BUENOS AIRES, Argentine — For the first time in the history of the Pan American Championships, Team USA swept all 10 championships.
Team USA, led by coach and Montana native Bill Zadick, compiled a 34-0 record in men’s freestyle wrestling over the weekend to earn 250 points and claim 10 gold medals. Zadick, the former Great Falls High School standout, was named Team USA’s men’s freestyle head coach in 2016 and has found immediate success.
Sunday’s Pan American title is just the latest in a long line of accomplishments for Team USA under Zadick’s tutelage. Team USA won the World Championships team title in 2017, the first for Team USA in 22 years, and the World Freestyle Cup in 2018, the first for Team USA in 15 years.
Sunday’s Pan Am performance was a show of historical dominance. Olympic champions Jordan Burroughs (2012) and Kyle Snyder (2016) helped lead the way for Team USA. Burroughs won his third overall Pan Am Championships title, defeating Canada’s Jevon Balfour in the 74-kilogram final.
Snyder was impressive on his way to the 97-kg title, picking up two tech falls on Sunday before winning the title by injury default over Reineris Salas Perez from Cuba. It’s Snyder’s second Pan Am championship.
Zadick was a four-time Montana high school state champion at Great Falls High in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had a career record of 87-12 wrestling at the University of Iowa, where he was a two-time all-American and Big Ten and NCAA champion. Zadick joined USA Wrestling in 2009.
2019 SENIOR PAN AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 18-21
Final team standings
1. USA – 250
2. Canada – 129
3. Cuba – 115
4. Puerto Rico – 72
5. Venezuela – 68
6. Argentina – 53
7. Colombia – 48
8. Brazil – 41
9. Dominican Republic – 37
10. Peru – 37
Championship results
57 kg: Joshua RODRIGUEZ (USA) TF Oscar TIGREROS URBANO (COL), 10-0
61 kg: Joe COLON (USA)
65 kg: Colton MCCRYSTAL (USA) TF Damian SOLENZAL LOPEZ (CUB), 12-1
70 kg: Anthony ASHNAULT (USA)
74 kg: Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) dec. Jevon BALFOUR (CAN), 7-0
79 kg: Chandler ROGERS (USA)
86 kg: David TAYLOR III (USA) TF Pedro CEBALLOS FUENTES (VEN), 10-0
92 kg: J’den COX (USA)
97 kg: Kyle SNYDER (USA) df. Reineris SALAS PEREZ (CUB), injury default
125 kg: Nicholas GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) TF Korey JARVIS (CAN), 10-0
