Fresno State Athletics
Colon earns gold medal at 2019 Pan American Championships
4/21/2019 4:00:00 PM | Wrestling
Fresno State Wrestling volunteer assistant coach and Valley Regional Training Center athlete Joe Colon won a gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Championships on Sunday in Argentina.
Colon went 3-0 on the day at 61 kg./134.5 lbs. to win his second Pan American title closing out his competition with a 10-0 win against Scott Schiller from Canada in the finals using his signature gut wrench to tally three turns.
The Clear Lake, Iowa native defeated 2018 World champion Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez of Cuba, 9-3 in the first round and Juan Rodriguez Jovel of El Salvador, 10-0 on his way to the finals.
USA claimed gold at all 10 weights at the championships, the first time in the history of the event that a team has gone undefeated, and finished first as a team with 250 points.The path to a Pan Am gold for @Joe_colon61kg: 9-3 over the 2018 World champ, 10-0, 10-0. #WrestleBuenosAires pic.twitter.com/VLIudDRxOV
— Trackwrestling (@trackwrestling) April 21, 2019
In addition to Colon competing, Bulldog assistant coach Israel Silva was one of three coaches on the women's freestyle team along with Fresno State Wrestling head coach Troy Steiner's brother, Terry as well as Cleo Lane helping the women's team win the Pan American championship on Saturday.
Colon will next compete at the Beat the Streets competition against 2019 NCAA 133-pound champion Nick Suriano of Rutgers on May 6 at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Suriano became Rutgers' first national wrestling champion on March 23 at the NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh defeating Daton Fix of Oklahoma State. The win capped the junior's second straight appearance in the finals in a season which included a Big Ten championship, a 29-3 overall record and second straight All-America honors.
Colon's gold medal on Sunday also qualifies him for the 2019 Pan American Games hosted in Lima, Peru on Aug. 7-10.
2019 SENIOR PAN AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 18-21
61 kg: Joe Colon (Fresno, Calif./Titan Mercury WC/Valley RTC)
Round 1: Colon (USA) dec. Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez (Cuba), 9-3
Round 2: Colon (USA) tech. fall Juan Rodriguez Jovel (El Salvador), 10-0
Finals: Colon (USA) tech. fall Scott Schiller (Canada), 10-0
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