Mekhi Lewis – Bound Brook High School, 2x NJ State Champion, CJA Alumni Wins Junior Worlds at 74kg!

CONGRATULATIONS TO MEKHI LEWIS ON HIS GOLD MEDAL AT JUNIOR WORLDS IN SLOVAKIA!

TRNAVA, Slovakia – Mekhi Lewis is a world champ in just his third freestyle tournament. Lewis is three-for-three in winning freestyle tournaments as he claimed Junior World gold on Sunday night at the 2018 Junior World Championships in Trnava, Slovakia. Just picking up freestyle this summer, Lewis, a wrestler at Virginia Tech, has eased into the style, cruising to the World finals and picking up a decisive 5-1 victory for gold at 74 kg.“I feel great. I thought I could do it, but being in the moment and accomplishing that goal feels amazing,” Lewis said. “After all the hard work I put in this summer to learn freestyle and now to be a World champion is the best feeling in the world.”In the championship bout, Lewis went head-to-head with 2016 Cadet World champion Abubakr Abakarov of Azerbaijan.The Azeri was on the board first with a point on passivity. However, shortly after the shot clock ran out, Lewis scored a takedown and took a 2-1 lead into the break.The second period saw Lewis pick up two points on step outs for a 4-1 advantage. One of those step outs came when Abakarov was in deep on a shot and Lewis shook him off and threw him out of bounds. That’s when Lewis said he knew he had it won.“I was like, ‘whoa, I guess I won,’ because if he wasn’t able to take me down and he was that deep, then he isn’t going to take me down in these last few seconds,” Lewis said.Sources https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2018/September/23/Lewis-wins-gold-USA-finishes-second-in-team-race https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/6251096-mekhi-lewis-wins-junior-gold-team-usa-finishes-second

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Coach Gene Lezark established CJA Wrestling Club nearly two decades ago. CJA has produced champions at all levels and ages and in all three wrestling styles (Folkstyle or Scholastic; and the International or Olympic wrestling styles — Freestyle and Greco-Roman).

Coach Gene’s unique coaching philosophy draws students from a wide area of New Jersey. Regardless of your experience level, CJA Wrestling Club strives to maximize each wrestler’s ability not only in wrestling, but also socially and academically.