TBILISI, Georgia – Indiana Tech men's wrestling assistant coach
Gralan Early finished in third place Sunday in the freestyle 70kg division at the 2019 United World Wrestling Veteran's World Championships to earn a bronze medal for Team USA.
The North Side High School graduate went 4-1 on the day in the final day of action at the championships and capped off his tournament with a pin over Teimurazi Kasoshvili of Georgia in the third-place match. Early started his tournament with a pair of wins, first with a 10-0 technical fall to defeat Serkan Sen of Turkey in 59 seconds before handing Germany's Steve Brylla an 8-2 decision. The nine-year assistant for Tech fell in the quarterfinals to Mohsen Sameti of Iran, but came back strong with a 6-3 win over Aslan Kaitov of Russia to advance to the bronze medal bout.
Early, a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was one of 22 Americans to win a medal at the 2019 championships.
