the winner of Moldova-Japan for bronze, and I think he is the favorite either way based on past results.

Clayton Ulrey got pulled back into repechage and has the winner of France-Australia. The guy Ulrey lost to from Russia is pretty dang good and you should watch him in the finals tomorrow. Sokol did not get pulled back and will finish 1-1.
 
Day 2 Bracket Breakdown:

Marc-Anthony McGowan (45kg)- McGowan has a nice draw on the top side, facing the wrestler from India (3rd at Cadet Asians) round 1. I think the two best wrestlers (Iran and Russia) are both on the bottom, so McGowan has a shot at a medal here. The lowest weight at Cadets is usually pretty weak as well- out of 8 years of Cadets, we've either won a medal or been pulled into repechage 6 times.

Richie Figueroa (51kg)- Round 1 against Japan should be a win, leading to a quarters matchup with Russia. The Russian finished 1st at U15 Euros the last two years, but hasn't wrestled a Cadet event. If Richie wrestles like he did last year he's going to win gold. At worst I think he wrestles for a medal.

Jesse Mendez (60kg)- Mendez's quarter is pretty weak, but I'm really not sure what to expect from Mendez. I expect the winner of Azerbaijan-Iran to be a potential semis opponent. Both the Georgian and the Russian are on the bottom side.

Alex Facundo (71kg)- Facundo gets a rough draw, but he may be our best guy. He gets Uzbekistan (2nd @ Cadet Asians) in the first round, with Russia waiting next round. His quarters match would be against the Cadet Asian champ from India. If he gets through the bottom half tomorrow he will win; if he takes a bad loss it might be a short day.

Kyle Haas (92kg)- Who knows what Kyle Haas will do. He opens with China, and his quarters opponent will be a Cadet Asian medalist either way. The semis would probably be against either Russia or Azerbaijan.
 
Morning Day 2 Update:

- Rough day for Team USA, pretty much solidifying the worst Cadet Worlds in a while. Only one semifinalist in McGowan, with all other wrestlers losing either their first or second match. Facundo, Mendez, and Haas all won their first matches and lost their next; all three will be hoping to be pulled back into repechage soon. Richie Figueroa followed his great Cadet World silver last year with a loss in his first match, getting stuck in a leg lace and teched in two minutes. He will not be pulled back in.

- Clayton Ulrey lost his repechage match and ends his tourney 2-2. Stevo Poulin and Robbie Howard are both facing Japan for bronze, and McGowan will have Turkey in the semis.
 
Day 2 Final Update:

There is no way to describe this Cadet Worlds performance besides disappointing. Both Stevo Poulin and Robbie Howard were winning their bronze matches (6-0 and 4-0, respectively) and both lost to take 5th. Additionally, only Facundo will be brought into repechage from the Day 2 group. The only bright spot of the day was Marc-Anthony McGowan, who will wrestle for gold tomorrow. The USA has never not won a gold medal at Cadet Worlds since its reinstatement in 2011, and they have a shot at breaking that streak tomorrow. Additionally, the USA hasn't won less than 4 medals at Cadets since 2013, and they can only win 2 this year.

Luckily for the USA, the women's team is amazing. Please watch as much of that as you can, they will win more than 1 medal for sure.
 
Final men's freestyle update-

A week-saving day for Team USA, as Marc-Anthony McGowan won a gold medal and Alex Facundo won bronze. McGowan consistently was able to get takedowns late in the match (took 3-1 lead with about 30 seconds left) and it led to a Cadet world title. Facundo had a tough match in the semis but was able to get an exposure late on a nice duck and ended up winning 5-2. Team USA finishes with those two medals and two 5th place finishes, ending up in 5th in the team race behind Iran, Russia, India, and Japan.

Our women's team was very good as well, with two in the finals (Rodriguez and Hattendorf) and two in the repechage (Szkotnicki and Freitas). The only wrestler that didn't advance was the biggest surprise in Kennedy Blades, but she seemed to be shook up via injury maybe in her quarters match and didn't get pulled back.
 
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