Belgrade, Serbia – The UWW U23 World Championships features the best 23-and-under wrestlers on the planet in men's Freestyle, women's Freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling. UC's men's wrestler Aaron Johnson will be representing Team Jamaica in the men's freestyle division. The men's Freestyle is set to begin on Friday, but Johnson's weight class begins on Saturday.

Head Coach Corey Ruff said, "Aaron has been diligent in his efforts to get ready for this event. Freestyle has a separate set of rules and scoring so we've refrained from having him train Folk-style on a daily basis. There are a lot of similarities, of course, but we focused solely on freestyle with Aaron since the school year started. He's worked really closely with Coach (Eric) Deluse, and we brought an old nemesis in to help Aaron get ready."

Johnson competed last year at the U23 Freestyle Championships where he went 4-2. During his time at UC so far, Johnson is a two-time NAIA All-American, and is a leader in the UC 285 weight class.

Coach Ruff also added, "Not only does Aaron get to compete against the world's best young wrestlers, and he has met a lot of influential people in the wrestling world along the way. He has had to get out of his comfort zone by staying on task academically while being away from school for two full weeks, and he fund-raised on his own to make the trip possible for himself and his coaches. Aaron is going to gain so much valuable experience with this opportunity, and we are very proud of him."

On Saturday Nov 6, the freestyle qualification rounds are from 11:30 pm -4:30 am Eastern Time. The semifinal being from 5:45 am- 6:45 am Eastern Time. The freestyle is on Sunday Nov 7 at 7 am- 9:30 am.

To stay updated on Johnson's progress you visit uww.org or click here. The story of Aaron Johnson at this prestigious event will be added to the Patriot Open post event story.

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