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Penn State Wrestling's Levi Haines Falls Just Short of World Title

Haines scored a late takedown in the gold-medal match at the World Wrestling Championships.
Mark Wogenrich|
Penn State’s Levi Haines is introduced before wrestling Iowa's Patrick Kennedy in the 174-pound bout in State College.
Penn State’s Levi Haines is introduced before wrestling Iowa's Patrick Kennedy in the 174-pound bout in State College. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Penn State wrestling's Levi Haines made a late mad dash toward a world title Monday in Croatia, scoring a takedown as time expired in the 79 kg freestyle gold-medal match at the World Wrestling Championships. However, Haines came up just shy of the title, falling 3-2 to Georgios Kougioumtsidis of Greece. Haines won a silver medal in his first Senior World Championships.

Haines' superb run to the 79 kg final highlighted Penn State's time at worlds, where two current Nittany Lions competed. True freshman PJ Duke went 1-1 in the 70 kg freestyle class and did not make the medal round. Duke won a U20 world title in August and is scheduled to compete at the U23 World Championships in October.

Haines, a 2024 NCAA champion at Penn State, made a fierce run through the 79 kg freestyle bracket, defeating three wrestlers ranked above him. He entered the event ranked 36th in the world, according to United World Wrestling, including No. 3 Suldkhuu Olonbayar of Mongolia.

That advanced Haines to the final, where he faced Kougioumtsidis, the weight class' 27th-ranked wrestler who defeated Haines 7-3 in a summer tournament in Hungary. In the final. Kougioumtsidis scored his first two points via a shot-clock violation and a step-out.

Kougioumtsidis took a 3-0 lead into the second period on another step-out, which was good enough for the win. Though he scored the match's only takedown. Haines wasn't able to overcome those three points. According to the Greek Olympic Committee, Kougioumtsidis won the country's first world freestyle wrestling title.

Kyle Snyder to wrestle for fourth world title

Kyle Snyder waves to his family after defeating Isaac Trumble at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials at Penn State.
Kyle Snyder waves to his family after defeating Isaac Trumble during the 2024 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials at Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Three-time world champion Kyle Snyder, who represents the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, will compete for a fourth Tuesday in Zagreb. Snyder defeated Japan's Arash Yoshida in the 97 kg freestyle quarterfinals. It was part of a 3-0 day for Snyder, who entered the tournament ranked second in the world.

Snyder cruised through his first two bouts before defeating Yoshida 9-1 in the semifinals. Snyder took control of the match in the second period, scoring three takedowns for the win. Yoshida had defeated Snyder 5-5 on criteria at a February tournament.

Snyder will face an Olympic rematch with Amirali Azarpira of Iran for his fourth world title. Azarpira defeated Snyder 4-1 in the bronze-medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Azarpira also defeated Snyder 6-3 in the 2024 Zagreb Open.

Azarpira, ranked fifth in the world, advanced to the final with a 5-2 win over Bahrain's Akhmed Tazhudinov, the defending world and Olympic champion.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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