Zach Errett with his FILA Golden Whistle Award matside at the World Championships in Moscow, Russia. Larry Slater photo

MOSCOW, Russia - Zach Errett of Plainfield, Ind. received the prestigious FILA Golden Whistle Award at the World Wrestling Championships today. The award is presented to the outstanding referees at the competition.

Errett, 31, was officiating in the Senior World Championships for the first time. He joins an elite group of U.S. officials who have received this honor at the World Championship level.

Earlier this year, Errett was named USA Wrestling’s Official of the Year. He was working the World Championships along with fellow U.S. referees Rick Tucci of Florida and Tom Clark of Indiana.

“It is a tough tournament,” said Errett. “To be recognized with this is a great honor, as well as to receive this alongside the other outstanding officials here.”

Errett refereed four gold-medal finals and worked as a judge on two other gold-medal finals. He was on the whistle for two of the three gold-medal finals on the final day of the men’s freestyle competition. Errett also refereed two bronze-medal matches. He estimated that he officiated as many as 70 or more bouts during the seven-day tournament.

“Many of the other referees congratulated me,” said Errett. “They were some of the best officials in the world. For them to take the time to come and congratulate me meant a lot to me.”

Errett is ranked as a USA M1 official, and has received the FILA Olympic category rating. Zach has been officiating since he was in middle school, working tournaments in which he competed as an athlete. He received his first official’s license in 1993.

Zach is a teacher at Mooresville High School, where has served as the head wrestling coach for nine years. He is also a football coach there. He competed in wrestling in high school and as a youth.