Previews: Who's Number One & Greco World's

ILLINI fans have a ton to look forward to in the very near future. There will be at least two future ILLINI wrestling in the big Who's Number One showcase, while the IRTC's Kamal Bey and Max Nowry will be on a quest for medals at the Senior Greco World Championships. 

WHAT:  Who's #1?  

WHEN:  September 9

WHERE: Ann Arbor, MI

WHO:  Kannon Webster and Braeden Scoles.  

KANNON WEBSTER

Kannon Webster is slated to face a familiar foe in Sergio Lemley. It will be ILLINOIS state champion versus ILLINOIS state champion. This will be Kannon's first of many wins in Ann Arbor. From the Flo Wrestling article on the matchup: 

Webster is coming off Fargo finals in both freestyle and Greco. He split stop signs with U17 World silver medalist Cory Land, losing their first meeting in freestyle, but avenging the loss in Greco. In 2021, he was also a Fargo champ, finished third at Super 32, and was a runner-up at Ironman.

Lemley has had an excellent year as well. In addition to his Illinois state title, he was a Fargo finalist, finished 5th at Super 32, and was third at Ironman.

I could not find video of a match between Kannon and Sergio, even though Webster has an insane number of matches posted on Youtube and Flo. The future ILLINI finished third at Super 32 and the future Wolverine finished fifth, but they did not meet up there. Kannon finished runner-up at the Walsh Ironman last year and Lemley finished third, but again they didn't meet up in that tournament. 

Here's a poll I made up about this match:

BRAEDEN SCOLES

That same night, another future ILLINI will wrestle in Who's #1? That would be the three-time-and-counting state champion from Wisconsin, Braeden Scoles. He will be wrestling in what is a kind of mini-tournament with three other wrestlers. Win, and you advance to a second match to determine a true number one. 

Braeden's first match is against Angelo Ferrari. 

You might recognize that name. Will the burden of public scorn have an effect on Ferrari? One thing's for sure, the Oklahoma transplant is pretty new to 160, whereas Braeden Scoles has been there for a couple of years. Scoles needs one more state title to be a four-timer; Ferrari has already fallen short, placing second as a freshman. He did win last season. 

Get past that opponent, and the future ILLINI will face the winner of the Nicco Ruiz and Joe Sealey match. This is an actual poll that I took a screengrab of at the USA Wrestling website (it's further down the page, keep scrolling):

WHAT:  Senior Greco World Championships

WHEN:  September 10

WHERE:  Belgrade, Serbia

WHO:  Max Nowry and Kamal Bey

KAMAL BEY

Kamal Bey and his teammate both start their quests on September 10. They are also the two athletes on Team USA Greco most people have pinned their hopes on. G'Angelo Hancock has moved on to professional wrestling, and that leaves Bey and Max as the guys who have shown the most consistency and results in the past. 

Kamal is unseeded in the event. 

Wow! He will present by far the biggest landmine for any wrestler unfortunate enough to draw him in the early rounds. Get ready to wake up early for this event--or just stay up all night after Who's #1? The qualification rounds for Kamal and Max start at 10:30 am in Belgrade, which is 3:30 am in Chicago.

Even though Bey is only 24 years old, he's already won multiple US Opens, finished second at the Pan Am Championships, won a US National Championship and a Gold Medal in the Junior Worlds. Like I said, he will be the landmine in that bracket. 

MAX NOWRY

Like his Army and IRTC teammate, Max Nowry is an ILLINOIS native. Because of recent results, Max pulled the #4 seed in this event. He's medaled in multiple international events and brought home Gold in multiple Pan Am Championships. 

Just as with his brother-in-arms, he is set to kick off his event at 10:30 Belgrade time, which is 3:30 am in Chicago. 

His best finish so far was a loss in the medal round to earn fifth. He also placed ninth another year. On account of the Olympic Committee pretty much sucking, his natural weight class hasn't been wrestled in the Olympics. The good news here for the IRTC athlete is that there will be world medalists in the other bracket, and last year's champion is not showing up (Japan). 

In his bracket, he'd have to face Eldaniz Azizli of Azerbaijan, who is the #1 seed. This fellow recently won the European championships, and he won bronze in both the 2019 and 2021 World Championships. 

NOTA BENE

Russia is not allowed to wrestle in these World Championships. That will likely be a major factor at 55kg and 77kg. At the lower weight, the Russian finished with a Silver last year. At 77kg, the Russian won the Gold. That was the only weight at which Russia won a Gold, although they did win multiple Bronzes and Silvers in addition to the Silver at 55kg. 

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Photo credits: FightingILLINI.com, USAWrestling.com, Trackwrestling.com, dailyherald.com, FloWrestling.com, fivepointmove.com and ninjaoutreach.com.