Zain Retherford


Zain Allen Retherford is an American freestyle wrestler and former folkstyle wrestler. As a folkstyle wrestler, Retherford was a 3-time NCAA Champion and 4-time All-American. In 2017 and 2018, he was awarded the Dan Hodge Trophy as the most outstanding folkstyle wrestler in the nation. In freestyle, he is a World Cup champion and a Cadet World champion.

Early life

Retherford was born in Washington but moved to Benton, Pennsylvania early in his life. He started high school at Line Mountain, where he won a state title as a freshman and took third place as a sophomore. He went on to compile a record of 84-3 before moving to Benton High School in his junior year. According to the PIAA the move was entirely because of "athletic intent", however, Retherford claims there were other factors like bullying, health reasons and being closer to his father's business.
As a result of the move, Retherford was declared enable to compete that season. Russ Hughes states that it was in this time when Retherford started to really focus and grow as a wrestler. As a senior, he compiled an unbeaten record of 47-0 and collected his second state title. After the season, he became a Cadet World Champion in freestyle at 65-kilograms.
Retherford graduated of high school with a 131-3 record and two PIAA titles.

College career

As the #3 recruit in the country, Retherford committed to the Nittany Lions, at Penn State University.

2013-14

Retherford had incredible success as a true freshman, going 27-0 in regular season. He made his way to the Big Ten Conference finals to face defending NCAA champion Logan Stieber, whom he lost to by 4 points, making him the runner-up of the tournament. At the NCAA championships, Retherford defeated an unseeded opponent in the first round and also the eleventh and fourteenth seeds before losing to the second-seeded Logan Stieber once again. After losing in the semifinals, he faced and lost to top-seeded Mitchell Port in the consolation semis, ending his run at the tournament and placing fifth, which earned him All-American status.

2014-15

In this season, Retherford chose to redshirt to focus on training and freestyle, placing second at the Junior World Team Trials and fourth at the 2015 Dave Schultz Memorial International.

2015-16

As a sophomore, Retherford moved up to 149-pounds and closed the regular season undefeated with a 26-0 record before the Big Ten's. At the tournament, he defeated the eight and fifth seeds to make his way to the finale. where he downed second-seeded Brandon Sorensen to win the championship. At the NCAA's, he dominated with a technical fall to start the tournament, accumulated 3 pins in a row and a major in the finals to close the tournament and claim his first NCAA title. He was named the year's NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler, Penn State Male Athlete of the Year and Big Ten Wrestler of the Year.

2016-17

In his junior year, he continued to establish dominance, staying in the top-spot of the division through the regular season. At the Big Ten Championships he downed four opponents with three falls and a technical fall to become a two-time Big Ten Champion. At the NCAA Championships, he went 5-0 with four technical falls and a pin at the tournament to claim his second-straight NCAA Championship, making him the seventh Nittany Lion to do so. Due to his efforts, he was named the NCAA and Big Ten Championships Outstanding Wrestler. He ended the season with a 28-0 mark with seventeen pins, seven techs and a major, near to a 90 percent of bonus points in matches.
He then earned the Dan Hodge Trophy award as the most dominat wrestler in NCAA Division I and was named the year's NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler for the second time in a row.

2017-18

As a senior, he remained unbeaten at 149-pounds with a 31-0 record. At the Big Ten's, he defeated three ranked wrestlers with two majors and one decision by points to claim his third-straight B1G Championship. At the NCAA Championships, he opened up with a tech and a pin before another tech in the quarterfinals. In his next two matches he won by decision , claiming his third-straight NCAA title.
After the season, he became only the fourth person to be awarded the prestigious Dan Hodge Trophy twice. Be was also named NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler for the third straight time and Big Ten Wrestler of the Year for the second time. In his four seasons at PSU, he graduated with a 128-4 record.
Overall, Retherford is a two-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner, three-time NCAA Champion, four-time All-American, three-time Big Ten Champion and four-time Big Ten finalist.

Freestyle career

As a cadet and a junior, Retherford already had prestigious freestyle accomplishments; Cadet World and National champion and three-time Junior National runner-up.

2015

At the Dave Schultz Memorial, Retherford lost to Jordan Oliver in the quarterfinals. In the repechage matches, he made his way to the third place match by beating Evan Henderson, Borislav Novachkov and Murad Nukhadiev. In the bronze-medal match, he faced Andrey Kviatkovski, whom he lost to, placing fourth in his first competition as a senior.

