WVU Wrestlers Claim All-American Status at U23 World Team Trials

WVU wrestlers Peyton Hall and Dylan Kohn both earned an All-American nod after each finished within the top eight of their respective weight classes during the 2023 U23 World Team Trials in Geneva, Ohio, this past weekend.

Hall took fifth place in the 163-pound (74 kg) weight class of the U23 Men’s Freestyle tournament to claim his second straight All-American status at the event, while Kohn finished seventh at 180 pounds (82kg) in the U23 Men’s Greco-Roman bracket.

This marks the second consecutive year that two West Virginia wrestlers reached the All-American mark in the tournament.

“Anytime that you place at a national level event is a big deal,” Mountaineers fifth-year coach Tim Flynn said in a release. “Congratulations to those guys, and ultimately, they have goals outside of college wrestling, so this was a nice step towards making future World teams.”

Hall, a standout junior for the Mountaineers, started his tournament by claiming five consecutive victories, with the first three coming via a 10-0 technical fall. Hall then dropped back-to-back matches by one point before defeating Little Rock’s Joey Bianchi 10-4 in the fifth-place bout.

Kohn went back-and-forth in his initial four matches, splitting two wins and two losses. The sophomore finished off his run by earning an 11-1 technical fall victory over Bellarmine’s Kennedy Wyatt in the seventh-place match.

Two other Mountaineers also competed in the event, with Jace Schafer (125 pounds) and Michael Dolan (143 pounds) both failing to reach the podium. Schafer posted a 3-2 record, while Dolan went 5-2, which included a run of four straight wins prior to his tournament-ending defeat.