Coon, Rau, Jacobson advance to Group B championship series at Senior Greco-Roman World Team Trials

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A trio of Olympians, past Senior World Team members and age-group World medalists advanced to the best-of-three championship series in Group B at the Senior Greco-Roman World Team Trials at the 2025 CLAW U.S. Open in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Two of these final matchups will be familiar to wrestling fans. Both the 87 kg and 130 kg Greco-Roman finals are rematches of last year’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials championship series. 2024 Olympian Payton Jacobson needed one period to get the win over 2022 U20 World Team member Adrian Artsisheuskiy.

Spencer Woods, a two-time Senior World Team member, battled 2023 U.S. Open champion Zac Braunagel. Woods secured the 9-0 technical fall to move on to the best-of-three series. A huge throw in the first finished the match early, after Woods had built a 4-0 lead in par terre.

Adam Coon and Cohlton Schultz will face off once again to decide the Senior World Team spot at 130 kg. Coon, a 2024 Olympian and 2018 World silver medalist, picked up a 7-3 decision over Courtney Freeman in the semifinals, improving on an early lead and holding strong on defense against Freeman’s late attack.

Three-time Senior World team member and age-group World Champion Schultz advanced after defeating age-group World medalist and Senior National Team member Aden Attao in the semis, 8-0. A throw, followed by a gut wrench gave Schultz a lead, and he finished the match after forcing Attao out of bounds for the final point.

2024 Olympian Joe Rau is back in the championship series at 97 kg, using a 5-2 decision over Timothy Young in the semis to get there. Rau pulled away early, scoring a takedown and adding a point after Young was hit for passivity.

His opponent is Michial Foy, a strong competitor from Army WCAP. Foy pinned Senior National Team member Nicholas Boykin two minutes into the match, after rolling Boykin to his back in par terre.

Newcomer Beka Melelashvili, a 2024 U23 World silver medalist, finished his third match of the day in the first period to advance to the finals. Melelashvili dominated in an 8-0 technical fall over Fritz Schierl, scoring an early takedown, rolling through for another takedown and an exposure, and finishing the match in 71 seconds.

He will face an experienced competitor in Senior National Team member Jesse Porter in the championship series. Porter’s semifinal win over Andrew Berreyesa included a monster throw for four.

The best-of-three championship series of the Senior Greco-Roman World Team Trials finals for Group B is slated to begin at 10 a.m. PT inside The Expo at World Market Center in Las Vegas for round one. A detailed schedule of events is available at usawrestlingevents.com.

All the action from Las Vegas will be broadcast live on FloWrestling. Brackets and match-by-match results are available through USA Bracketing, USA Wrestling’s new best-in-class event management software.

Finals Matchups

82 kg – Jesse Porter (NYAC) vs. Beka Melelashvili (NYAC)

87 kg – Payton Jacobson (NMU-National Training Center/NYAC) vs. Spencer Woods (Army WCAP)  

97 kg – Josef Rau (Titan Mercury WC) vs. Michial Foy (Army WCAP)

130 kg – Adam Coon (Cliff Keen WC/NYAC) vs. Cohlton Schultz (Atreus WC)

Semifinal Results

82 kg

Jesse Porter (NYAC) tech. fall Andrew Berreyesa (NYAC), 9-1

Beka Melelashvili (NYAC) tech. fall Fritz Schierl (Minnesota Storm/NYAC), 8-0

87 kg

Payton Jacobson (NMU-National Training Center/NYAC) tech. fall Adrian Artsisheuskiy (NYAC), 9-0

Spencer Woods (Army WCAP) tech. fall Zachary Braunagel (Illinois RTC), 9-0

97 kg

Josef Rau (Titan Mercury WC) dec. Timothy Young (Army WCAP), 5-2

Michial Foy (Army WCAP) pin Nicholas Boykin (Ohio), 2:15

130 kg

Cohlton Schultz (Atreus WC) tech. fall Aden Attao (NYAC), 8-0

Adam Coon (Cliff Keen WC/NYAC) dec. Courtney Freeman (All-Marines), 7-3