BENTON, Pa. — Zain Retherford is back at home in Benton celebrating his 1st senior wrestling title. Beating Iran's Amirmohammed Yazdanicherati (8-5) at the World Championships in Belgrade Serbia back in September. Wrestling for Team USA this is Retherford's 1st time at the top of the podium after taking Silver in 2022.
“It means a lot. You know I think it was an adult dream of mine too. I have been to a few World Championships where I came back without any hardware and finally to be able to do it was really rewarding,” said Zain.
Retherford joins David Taylor and Vito Arujua who also won gold medals at the World Championships. Training begins soon for the USA Olympic Trials in April of 2024. That takes place at the Bryce Jordan Center on the campus of Penn State University. Home for Retherford
who was a 2x NCAA National Champion for the Lions, and a 2x Hodge Trophy winner named the best wrestler in the country in 2017 and 2018.
“Yeah the Olympic Trials are in April. They are in State College Pennsylvania right where we are living right now so that is what is next so looking forward to that,” again said Zain.
To get to Penn State and finish (95-3) in his career Retherford had to grind it out in the wrestling rooms first at Line Mountain and then at Benton where he won 2 state titles between those two schools finishing with an overall record of (131-3) in his career.
“Greatest moment of Benton? Just being around the people. I think that I had some awesome teammates that are lifelong friends, and coaches Russ Hughes and Scott Hughes are lifelong friends. And those are my greatest memories of spending time around those guys and enjoying the sport. Representing the sport at another World Championships was a lot of fun. My whole family got to come out and watch so it was just an enjoyable year,” added Zain.
Steve Lloyd reporting for Newswatch 16 sports.