U23 World Championships Recap

The U23 World Championships were kicked off on Monday, October 21st at the Feti Borova Sports Hall in Tirana, Albania and concluded on Sunday, October 27th. There was solid New York representation for the Red, White, and Blue including Sofia Macaluso (WFS 57kg / Minisink Valley), Lucas Stoddard (MFS 125kg / Army West Point), Josh Saunders (MFS 65kg / Cornell), Max Gallagher (MFS 57kg / Bayport-Blue Point), and former Cornell standout Jacob Cardenas (MFS 92kg). Of the Empire Statecontingent, we came out with a Silver medal and a plethora of fifth place finishes.

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Sofia Macaluso, 5th place, WFS 57kg (Minisink Valley / West Point Wrestling Club)

The Minisink Valley standout landed in Albania searching for her second age-group world medal after she finished with Silver at the U20 World Championships in 2022. In her opening match, Macaluso was trailing 9-4 with time winding down on the clock and converted on an inside trip and back exposure to earn a win over Bertha Rojas Chavez (Mexico). In the quarterfinals she notched a win over Anastasia Kozlova (Individual Neutral Athlete) to make the U23 Semifinals, where she would eventually fall to returning U23 World Finalist Zhala Alyeva (Azerbaijan). In her bronze medal bout she dropped an 8-4 decision to Alina Filipovych (Ukraine) to finish 5th.

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Max Gallagher, 5th place, MFS 57kg (Bayport-Blue Point / University of Pennsylvania)

The 2022 State Champion, 2022 Fargo All-American, 2022 Super 32 All-American, and Bayport-Blue Point standout made his international debut this weekend for the Red, White, and Blue and was the youngest member of the U23 Men’s World Team. In the opening round he cruised to a 10-0 technical fall over Daniil Yushkouski (Individual Neutral Athlete) before dropping a bout to Asia U23 World Champion Abdymalik Karachov (Kyrgyzstan). Karachov made the finals, so Gallagher was pulled back into the repechage where he was able to pull out a close 3-1 win over Qingkan Xie (China) before dropping his bronze medal bout to Ali Momenijoujadeh (Iran) to finish 5th.

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Lucas Stoddard, 5th place, MFS 125kg (Army West Point)

The Army West Point sophomore and Burton, Ohio native was a NCAA National Qualifier last year as a true freshman and now traveled to Albania for the U23 World Championships where he finished in 5th place. Stoddard would start off with two straight wins to make the semifinals - the first being a 8-1 win over Nicolae Stratluat (Moldova) and then the second being a closely contested 1-1 criteria victory over Pavel Dziatlau (Individual Neutral Athlete). Thereafter, he dropped two consecutive tech falls to Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (Iran) and Abdulla Kurbanov (Individual Neutral Athlete) to finish in 5th place.

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Other Results

Jacob Cardenas, Silver, MFS 92kg (Formerly Cornell / University of Michigan)

Joshua Saunders, 0-1 Record, MFS 65kg (Cornell)

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Full Match Results

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Sofia Macaluso, WFS 57kg

WIN Bertha Rojas Chavez (Mexico), 11-9

WIN Anastasia Kozlova (Individual Neutral Athlete), 4-1

LOSS Zhala Aliyeva (Azerbaijan), fall, 2:04

LOSS Alina Filipovych (Ukraine), 8-4

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Max Gallagher, MFS 57kg

WIN Daniil Yushkouski (Individual Neutral Athlete), tech. fall, 10-0

LOSS Abdymalik Karachov (Kyrgyzstan), 1-1

WIN Qingkan Xie (China), 3-1

LOSS Ali Momenijoujadeh (Iran), 8-0

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Josh Saunders, MFS 65kg

LOSS Kumar Mohit (India), 9-2

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Jacob Cardenas, MFS 92kg

WIN Mustafagadzhi Malachdibirov (Individual Neutral Athlete), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Filip Szucki (Poland), 5-1

WIN Andro Margishvili (Georgia), fall, 5:12

WIN Musza Arsunkaev (Hungary), 5-2

LOSS Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei (Iran), 11-4

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Lucas Stoddard, MFS 125kg

WIN Nicolae Stratulat (Moldova), 8-1

WIN Pavel Dziatlau (Individual Neutral Athlete), 1-1

LOSS Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (Iran), tech. fall, 10-0

LOSS Abdulla Kurbanov (Individual Neutral Athlete), tech. fall, 10-0