Yianni Diakomihalis at the 2016 UWW Cadet Nationals in Akron, Ohio.

Photo: Sam Janicki.

Yianni Diakomihalis (Rochester, N.Y./Hilton) has been selected as TheMat.com Athlete of the Week on June 7, 2016.Diakomihalis scorched the 63 kg/138 lbs. men’s freestyle field at the 2016 UWW Cadet Nationals held in Akron, Ohio over the weekend to secure a berth on his second consecutive U.S. Cadet World Team.On his road to gold in Akron, Diakomihalis won seven matches, five by technical fall, all the throwing 69 technical points on the board and holding his opponents scoreless. He downed two-time Cadet Freestyle Nationals All-American Jamie Hernandez of Illinois by scores of 9-0 and 10-0 in the best-of-three championship series.Diakomihalis now has the opportunity to defend his Cadet World title from 2015 at the upcoming UWW Cadet World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, Sept. 13-18. He won the Cadet Worlds at 58 kg/127 lbs. one year ago.Wrestling for Hilton High School Diakomihalis has won a record-tying four New York high school state championships with a chance to make it five as a senior next season. Wrestling up an age division, he finished in third place at the 2016 UWW Junior Nationals in men’s freestyle at 60 kg/132 lbs. in April.Diakomihalis is committed to wrestle collegiately in his home state at Cornell University for head coach Rob Koll.Each week USA Wrestling will select an Athlete of the Week based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling, from youth programs through the Senior level.To nominate a wrestler for USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week please send the athlete’s name, wrestling program and weekly and career accomplishments to Richard Immel at rimmel@usawrestling.org.