USA Greco

Drury & Bowling with Paths to Bronze at U20 Worlds

By 5PM Staff

Posted on August 23, 2025

leister bowling iv, 2025 u20 world championships

Image: FLOWrestling

Landon Drury (63 kg, NYAC/NTS) and Leister Bowling IV (77 kg, Hawkeye WC) were unable to advance far in their respective brackets this morning but both are still in the running at the Junior Worlds.

not all roads lead to gold, athlete and coach devotional

Day 2 of the 2025 U20 World Championships began at 10:00am local time from Samokov, Bulgaria (3:00am ET) and is streaming live in the US on FLOWrestling.

Drury — 5th at this same tournament in ’23 — drew Aleks Margaryan (ARM) in the round-of-16 and fell by a score of 8-0. Early in the first period, Margaryan spun around for a takedown and added two more points from a reverse lift attempt; Drury popped up on the back-end of the sequence and appeared close to having secured his own exposure points, but it was Margaryan who was credited with a score. The US corner challenged the call and lost, giving Armenia a 7-0 cushion heading into Period 2. Just over :30 into the second frame, Margaryan scored a step-out point to end the match prematurely.

However, Margaryan went on to win his next two contests, thus making the final and “pulling” Drury into tomorrow’s repechage. It will be a long road for the American in order to make the bronze round. Drury will first have to deal with Hao Yang of China; if successful, he will battle Iranian Mohammad Aboutalebi Navid before taking on Kristiyan Milenkov (BUL) with bronze hanging in the balance.

Bowling, who on Saturday was making his World Championships debut, started off with a very gritty, very tough win against Azis Atanasov (BUL) in the round-of-16. Atanasov got on the board first via passivity but could not negotiate a turn from top par terre. The passives flipped in the second period, but likewise Bowling could not generate follow-up offense. By virtue of having earned the bout’s first point, Atanasov led on criteria and Bowling was in badly in need of a score as the match began to wind down. With 1:25 remaining, Atanasov locked and arched for a throw only to have Bowling adjust for a land-on-top two near the edge; the Colorado native then maintained position and gutted Atanasov off the edge, though those points would be wiped away by a challenge from Bulgaria. Nevertheless, Bowling led 3-1 and managed to hold down the fort until the conclusive whistle.

A rather steep step-up in competition was availed for Bowling in the form of ’22 U17 World champ/returning U20 bronze Anri Putkaradze (GEO). Bowling was knocked for passive in the first period, which opened the door for the top Georgian prospect to secure a bevy of points from par terre. Putkaradze edged Kiryl Valeuski (UWW) in the semifinal, which has in turn provided Bowling with another shot for a potential medal through the 77 kg repechage. Tomorrow morning, Bowling will greet Akzhan Ykylassov (UKR); should Bowling succeed, he will stare down Valeuski in the bronze round.

Nosler & Jones

It was an otherwise tough morning for Team USA as neither Nick Nosler (87 kg, Southern Illinois RTC) or Shilo Jones (130 kg, Bison WC) had their hands raised.

Nosler was defeated by Isshin Onitsuka (JPN) in his first match, whereas Jones was downed by ’24 U20 World bronze Koppany Laszlo of Hungary. Onitsuka did not make it past Abdurakhman Abdulkadyrov (UWW) in the next round, and Laszlo was on the wrong end of a 4-2 decision against Abolfazl Fathitazangi (IRI) in the quarterfinals.

Thus far it has been a difficult event for the United States in Samokov. Entering Sunday morning, the US has only recorded four individual wins. On Thursday, ’24 U20 silver Isaiah Cortez (60 kg, Daniel Cormier WC) pinned Kristin Petrov (BUL) and Arvin Khosravy (82 kg, West Point WC) decisioned Yrisbek Kalyev (KGZ); on Friday, ’22 U17 World gold Joel Adams (67 kg, Beaver Dam RTC) impressively shuttered Russian Rabil Askerov; and this morning Bowling came back against Atanasov.