LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s Real Woods claimed the 65kg title at the U.S. Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament on Saturday (May 17) at Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center.
Woods will now face Joey McKenna in the best-of-three series at Final X, slated for Saturday, June 14, at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The winner will be the U.S. representative at the 2025 Senior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.
Woods posted a 3-0 record at the WTT, including a 10-6 win over Brock Hardy in the 65kg final. Woods built up an immediate and sizable lead, scoring on a single-leg takedown and four-point head pinch in the opening :40 of the bout before adding another single and gut wrench midway through the second period. Hardy narrowed the final margin with a takedown and leg lace out of a scramble and caution and one in the final minute.
He also scored two exciting wins on the first day of competition. He opened with a 6-4 decision over Aden Valencia to avenge his two losses to the Stanford wrestler at the U.S. Open last month. Woods led early on a passivity point and takedown in the first period but trailed late after Valencia scored a second takedown in the final minute. Pushing the pace late, Woods dropped in on a low double to score the go-ahead takedown with less than :05 on the clock.
Woods defeated Ohio State’s two-time NCAA champion Jesse Mendez, 11-9, in the semifinals. Much like the finals, he built up a big lead, scoring a go-behind takedown and three guts with Mendez on the shot clock in the first period. Mendez scored on a takedown in the second, traded a two-and-two in a scramble midway through the second and a four-pointer in the final :10 to narrow the final score.
The WTT win comes on the heels of Wood’s fourth-place finish at the U.S. Open in just his first summer of domestic freestyle competition. He claimed 65kg bronze at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Tournament in his CKWC debut in March.
