Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Ben Kueter is already a three-time state wrestling champion.

On Monday Kueter moved a win away from becoming a world champion.

The City High senior advanced to the finals of the the u20 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria with a 17-14 win over Luka Khutchua of Georgia on Monday morning.

Kueter will wrestle Rifat Gidak of Turkey in the 97-kilogram gold medal match on Tuesday.

A three-time undefeated state champion for the Little Hawks with a career 70-0 record and a University of Iowa recruit,  Kueter continued his domination on the world stage.

He won a 10-0 tech fall over Dmitri Duscov of Moldova in his opening match and defeated India’s Niraj Niraj 8-1 to reach the semifinals.

Kueter trailed Georgia’s Khutchua 8-0 in the opening 30 seconds of the semifinal before pulling even at 9-9 after the first period.

In the second period Kueter outscored Khutchua 8-5 to advance to the championship.

Per Andy Hamilton of Flowrestling, Kueter becomes the sixth American to reach the U20 men’s freestyle World Finals prior to their senior year of high school since 2000.

The last to do so was Penn State two-time NCAA champion Aaron Brooks in 2018 and the list also includes Gable Steveson, Spencer Lee, who did so in both 2015 and 2016, Aaron Pico and Kyle Snyder.

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