United World Wrestling released its Greco-Roman rankings for June and the United States is still heartily represented. Four Americans appear in June’s rankings and three of them are World Team members with the lone outlier being Geordan Speiller (80 kg, Florida Jets). Speiller’s first time showing up in the rankings this year came in March, when he rocketed to 19th based on his wins at the Dave Schultz Memorial and the Granma Cup in Cuba. Following a runner-up finish to Peter Bacsi (HUN, world no. 2) at the Polyak Imre Memorial/Hungarian Grand Prix, Speiller rose to 9th. A surprising loss to John Stefanowicz (Marines) in the semifinals of the World Team Trials derailed his momentum, which sees him drop three spots to 12th.
US World Team members Patrick Smith (71 kg, Minnesota Storm, world no. 20) and Cheney Haight (80 kg, NYAC, world no. 18) arrive in the UWW Greco rankings for the first time in 2017, and both can assign some of the credit to their most recent performances at the Pan Ams in May where they each dominated. Both Smith and Haight won gold with two technical falls a piece. 19-year old G’Angelo Hancock (98 kg, NYAC) has been ranked for some months now and moves up from 18th to 17th thanks in large part to his bronze medal at the Pan Am Championships. There, Hancock dropped a competitive bout to 2016 Olympic silver medalist Yasmany Lugo Cabrera (CUB, world no. 1) before bouncing back in the medal round with a tech over Thomas Barreiro (CAN).
Three US wrestlers have been dropped from the latest UWW Greco rankings — Kamal Bey (75 kg, Sunkist), Hayden Zillmer (98 kg, Minnesota Storm) and World teamer Robby Smith (130 kg, NYAC). Bey’s last time out was the Trials finals where he lost in two straight matches to Mason Manville (Army/WCAP). It was also in Vegas where Zillmer lost to Hancock in two close finals matches. Smith secured his fifth World-level team spot the same weekend and then snared a bronze at the Pan Ams in Brazil. Bey was previously ranked 18th, Zillmer 19th, and Smith 20th.
US APPEARANCES IN JUNE UWW GRECO-ROMAN RANKINGS
71 kg
Patrick Smith (Minnesota Storm, world no. 20)
80 kg
Geordan Speiller (Florida Jets, world no. 12)
Cheney Haight (NYAC, world no. 18)
98 kg
G’Angelo Hancock (NYAC, world no. 17th)
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