Stauffenberg and Hamdan Crowned at U20/U23 Greco-Roman World Team Trials

GENEVA, Ohio – Michigan State wrestling sent three to the finals of the U20 and U23 Greco-Roman World Team Trials on Friday afternoon at the Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio. Redshirt freshman Braden Stauffenberg was the U20 Champion at 72kg and redshirt senior Jordan Hamdan was the U23 Champion at 63kg. Senior Caleb Fish finished as the U23 runner-up at 77kg.

Both Stauffenberg and Hamdan earned spots on their respective World teams, with Stauffenberg set to wrestle for Team USA at the 2023 UWW U20 World Championships in Warsaw, Poland, this August and Hamdan representing Team USA at the 2023 UWW U23 World Championships in Tampere, Finland, in October.

Jordan Hamdan and Braden Stauffenberg are officially WORLD TEAM MEMBERS!

Braden won the 72kg crown in the U20 division, while Jordan won the 63kg U23 division.

Congratulations to these two young men! #GoGreen | #SpartanStrong pic.twitter.com/qPzv9y2Tal
— Spartan Wrestling (@MSU_Wrestling) June 2, 2023

"It was a pretty cool experience to watch these guys compete today," Associate Head Coach Chris Williams said. "Some of our guys have quite a bit of experience in Greco-Roman wrestling like Braden (Stauffenberg) and Jordan (Hamdan), but Caleb Fish had never wrestled a Greco-Roman match in his life until today and made the finals. Putting two guys on age group world teams is always exciting for us. Those guys worked really hard and earned it."

The returning U20 World Team Trials Greco-Roman champion, Stauffenberg came back from a 7-0 deficit to defeat No. 7-seeded Aaron Dobbs in the 72kg semi-finals, scoring 12 consecutive points in the second period to advance. An 8-0 victory by superiority over No. 5-seeded Tyler Antoniak in the challenge bracket finals secured Stauffenberg's place in the best-of-3 series against former U20 champion Richard Fedalen. Stauffenberg took the first bout of the series, 8-5, after coming back from down 4-0 in the first period to outscore Fedalen 8-1 over the final 3:20. In match two, Stauffenberg trailed 9-7 heading into the second period before scoring five straight to defeat Fedalen by a final score of 12-9 to secure a trip to Poland.

No. 2-seeded Hamdan breezed throughout his first two bouts by scores of 8-0 before staving off a comeback from No. 3-seeded Jeremy Bockert, 10-6, in the semi-finals to advance to the best-of-3 finals against No. 5-seeded Kyle Rowan. Rowan held a 5-0 lead over Hamdan in the first match before Hamdan scored six consecutive points in the second period to earn his first victory. Hamdan hit a huge five-point throw early in bout two which gave him an 11-0 victory in just 1:38 as he locked in a trip to Finland for the U23 World Championships.

To advance to the finals, Fish defeated No. 2-seeded Sean Coughlin in the semi-finals via fall, throwing the No. 2 seed to his back with under two minutes remaining the in second period. Fish met top-seeded Payton Jacobson in the best-of-3 finals, where Jacobson took the first bout by superiority, 10-0.

Despite each dropping matches in the semi-finals at 130kg, sophomore Josh Terrill and junior Nick West met in the third-place bout at U23 Nationals. West trailed 6-0 in his opening match of the tournament before securing a fall over No. 6-seeded Ian Clifford and later took down No. 3-seeded Max Barlow by fall in the consolation semis. Terrill reached the semi-finals after defeating No. 5-seeded Max Diaz, 8-0, before dropping a match to top-seeded Spencer Trenary.

In a battle of the Spartan heavyweights, it was West that came away on top by a final score of 6-4.

Full Results
U20 Greco-Roman – 72kg - 1st Place
Braden Stauffenberg def. Dylan Whitt, 8-0, VSU 2:31
Braden Stauffenberg def. Aaron Dobbs, 12-7, VPO1
Braden Stauffenberg def. Tyler Antoniak, 8-0, VSU 2:11
Braden Stauffenberg def. Richard Fedalen, 8-5, VPO1
Braden Stauffenberg def. Richard Fedalen, 12-9, VPO1

U23 Greco-Roman – 63kg - 1st Place
Jordan Hamdan def. Rubyn Semedo, 8-0, VSU 0:26
Jordan Hamdan def. Matthew Englehardt, 8-0, VSU 3:28
Jordan Hamdan def. Jeremy Bockert, 10-6, VPO1
Jordan Hamdan def. Kyle Rowan, 6-5, VPO1
Jordan Hamdan def. Kyle Rowan, 11-0, VSU 1:38

U23 Greco-Roman – 67kg
Blake Noonan def. Michael Tharpe, 8-0, VSU 0:34
Samuel Edelblute def. Blake Noonan, 6-4, VPO1
Blake Noonan def. Carlens Lapaix, 9-0, VSU 1:46
Cole Rhemrev def. Blake Noonan, 8-0, VSU 0:44

U23 Greco-Roman – 77kg - 2nd Place
Caleb Fish def. Brandon Kidd, 9-0, VSU 2:22
Caleb Fish def. Walker Heckendorf, 10-2, VSU1 0:48
Caleb Fish def. Carson Miller, 4-0, VPO
Caleb Fish def. Sean Coughlin, 10-10, VFA 4:24
Payton Jacobson def. Caleb Fish, 10-0, VSU 1:09
Payton Jacobson def. Caleb Fish, 8-0, VSU 0:37

U23 Greco-Roman – 82kg
Ryan Boucher def. Patrick Curran, 5-0, VPO
Edmond Ruth def. Ryan Boucher, 10-2, VSU 5:31
Ryan Boucher def. Joseph Metz, 7-2, VPO1
Devan Hendricks def. Ryan Boucher, 9-0, VSU 3:51

U23 Greco-Roman – 130kg
Nick West (3rd Place)
Nick West def. Ian Clifford, 4-6, VFA 3:50
Nick West def. Nathaniel Lennon, 8-0, VSU 3:00
Kaleb Reeves def. Nick West, 8-0, VSU 0:42
Nick West def. Max Barlow, 9-2, VFA 5:00 (Consolation Semis)
Nick West def. Josh Terrill, 6-4, VPO1 (Third Place)

Josh Terrill (4th Place)
Josh Terrill def. Joseph Shoup, 8-0, VSU 3:36
Josh Terrill def. Max Diaz, 8-0, VSU 1:12
Spencer Trenary def. Josh Terrill, 8-2, VFA 1:57
Josh Terrill def. Mason Cover, 5-1, VPO1 (Consolation Semis)
Nick West def. Josh Terrill, 6-4, VPO1 (Third Place)