KANNON WEBSTER WINS A PAN AM CHAMPIONSHIP!

Kannon Webster represented the United States, as well as Washington High School, the State of ILLINOIS and the University of ILLINOIS in the 65 kg weight class at the U20 Pan Am Championships in Santiago, Chile. He finished with a 3-0 record with all three victories coming by way of first-period tech fall. Here was his record for the event:

65 kg – Kannon Webster (Washington, Ill./Super Soldiers WC), Gold Medal
WIN Esteban Alfaro Bravo (Chile), tech. fall, 11-0
WIN Jose Benites Vasquez (Peru), tech. fall, 10-0
WIN Nathan Hunyady (Canada), tech. fall, 10-0

As you can see, Kannon gave up zero points in his three matches. 

For the record, the fellow who won the Most Outstanding Wrestler, another American, gave up four points in one match and one point in another. Coaching the Americans in Chile was ILLINI legend B.J. Futrell, who was last seen holding the first place team trophy won by the American team.  

FIRST MATCH: QUARTERFINALS

In this match, Webster got on the board early with a one-point step out, which is not shown in the video. Instead, you get to see a perfect ankle pick followed by a gut wrench. Later, he was a dog on a bone going after a knee pick until he worried his Chilean opponent to the ground. Then, the pride of Washington High School worked a pair of gut wrenches to end the match. 

In this tournament, Kannon used his gut wrenches to perfection. In fact, it seemed that the only thing to stop him was the out-of-bounds line. 

Video credit to FloWrestling and USAW. Music credits to Moby for "Natural Blues," and outro music by Audio Beats. Photo credits in the outro sequence to FightingILLINI.com, NCAA.com, uiaa.org, wrestlingchangedmylife.com, ILLINOISMatmen.com, flowrestling.com, intermatwrestle.com. This video is not to be monetized.

SECOND MATCH: SEMIFINALS

The short video above shows the scoring in Kannon Webster's semifinal match at the U20 Pan Am Championships. During the entire tournament, the Washington High School product and future ILLINI wrestler did not give up a point. That would be true in this match as well. Webster won this match by the score of 10-0 against Jose Benites Vasquez of Peru. This was the second of what would be three technical falls. Video credit to FloWrestling, USAW and UWW. Music credits to Moby for "Natural Blues," and outro music by Audio Beats. Photo credits in the outro sequence to FightingILLINI.com, NCAA.com, uiaa.org, wrestlingchangedmylife.com, ILLINOISMatmen.com, flowrestling.com, intermatwrestle.com. This video is not to be monetized.

THIRD MATCH: THE FINALS!

Above, Kannon wrestles in the Finals of the Pan Am Championships against Nathan Hunyady of Canada. This fellow has already spent a year in a college room at the University of Guelph in Canada. He looked pretty strong and stocky in his semifinal win, and I was worried that he would be able to throw Kannon around the mat. Wrong! It was Kannon who threw him around the mat and controlled the action. In fact, there wasn't a single aspect of the match that wasn't under Webster's complete control. Video credit to FloWrestling, USAW and UWW. Music credit to the great University of ILLINOIS Marching Band, Gary Smith, Conductor for the 3-in-1, and credit for the outro music to Audio Beats. Photo credits in the outro sequence to FightingILLINI.com, NCAA.com, uiaa.org, wrestlingchangedmylife.com, ILLINOISMatmen.com, flowrestling.com, intermatwrestle.com. This video is not to be monetized.