While 97kg has the fewest entries in men's freestyle at Senior Nationals, there's not a lot of fluff which should make for some enticing matchups. Kyle Snyder's at the top, and he'll be joined by four more of the nation's top ten as well as 8 college studs that will look to prove themselves on the senior level.

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Friday-Sunday, October 9-11, 2020

The Field

Before reading a breakdown of this bracket, check out the complete field at 97kg including their seeds for Senior Nationals and domestic ranking.

Can Anyone Push Snyder?

Kyle Snyder has been the gold standard at 97kg since he took over the spot in 2015. Since then, he has made every US team, and in his five World/Olympic tries, he was won three golds, a silver, and a bronze. It would be shocking to see him lose here, but there is still intrigue around Snyder as he is just wrapping up his first full year in State College. 

Every time he competes, fans are watching to see what he's added to his game since working with Cael and company. In his first competition in a NLWC singlet at last year's Bill Farrell, he dominated the field, including this weekend's #2 seed, Hayden Zillmer.

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After Snyder, Who's Next?

While it isn't impossible for Snyder to take a loss here, it's highly unlikely. The pecking order at 97kg has shifted in the last year, and it will be fascinating to see how Zillmer, Moore, Gadson, Honis, and Walz look in this bracket.

Kyven Gadson has been Kyle Snyder's opponent in either the World Team Trials finals or Final X for the last three years, and at this time last year, he would have been considered the top challenger to Snyder here. That was before he took a loss to Kollin Moore at last year's Senior Nationals. 

Since competition has been limited since then, it's hard to say if Gadson's result at Senior Nationals represented a down performance or a changing of the guard. On the May 6 episode of The Bader Show, Gadson explained that he has made big changes to his training since last year, including the incorporation of Functional Patterns. This will be his first opportunity to show those adjustments off at 97kg. Based on his seed, he will probably need to get past Ben Honis, who he's beaten consistently, in the quarters before hitting Snyder in the semis.

On the bottom side of the bracket, Hayden Zillmer and Kollin Moore could be on a collision course to meet in the semifinals. Their match in the Senior Nationals finals last year was one for the ages. Moore was in the driver's seat with a 10-2 lead in the second period before Zillmer got 4 on a chest-wrap and a takedown and turn to win 10-10 on criteria. That match was wild!

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Of course Zillmer and Moore aren't guaranteed spots in the semis. If the bracket plays out according to seeds, we'll see Zillmer vs TJ Dudley and Moore vs Walz. Zillmer is a pretty big favorite over of Dudley, who usually competes at 86kg. The Moore vs Walz match could be fun. Walz's power and Moore's offensive output could make for some excellent exchanges.

Which College Guys Make Noise?

A good number of division 1 college guys will be in action this weekend. Of that group, Nick Reenan has had the most senior level success, making it to the Final X stage against David Taylor in 2018. Jake Woodley was a 2019 U23 World Team Trials finalist, ultimately falling to Bo Nickal. Lucas Davison has had senior level success, too, finishing 3rd at the 2019 Dave Schultz. He also owns a Junior World silver medal. Cadet World bronze medalist Gavin Hoffman is also an excellent freetyler.

Guys like Eric Schultz, Nino Bonaccorsi, Nathan Traxler, and Silas Allred are wild cards here. While they haven't registered a lot of senior level results yet, they're all in high-level training environments and certainly capable. Here's a list of the NCAA D1 athletes in action at 97kg.

Nick Reenan, NC State

Jakob Woodley, Oklahoma

Lucas Davison, Northwestern

Eric Schultz, Nebraska

Nino Bonaccorsi, Pitt

Nathan Traxler, Stanford

Gavin Hoffman, Ohio State

Silas Allred, Nebraska

Best Early Matches

Based on the current seeds, we should see some enticing matches in the round of 16. Nino Bonaccorsi will test himself against Gadson. Nino has the pace, but Gadson has the power, so an upset there seems like a stretch. Eric Schultz will take on a similarly powerful athlete in Ben Honis. In folkstyle this match feels like a tossup, but I like Honis' freestyle chops.

Lucas Davison vs Ty Walz could be very interesting. Davison will have to deal with one of the strongest guys in the bracket, but he seems to get better every year. Reenan vs Woodley and Dudley vs Boykin also have upset potential. In short, this bracket has a lot of early intrigue.