Five wrestlers from Lehigh University will participate in the United World Wrestling U20 World Championships, which will take place August 17-24 in Samokov, Bulgaria.
Luke Stanich, a sophomore and member of the Lehigh men’s team, will compete for the United States at 65 kg. On the women’s side, sophomore Audrey Jimenez will represent the U.S. at 50 kg. She will be joined by incoming first-year students Abbi Cooper (53 kg) and Aubre Krazer (59 kg), both competing for the United States as well. Another incoming first-year, Mary Manis, is set to represent Greece at 62 kg.
Competition for Lehigh athletes begins on Monday, August 18 with Stanich entering the qualification rounds in men’s freestyle at 65 kg. Krazer starts her tournament on Tuesday, August 19. Manis is scheduled to compete on Wednesday, August 20. Jimenez and Cooper begin their events on Thursday, August 21. Wrestlers advancing to finals or medal rounds will compete again on the day following their preliminary matches.
Stanich became eligible to represent Team USA after winning the U20 National title and then defeating Bo Bassett two matches to one in a best-of-three series earlier this June. He also earned a gold medal last month at the U20 Pan-American Championships held in Peru.
Jimenez, Cooper, and Krazer secured spots at the U20 World Championships by claiming national titles during an event in Spokane, Washington in April. Jimenez is scheduled to appear at three World Championships this year: she will also compete for Team USA at both the UWW Senior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia from September 13-21 and the U23 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia from October 20-26.
Krazer recently won a gold medal at Madrid’s Grand Prix of Spain earlier this summer. Lehigh women’s head coach Brazel Marquez served as one of the coaches for Team USA during that event and will accompany Lehigh’s women wrestlers to Bulgaria.
FloWrestling will provide streaming video coverage of all matches from the U20 World Championships.