USA Wrestling's Beat the Streets/Final X event is coming up Saturday, June 14 at Prudential Center in Newark.
U.S. Women’s National Coach Terry Steiner joined SportsJam with Doug Doyle to talk about the much-anticipated matches and his own amazing career on the mat.
Final X matches will determine the 2025 U.S. World Team in two international disciplines—men’s freestyle and women’s freestyle. In total, 20 weight classes will be contested, 10 in each discipline. The top two U.S. athletes in each weight classes will wrestle a best-of-three series at Final X to determine the U.S. representative at the 2025 Senior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.
Steiner, who has been in charge of the U.S. National Women's team since 20022, says he can't wait to see how the best of three matches will unfold.
"It's determining our world team, the women who we will take overseas and go against the world in September. There's a lot at stake. There's the Olympic. year every four years and in between that we have a World Championships. It's the start of a new quad. It's an important quad because the LA Olympics is in 2028 so everyone is trying to set the tone and put themselves in a place to take over for the next four years.
Steiner has really seen the growth in the women's side of the sport from non-Olympic to the USA's first female Olympic medalist in 2008 through today's national team.
"It's a very male-dominated sport and change is hard. We were being held back more by people inside of our sport I think than people outside the sport. Lifelong coaches that believed in the sport of wrestling, but they wouldn't put their daughters in the sport. They would send their daughters across town to Taekwondo and Judo classes, but they wouldn't put them in the wrestling room. Changing that mindset and helping them see the value it could have on young daughters just took time. Once that happened, that's when growth happened. Now our young coaches don't know the sport without women."
In six Olympics, Terry Steiner has coached four gold medalists, three silver medalists and six bronze medalists. In 17 World Championships, he has coached 16 gold medalists, 17 silver medalists and 29 bronze medalists.
Terry has coached five of the six women inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as Distinguished Members: Clarissa Chun (2022), Kristie Davis (2018), Sara McMann (2022), Patricia Miranda (2023) and Toccara Montgomery (2024).
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the U.S. had two gold medalists in the same year for the first time, and doubled the career Olympic gold medals for U.S. women's wrestling from two to four. The U.S. won four total medals in 2024 with gold medalists Amit Elor and Sarah Hildebrandt, silver medalist Kennedy Blades and bronze medalist Helen Maroulis. It tied the record for most medals at an Olympics set in 2020 with gold medalist Tamyra Mensah Stock, silver medalist Adeline Gray and bronze medalists Hildebrandt and Maroulis.
Final X will serve as the Beat the Streets New York Annual Benefit, the 15th BTSNY Annual Benefit to date. These unique electrifying events help BTSNY raise more than $1 million each year to support local youth wrestling programs which empower young people in New York City. The BTSNY Annual Benefit after-party will follow the conclusion of Final X.
Steiner strongly believes in the mission of Beat the Streets.
"It's a really great movement. Everything is about the next generation, putting them in a position to have the ability to have success in their lives. The sport of wresting is such a great teacher of life skills."
Before joining USA Wrestling, Steiner was an assistant coach at Oregon State University and the University of Wisconsin. He was a national champion and the Outstanding Wrestler at the 1993 NCAA Division I Championships and a three-time All-American for the University of Iowa. Steiner was also a two-time North Dakota state champion and three-time finalist who helped Century High School in Bismarck, North Dakota, win back-to-back state team titles. Steiner had a career prep record of 128-14, including 69 consecutive victories.
Here's a look at the Women’s Freestyle Best-of-Three Series at Prudential Center on Saturday, June 14
50 kg – Audrey Jimenez (Bethlehem, Pa./Lehigh Valley Wrestling RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Erin Golston (Denton, Texas/New York AC)
53 kg – Brianna Gonzalez (Baldwin, Calif./Iowa Women's WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Felicity Taylor (Coralville, Iowa/Titan Mercury WC)
55 kg – Cristelle Rodriguez (Fresno, Calif./Tiger WC) vs. Everest Leydecker (Phoenix, Ariz./Thorobred WC)
57 kg – Helen Maroulis (Rockville, Md./Titan Mercury WC) vs. Amanda Martinez (Riverside, Ill./Cardinal WC/Titan Mercury WC)
59 kg – Abigail Nette (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP) vs. Jacarra Winchester (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC)
62 kg – Kayla Miracle (Phoenix, Ariz./Valiant WC) vs. Adaugo Nwachukwu (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP)
65 kg – Macey Kilty (Iowa City, Iowa/Iowa Women’s WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Aine Drury (Westminster, Calif./New York AC)
68 kg – Kennedy Blades (Tiffin, Iowa/Hawkeye WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Brooklyn Hays (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC)
72 kg – Alexandria Glaude (Atherton, Calif./Beaver Dam RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Amit Elor (Walnut Creek, Calif./Titan Mercury WC)
76 kg – Kylie Welker (Iowa City, Iowa/Iowa Women's WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Dymond Guilford (Lancaster, Calif./USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC)
You can SEE the entire SportsJam interview with Terry Steiner below:
