LAS VEGAS — Three Wildcats have advanced to World Team Trials after their performances at the 2018 Marine Corps U.S. Open this weekend.
 
Redshirt first-year Ryan Deakin (70 kg) finished in fifth place in the Senior Men's Freestyle bracket, while first-year Yahya Thomas (65 kg) and incoming Wildcat Lucas Davison (92 kg) both placed seventh in the UWW Junior World Freestyle event.
 
As one of seven top finishers in the Senior Freestyle event, Deakin advances to the World Team Trials, May 18-20 in Rochester, Minnesota. He out-wrestled his seed, as he was slotted ninth to start the event.
 
The World Team Trials winner will advance to wrestle in the Final X. Former Nebraska wrestler James Green waits in Final X at 70 kg.
 
Thomas and Davison, both one of eight placers in their weight class, earned berths to the UWW Junior Freestyle World Team Trials, also in Rochester, Minnesota, on May 18-19. They seek to qualify for the Junior World Championships, August 17-23 in Trvava, Slovakia.
 
Deakin is continuing his impressive run in international competition. Last offseason, he won the Junior Freestyle championship at 66 kg, earning a bye to the finals of the UWW World Team Trials. He won there, qualifying him for a trip to the Junior Worlds in Tampere, Finland, where he took silver.
 
In Las Vegas, Deakin went 5-2 en route to his fifth-place finish. He started the even with a 15-4 win over Jacob Hatley (HHAC) and then topped Princeton's Matthew Kolodzik, 10-0, avenging Deakin's Midlands setback to Kolodzik.
 
After a 10-4 loss at the hands of former national champion Frank Molinaro, Deakin responded with another 10-0 drubbing of Minnesota's Steve Bleise. In the next round of consolations, Deakin topped Oregon State's Josh Reyes, 4-0.
 
After a 13-5 setback to Big Ten Champion Alec Pantaleo (Michigan), Deakin logged a victory by injury over Molinaro, earning a fifth-place finish.
 
Thomas went 6-2 on the path to his seventh-place result. He started with back-to-back wins over Purdue's Alec White (11-5) and North Carolina's Jaime Hernandez (7-2) before falling 4-3 to Andrew Alirez.
 
He then rattled off three-straight wins over Fresno State's Chris De Loza (10-0), Lehigh's Jimmy Hoffman (9-7), and Arizona State's Navonte Demison (Injury). After an 8-6 setback to Kendall Coleman, Thomas topped Michael Blockhus 7-0 to earn seventh place.
 
Davison posted back-to-back wins to start his bracket, including a 10-0 win over Army West Point's Bennett Paulson and an 8-5 win over Ohio State's Kevin Snyder. After an 8-4 setback to Virginia Tech's John Borst, he topped Austin Harris 15-4. He ended his run with a win by fall over Arizona State's Cade Belshay.
 
Full results can be found on FloWrestling.org.
 

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