Beat the Streets New York raises more than $950K with Annual Benefit, Final X New York

Olympic champions Jordan Burroughs, Helen Maroulis, David Taylor among 14 wrestlers to make Team USA World Team.

Helen Maroulis, right, wrestles against Alex Hedrick at the Beat the Streets Annual Benefit, Final X New York, on Wednesday, June 8 at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. (Photo by Justin Hoch)

Beat the Streets New York raised more than $950,000 with its 12th Annual Benefit in front of 3,000 fans Wednesday at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.

This year's Benefit was Final X New York, which saw 14 wrestlers claim a spot on Team USA at the Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, Sept. 10-18. The victors (five in each men's freestyle and Greco-Roman and four in women's freestyle) each won a best-of-three championship series. Olympic champions Jordan Burroughs, Helen Maroulis and David Taylor; Olympic bronze medalists Kyle Dake and Sarah Hildebrandt; and World bronze medalist G'Angelo Hancock were among the winners.

READ MORE: Annual Benefit/Final X New York results

"This was a great night for wrestling, in large part because of the support and generosity of our community," said Brendan Buckley, Executive Director of Beat the Streets New York. "They were treated to a night of exciting matches, newly crowned champions and a celebration of everything the sport can be. The best part is the real winners are the many kids that will benefit from our programs year-round because of it."

Wednesday represented the first in-person Beat the Streets benefit event since 2019, as COVID-19 pandemic safety guidelines prohibited spectators in 2020 and 2021. Beat the Streets hosted a virtual benefit in 2020 on the banks of the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey. The 2019 benefit was also held at the Hulu Theater, and previous benefits have been at other historic New York locations such as Times Square, Grand Central Terminal and South Street Seaport. These unique and electrifying annual events help Beat the Streets New York raise millions of dollars to support local youth wrestling programs which empower young people in New York City.

To provide contributions to Beat the Streets, visit btsny.org/donate.

Since being founded in 2005, Beat the Streets has pioneered a movement that now includes 150 individual wrestling programs, a youth league and the first girls high school league.

Beat the Streets works to develop the full human and athletic potential of the urban youth and strengthen the NYC wrestling culture. We aim to make a lifelong impact on student athletes through the lessons learned on the wrestling mat -- discipline, perseverance, self-reliance, humility and a strong work ethic.