2016

At the US Olympic Team Trials, Retherford defeated James Green in the preliminary match and advanced to the quarterfinals, where he faced Logan Stieber, whom he lost to. In the repechage matches, he downed Jason Chamberlain, Jayson Ness and Jimmy Kennedy to place third in the tournament.

2017

At the US Open, Retherford placed third after losing to Jordan Oliver in the semifinals, qualifying for the World Team Trials Tournament. He won the Challenge Tournament and went on to face Frank Molinaro at the wrestle-offs. He won the 2-out-of-3 matches, losing the first one and dominantly winning the other two.
Retherford competed at the Spain Grand Prix before the World Championships. He dominated his opponents, not getting scored a single point and winning all of his matches.
At the World Championships, Retherford teched David Habat in the opening match but subsequently lost to Adam Batirov, getting eliminated and placing eleventh.

2019

At the Ivan Yarygin Golden Grand Prix, he lost in the opening bout to Gadzhimurad Rashidov and got eliminated, placing eight.
At the US Open, he downed 5 opponents before losing to Yianni Diakomihalis in the finals, this qualified him for the World Team Trials. At the Challenge Tournament, he defeated Dean Heil, Frank Molinaro and Jordan Oliver twice before competing at against Yianni Diakomihalis. In the first match, Retherford beat Diakomihalis 10-4. The second match ended with a lot on controversy; Retherford was down 4-6 when he got a takedown for two points, Diakomihalis ended up earning two more to apparently win the match 8-6, however, there were problems with the scoring and that led to the match being scored 6-6 with an advantage on criteria to Retherford, winning the match and the Final X series.
He once again faced Yianni Diakomihalis in the qualification round of the Grand Prix Yaşar Doğu. He lost the match by points.
Due to the past controversy at, Retherford faced Diakomihalis for the fifth time in their freestyle career in a wrestle-off called Final X: Yianni vs. Zain to determine who was going to represent the United States at the World Championships. He defeated Diakomihalis by two points to one.
Retherford competed at the World Championships weeks after his wrestle-off. He lost a close bout in the first round against Alejandro Valdés and was eliminated, placing twenty-sixth.
Retherford competed at the Alan International in Russia. He downed Inar Kettia and Iulian Gergenov prior to losing to Saiyn Kazyryk, placing seventh.
In his last tournament of 2019, he competed at the prestigious World Cup, where he ended up undefeated at 65 kilograms with four victories, claiming the individual championship and helping Team USA reach the bronze-medal.

2020

In his first competition of the year, Retherford competed at the Matteo Pellicone RS. He faced Bajrang Punia, whom he lost a close decision in the opening round. He went on to place third as he beat Joey McKenna and pinned Vasyl Shuptar in the repechage matches.
In an attempt to make his way to the Olympics, Retherford competed at the Pan American Olympic Qualification Tournament. He started strong, winning by technical superiority in both of his first two bouts. In the semifinals, he faced Agustín Destribats. Retherford took him down early, however, Destribats was able to adjust and worked his way to the victory by fall, being the first wrestler to get the win in that fashion against Retherford in freestyle competition. In the third-place match, he faced Álbaro Rudesindo, whom he pinned.
Retherford was scheduled to compete at the 20' US Olympic Team Trials on April 4 at State College, Pennsylvania. However, the event was postponed for 2021 along with the Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving all the qualifiers unable to compete.

Freestyle record

! colspan="7"| Senior Freestyle Matches
! Res.
! Record
! Opponent
! Score
! Date
! Event
! Location
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Ottawa, Canada
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Istanbul, Turkey
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
New Brunswick, New Jersey
Raleigh, North Carolina
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Las Vegas, Nevada
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Paris, France
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Las Vegas, Nevada
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Iowa City, Iowa
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Colorado Springs, Colorado

NCAA record

! colspan="8"| NCAA Championships Matches
! Res.
! Record
! Opponent
! Score
! Date
! Event
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2018 NCAA Championships at 149 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2017 NCAA Championships at 149 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2016 NCAA Championships at 149 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2014 NCAA Championships 5th at 141 lbs

Stats

! Season
! Year
! School
! Rank
! Weigh Class
! Record
! Win
! Bonus

Awards and honors

;2020
;2019
;2018
;2017
;2016
;2014