Alabama's Cory Land Claims U20 Greco Title
Photo Credit: Allyson Schwab
Outstanding Day 1 for the current (and former) SE hammers in Vegas. Former Alabama hammer Cory Land of Moody, now a freshman at the University of Northern Iowa, claimed the 60 kg US Open title in dominating fashion. Land was unscored on in his first 3 matches and then downed Calfornia’s Elijah Cortez 7-2 in the finals. Joining Land in the finals was former Florida hammer and current Little Rock freshman Brennan Van Hoecke. Van Hoecke, the 5 seed at 67 kg, had a pair of quick technical superiorities before downing Noah Manuel Tapia in the quarters. Van Hoecke then took out top seed Pierson Manville in a wild semifinal match that end 14-6. Van Hoecke came up just short of a title after losing to returning World Champ Joel Adams in the finals.
Several other SE hammers made the U20 podium in Greco:
Former Gardendale hammer Keenan Wyatt finished 4th at 82 kg
And a handful of current high schoolers made the top 8 as well …
Colson Hoffman of Central Carroll (GA) was 7th at 60 kg
Will Anderson of Athens (AL) was 8th at 63 kg
Hunter Sturgill of Baylor (TN) was 7th at 72 kg
Riley Hucks of South Carolina was 7th at 87 kg
Necula and Tovar Make the U15 Greco Podium
Bit of a rough day for the U15 Greco crew as just Mihai Necula of Georgia and Jovanni Tovar of Florida were able to make the podium for the SE. Necula lost early (in the Round of 16 on a 5-5 criteria decision) and won 5 in a row to make the consolation finals where he lost a close 8-7 decision to former Florida hammer (current PA hammer) Asher Bacon. Tovar came in as the 5 seed at 52 kg and won 3 in a row to make the semis before losing to eventual Champion Reece Movahead. A 1-1 criteria loss to Cooper Mathews put him in the 5th place match where he beat Jordan Manyette 2-2 on criteria to take 5th.