GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala -- South Dakota State University wrestler Tanner Sloan's debut in international competition was a successful one as he claimed the 97-kilogram championship Friday in the junior division of the Pan-American Championships.
A native of Alburnett, Iowa, Sloan went undefeated in round-robin competition Friday to claim the title. Wrestling as a member of the Jackrabbit Wrestling Club, Sloan opened the day with a 10-0 shutout of Cristian Solano Mendez of Costa Rica. He moved into gold medal position by defeating Ikjyot Randhawa of Canada, 12-2, and by posting a 6-0 decision over Ecuador's Victor Mancheno Jumbo later in the day.
Sloan was to have faced Juan Cantillo Torres of Panama in his final bout, but Cantillo Torres withdrew from the tournament due to injury, giving Sloan his final and decisive victory.
With his first international title under his belt, Sloan moves on to represent the United States at the 2019 Junior World Championships Aug. 12-18 in Tallinn, Estonia.
The junior division features wrestlers ages 17-20. Sloan redshirted for the Jackrabbits during the 2018-19 season, but posted a 24-2 record in open tournaments.
He's had an outstanding redshirt season! I was curious how much weight (if any) he's put on since the collegiate season ended. His international bouts are at 97 kilos, which, is equivalent to 213 lbs. I've always thought the NCAA is doing a disservice to collegiate wrestling for not having a weight class between 197 lbs. and heavyweight (285 lbs. max). High school has a weight class in between at 220 lbs. With today's athletes, that makes more sense to me than having a 125 lb. class.
He's had an outstanding redshirt season! I was curious how much weight (if any) he's put on since the collegiate season ended. His international bouts are at 97 kilos, which, is equivalent to 213 lbs. I've always thought the NCAA is doing a disservice to collegiate wrestling for not having a weight class between 197 lbs. and heavyweight (285 lbs. max). High school has a weight class in between at 220 lbs. With today's athletes, that makes more sense to me than having a 125 lb. class.
Hope 197 lbs. is his natural weight.
Couldn't agree about adding another weight class between 197 & HWT. That would also put lineups at an odd number making dual tie-breakers a bit more simple. I love watching the lightweights scramble so I'd hate to see 125lb. cut. Either way I cannot wait to see Tanner suit up this season. All the elite college guys today wrestling freestyle in the spring and summer both domestically and internationally so it's great to see Tanner and other guys busting their tails in the "off-season". Tanner, Danny Vega, and Zach Price all having nice Freestyle Seasons will make them better and this past season will be a minor bump in the road.
As for his weight specifically you do bring up an interesting point, but maybe he simply doesn't cut weight for Freestyle. Kyle Snyder wrestles 97kg on the Senior Team and he looks quite a bit thicker than Tanner.
He's had an outstanding redshirt season! I was curious how much weight (if any) he's put on since the collegiate season ended. His international bouts are at 97 kilos, which, is equivalent to 213 lbs. I've always thought the NCAA is doing a disservice to collegiate wrestling for not having a weight class between 197 lbs. and heavyweight (285 lbs. max). High school has a weight class in between at 220 lbs. With today's athletes, that makes more sense to me than having a 125 lb. class.
Hope 197 lbs. is his natural weight.
The coaches do like 197 pounders between 210 and 220 in the off season. I'm close with a wrestler on the team. He says the preferred method during the season is to start the week 10 pounds over your weight class. You increment cut down during the week to make weighin by Friday. Weigh-in, eat, recover, wrestle and start the cycle over on Monday.
At college level, that is the preferred method to play the weight game.
At Youth and High School - I don't recomment it, even though you see it all the time. My sons had a couple of seasons where they cut weight to make the team. Once they were skilled enough, they usually wrestled up and gave up weight. They didn't cut weight. When it came to USA Wrestling Nationals, then they went down to the closest weight below.
Twitter Updates:
Sloanerdrops his first bout to Turkey. Turkey advances to the semifinals. In order to stay alive, Turkey must win to put Sloan in the repechage. We’re Turkey fans this round.
Akturk lost to the Iranian opponent in the semifinals, knocking Tanner Sloan out, making him not eligible for repechage at 97 kg. #WrestleTallinn
With Turkey losing in the semifinal, Sloan is eliminated from the tournament. Pretty dang good summer. The best is yet to come #GetJacked
According to Coach Caldwell, Tanner ended up getting a brutal draw. The Turkish wrestler that beat Sloan tech'd his opponent (Opposite Side of bracket from Tanner) for the Bronze. The Iranian who beat the Turkish wrestler in the Semi's tech'd his opponent (opposite side of bracket from Tanner) for the Gold. While opponent math is not always reliable, you could argue that Tanner is among the top 3-5 in the world at his weight class for Junior Wrestlers. BIG things are on this horizon for this young man and I can't weight to see how he progresses over the next 4 years!
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