Wrestling: Gilman, Gadson, Colon all win hardware at Pan-American Championships
Cody GoodwinA trio of wrestlers with Iowa ties competed for the Red, White and Blue on Sunday at the 2018 Pan-American Championships in Lima, Peru.
Thomas Gilman, Joe Colon and Kyven Gadson all represented the United States in the international freestyle wrestling competition. Each of them brought home hardware, contributing to the Americans’ first-place team finish.
Gilman wins bronze
Gilman, a former Hawkeye wrestler and reigning world silver medalist, won the bronze at 57 kilograms (roughly 125.5 pounds). The Council Bluffs native went 3-1 on the weekend, reaching the semifinals before falling to the bronze-medal bout Sunday.
The three-time Iowa All-American used back-to-back technical falls to reach the semifinals. There, Gilman lost to Cuba’s Reineri Andreu Ortega, 7-4, after allowing a four-point move midway through the second period. Ortega ultimately went on to win gold in the competition.
Gilman then fell to the third-place match, where he edged Pedro Jesus Mejias Rodriguez, 11-4. He jumped out to a 5-0 lead after scoring on a push-out, takedown and gut wrench in the third period. He added two more takedowns in the second to secure the win.
Colon dominates en route to gold
Colon, a former Northern Iowa All-American, rolled to a gold medal at 61 kilograms (roughly 134 pounds). The Clear Lake grad went 4-0 with three technical falls and one pin, a dominant follow-up performance after winning the U.S. Open last month.
Colon advanced to the semifinals without much resistance, outscoring his first two opponents 25-2. He continued attacking by recording a 35-second pin over El Salvador’s Juan Antonio Rodriguez Jovel to advance to the finals.
There, Colon made quick work of Canada’s Joshua Bodnarchuk, recording a takedown and four consecutive gut wrenches for a 10-0 first-period technical fall. In all, Colon outscored his four opponents a combined 37-2.
Gadson reaches final
Gadson, a 2015 NCAA Champion for Iowa State, finished second at 97 kilograms (roughly 213 pounds). He stormed to the finals with back-to-back victories early on Sunday — first, a 10-0 technical fall over Mexico's Miguel Javier Sanchez Geraldo, then with a 3-3 criteria victory over Venezuela's Jose Daniel Diaz Robertti.
In the final, Gadson fell to Cuba’s Reineris Salas Perez, 8-2. Perez, a past Pan-American Champion and two-time world silver medalist, went up 6-0 quickly after a pair of takedowns in the first period, including a four-pointer. Gadson scored on a single leg, but Perez added another takedown in the second period for the final score.
Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.
2018 Pan-American Championships
TEAM USA RESULTS
Men's Freestyle
- 57 kilograms: Thomas Gilman, bronze
- 61 kilograms: Joe Colon, gold
- 65 kilograms: Logan Stieber, gold
- 70 kilograms: James Green, gold
- 74 kilograms: Nazariy Kulchytskyy, silver
- 79 kilograms: Mark Hall, gold
- 86 kilograms: David Taylor, gold
- 92 kilograms: Ben Provisor, gold
- 97 kilograms: Kyven Gadson, silver
- 125 kilograms: Nick Gwiazdowski, gold
Women's Freestyle
- 50 kilograms: Whitney Condor, gold
- 53 kilograms: Sarah Hildebrandt, gold
- 55 kilograms: Becka Leathers, gold
- 57 kilograms: Michaela Beck, bronze
- 59 kilograms: Kelsey Campbell, bronze
- 62 kilograms: Kayla Miracle, bronze
- 65 kilograms: Forrest Molinari, gold
- 72 kilograms: Hannah Gladden, silver
- 76 kilograms: Adeline Gray, gold
Greco-Roman
- 55 kilograms: Max Nowry, gold
- 63 kilograms: Ryan Mango, gold
- 72 kilograms: Ravaughn Perkins, gold
- 82 kilograms: Geordan Speiller, silver
- 87 kilograms: Ben Provisor, bronze
- 130 kilograms: Robby Smith, silver