Colorado Springs, Colo. –
SGT Ryan Mango (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP) has been selected as TheMat.com Athlete of the Week on September 26, 2017.
Mango was exceptional at the 2017 CISM Military World Wrestling Championships last week, earning a silver medal in men’s freestyle at 61 kg/134 lbs. Mango’s silver medal was the highest medal earned by a U.S. participant at the event across all three international styles of wrestling.
Mango posted a 3-1 record overall, scoring two technical falls on his way to the finals. He opened with a 13-2 win over Algeria’s Laoundi Abdennour. In the quarterfinals, Mango downed Yoo Seon Ho of Korea, 11-6. His key win came in the semifinals over three-time Military World bronze medalist and Military Games bronze medalist Tian Zhenguang of China, 10-0.
In the gold-medal finals, Mango’s run was stopped short by Azerbaijan talent Qalib Aliyev, 8-4. Aliyev has won gold medals at two major international freestyle events in 2017, the Kartozia and Balavadze Prizes in Georgia and the Yasar Dogu International in Turkey
Over the past year, Mango has done well on the Greco-Roman circuit, his primary style of choice. He finished in fifth place at the Pan American Championships held in Salvador, Brazil. Mango was the U.S. Open runner-up and took fourth place at the U.S. World Team Trials. In 2016, Mango finished in third place at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Mango was a two-time NCAA All-American and four-time NCAA Championships qualifier for Stanford University. He finished in fifth place at the 2012 NCAA Championships and in sixth place in 2011. Mango was a two-time Pac-12 champion, achieving the feat in 2012 and 2014.
Each week USA Wrestling will select an Athlete of the Week based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling from youth programs through the Senior level.
To nominate a wrestler for this honor please send the athlete’s name, wrestling program, weekly accomplishments and career accolades to USA Wrestling Manager of Communications Richard Immel at rimmel@usawrestling.org.