First overseas tournament --> first World medal.
Jacob Cardenas had never wrestled outside the United States before this weekend's U23 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain.
But he capitalized on his first opportunity, capturing World Silver at 92 kg after three dominant victories.
In his opening match, Cardenas notched a takedown, a passivity point, and a stepout on the way to a 4-0 way over Sahaliuk of Ukraine.
In round 2, he bested Kubatov of Kyrgyzstan 7-2, taking control after a 2-2 score at the break with a takedown, turn, and passivity point to make the semis.
In that bout, he faced Senior World bronze medalist Maisuradze of Georgia. Cardenas took a 2-0 advantage after the first period on a pair of stepouts and kept building his lead, winning 8-0 to punch his ticket to the U23 World finals. Two-time U20 World Champion Firouzpourbandpei of Iran prevailed in the title bout by technical fall.
Spartan Combat RTC (and Cornell wrestling) had a strong presence on Team USA, with Phillip Moomey picking up a victory in his initial bout at 60 kg in Greco Roman over Scarpello of Germany earlier in the week.
Standout Vito Arujau took the mat for the USA at 57 kg in Freestyle, jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead. However, his opponent Almaz Uulu of Kyrgyzstan stormed back for the win and went on to earn bronze after losing in the semis to eventual champion Aman of India.
Spartan Combat RTC had a highly successful season in the international styles with medal match representation at the Senior World Championships (gold for Kyle Dake and silver for Yianni Diakomihalis), U20 World Championships (fifth for Vince Cornella), U23 World Championships (silver for Jacob Cardenas), Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series Tournament (silver for Yianni Diakomihalis), U20 Pan American Championships (gold for Vince Cornella), Ziolkowski/Poland Open (bronze for Vito Arujau), Maccabiah Games (gold and silver for Jonathan Loew), among other tournaments.