UNI Wrestling: Wyatt Voelker won the U20 Pan American Championship

Santiago, Chile — Rising sophomore at UNI Wyatt Voelker posted a perfect 4-0 record Thursday en route to his first U20 Pan American Greco-Roman title in the 87-pound weight class.

The 2023 U20 US Open and US World Team Trials champion opened the five-man 87-kilogram field with back-to-back victories with a dominant performance (VSU), starting with an 8-0 victory over Dieter Von Helms Valenzuela (Chile). ). He followed up his first round win at VSU with a 9-0 decision over Brazil’s Max Franca Magalhaes De Almeida.

After giving up his first points of the contest to Carlos Salazar Gomez (Mexico), Voelker quickly stormed back to secure the win by fall (VFA) with 1 minute, 38 seconds left in the match. Voelker capped his impressive day on the mat with an 8-3 win over Brian Ruiz Marin (Venezuela) to secure the gold for the United States.

A native of Manchester, Iowa, Voelker went 14-4 in his first varsity season with the Panthers, winning tournament titles at Grand View, Iowa State and UNI, and a title as an independent wrestler at Soldier Salute. He started his UNI career on a 13 game hitting streak. He made his debut against 19th-ranked Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) and finished the year with two kills and three wins by major decision.

Voelker will return to the international stage next month at the Under-20 World Championships in Warsaw, Poland from 14-20. August.