By
Posted on April 18, 2019
The United States Greco-Roman
Seniors had two
main objectives entering the 2019 Pan American Championships this week —
1) qualify the five remaining Olympic weights necessary for the Pan Am Games;
and 2) get back to the top of the Team standings
Following
the first session on Day 1, all you can really say is, Things are looking good.
HANCOCK
& COON
The most
important part about Hancock’s run thus far at the 2019 Pan American
Championships is not that it delivered three victories. It’s that Hancock is
now demonstrating that he can blow the doors off of quality opponents
consistently. In his second match this morning, Hancock handily defeated Kevin Mejia Castillo (HON)
via tech fall in the first period. Important to note, because when Hancock was
just starting out, Castillo played the role of teacher to Hancock’s apprentice.
That is no longer the case — Hancock decisioned Castillo at the 2017 Pan Ams
before running through him earlier today.
2018 World silver Adam Coon (130 kg, Cliff Keen, world no.
2) had two matches during Thursday’s morning session, and both opponents
received an intimate yet harsh brand of education as to why the American
heavyweight is going to be so difficult to stop. Coon flattened Diego Alemendras Rodriguez (CHI)
to begin; and then ran over Angel
Pacheco Romero (CUB) to punch his ticket to the finals.
2016 Olympian Robby
Smith (NYAC/Chicago RTC) qualified 130 kilograms for the
US last year by earning silver, but Coon’s team points are certainly more than
welcome.
The
finals/medal rounds of the 2019 Pan Am Championships begin at 5:00pm in Buenos
Aires and can be viewed live in the US on Trackwrestling (subscription
required).
2019 PAN AMERICAN
CHAMPIONSHIPS
April
18th-19th — Buenos Aires, Argentina
TEAM
USA DAY 1 RESULTS
130 KG
Adam Coon (Cliff Keen)
WON Diego Alemendras Rodriguez (CHI) via fall
WON Angel Pacheco Romero (CUB) via fall
vs. Luciano Del Rio (ARG)
WON Diego Alemendras Rodriguez (CHI) via fall
WON Angel Pacheco Romero (CUB) via fall
vs. Luciano Del Rio (ARG)