The following are sections of information, notes, and statistics derived from the results of the 2025 US World Team Trials, which for Greco-Roman took place this past weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Click on items below to view each section or simply scroll.
2025 USA World Team
55 kg: Jayden Raney (NYAC)
60 kg: Max Black (NYAC/NTS)
63 kg: Ellis Coleman (Army/WCAP)
67 kg: Alston Nutter (Army/WCAP)
72 kg: Alex Sancho (Army/WCAP)
77 kg: Kamal Bey (Army/WCAP)
82 kg: Beka Melelashvili (NYAC)
87 kg: Payton Jacobson (NYAC/NTS)
97 kg: Michial Foy (Army/WCAP)
130 kg: Cohlton Schultz (Atreus WC)
2025 WTT 3rd Place Results
55 kg: Billy Sullivan (Army/WCAP) def. Peter Del Gallo (South Side WC) via med. forfeit
60 kg: Randon Miranda (NYAC) def. Isaiah Cortez (Daniel Cormier WC) 7-4
63 kg: Kaden Ercanbrack (NMU/NTS) def. Riley Lomenick (OTC) 5-0
67 kg: Duncan Nelson (Air Force/WCAP) def. David Stepanyan (NYAC/NTS) via forfeit
72 kg: Peyton Robb (NYAC/Nebraska Wrestling TC) def. Justus Scott (Army/WCAP) 9-0, TF
77 kg: Britton Holmes (Army/WCAP) def. Tyler Eischens (NYAC/Tar Heel WC) via fall
82 kg: Ty Cunningham (NYAC/MWC) def. Tommy Brackett (NYAC) 6-1
87 kg: Zac Braunagel (IRTC) def. Adrian Artsisheuskiy (NYAC) 10-1, TF
97 kg: Timothy Young (Army/WCAP) def. Austin Harris (Club Lucha) 9-0, TF
130 kg: Aden Attao (NYAC/Beaver Dam RTC) def. Courtney Denzel Freeman (Marines) 7-0
First-Time Senior World Team Members
Although each of the 2025 World Team members have competed at various age-group World Championships previously, there are six who will be going to a Senior World event for the first time. This includes Payton Jacobson, who was an Olympian last year.
— 55 kg: Jayden Raney (NYAC)
— 60 kg: Max Black (NYAC/NTS)
— 67 kg: Alston Nutter (Army/WCAP)
— 82 kg: Beka Melelashvili (NYAC)
— 87 kg: Payton Jacobson (NYAC/NTS)
— 97 kg: Michial Foy (Army/WCAP)
First-Time National Team Members
— 55 kg: Jayden Raney (NYAC)
— 55 kg: Billy Sullivan (Army/WCAP)
— 60 kg: Zane Richards (IRTC) — was previously WT/NT in freestyle
— 63 kg: Kaden Ercanbrack (NMU/NTS)
— 67 kg: Otto Black (NYAC/CTT)
— 67 kg: Duncan Nelson (Air Force/WCAP)
— 72 kg: Aliaksandr Kikiniou Jr. (NYAC)
— 72 kg: Peyton Robb (NYAC/Nebraska Wrestling TC)
— 82 kg: Beka Melelashvili (NYAC)
— 82 kg: Ty Cunningham (NYAC/MWC)
Army & NMU Notes
— When Jacobson defeated Spencer Woods (Army/WCAP) in Match 3 of their 87 kg series on Saturday, it meant for the first time in 16 years that two athletes from Northern Michigan University had made the same United States Senior World Team. Max Black had done his part earlier on Saturday when he got past Richards in Match 2 of their 60 kg series by a score of 2-1. Jacobson required a third and decisive battle to get past Spencer Woods (Army/WCAP).
In ’09, two-time Olympian Spenser Mango, two-time World bronze Harry Lester, and eventual London Olympian Chas Betts each made the US World Team roster while attending Northern Michigan University as part of the then-United States Olympic Education Center (now known as the National Training Center). Betts’ younger brother, Parker, is the assistant coach under Andy Bisek at NMU. Both coaches are likewise alumni of the university.
— National Team honors for Greco-Roman according to this year’s selection procedures are, as is custom, those athletes who finished in the top-3 of their respective weight categories at the Trials. Therefore, the aforementioned duo of Black and Jacobson made the National Team as soon as they had won their semifinal bouts.
But Black and Jacobson were not the only NMU athletes to earn spots on the USNT. Kaden Ercanbrack (63 kg), who put in one of the most impressive non-title winning performances of any athlete at the tournament, fought his way to 3rd place (by defeating a very tough Riley Lomenick) to clinch his first-ever placement on a Senior National Team.
The NMU ties for the ’25/’26 National Team do not end with Black, Ercanbrack, and Jacobson. All told, 11 members of the NT squad can trace (at least) parts of their careers to NMU (including three other wrestlers who won their weight classes).
* — 2025 WT Member
— 60kg: *Max Black; Randon Miranda (NYAC, 3rd)
— 63 kg: *Ellis Coleman (Army/WCAP); Kaden Ercanbrack (3rd)
— 67 kg: *Alston Nutter (Army/WCAP); Duncan Nelson (Air Force/WCAP, 3rd)
— 72 kg: *Alex Sancho (Army/WCAP)
— 77 kg: Britton Holmes (Army/WCAP, 3rd)
— 82 kg: Jesse Porter (NYAC, runner-up)
— 87 kg: *Payton Jacobson; Spencer Woods (Army/WCAP, runner-up)
Army (14 total entrants) once again put forth the best proportional performance of any team/club affiliation by coming away with five World Team members (Coleman, Nutter, Sancho, Kamal Bey, and Michial Foy) as well as five others who earned spots on the National Team. They are:
— 55 kg: Billy Sullivan (3rd)
— 63 kg: Ildar Hafizov (runner-up)
— 77 kg: Britton Holmes (3rd)
— 87 kg: Spencer Woods (runner-up)
— 97 kg: Timothy Young (3rd)
Plenty of coverage was deservedly directed towards Nutter’s tournament triumph at 67 due to his having returned to competition following a two-year forced hiatus. The same can be said for Holmes. Holmes was not absent from the scene for the same length of time as Nutter, but it was close — his most recent event prior to the WTT was at the December ’23 Nationals, when he had re-torn his knee for the second time within a year. That Holmes came back and did what he just did, in one of the most difficult and populated weight divisions, speaks to both his talent and toughness.
There is also much to say when it comes to Foy. If it were not enough that the former Golden Gopher had managed to defeat David Tate Orndorff (TMWC), multi-time National champ Nick Boykin (Ohio), and then Rau in the best-of-three finals, it should be noted that the ’25 World Team Trials was Foy’s first Greco-Roman tournament since…the ’22 U23 World Championships.
Listen to “5PM57: Kamal Bey and David Stepanyan” on Spreaker.
Listen to “5PM56: Rich Carlson and Spencer Woods” on Spreaker.
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