Seven Storylines to Follow at U20 Trials

Over the next three days, the U20 and U23 National Championships will take place in Geneva, Ohio. Today, we’re focusing specifically on the U20 freestyle tournament as winners of the U20 events will earn a spot on the U20 World Team in Pontevedra, Spain in early September. The U20 is always fun to follow because it usually incorporates a mix of high school superstars, collegiate wrestlers, and incoming college freshmen. As you’ll see this tournament will feature plenty of clashes between those three groups. Below are seven storylines to keep in mind as you follow the U20 tournament over the weekend. 1) Mega Prospects at 57 kg in freestyle With the quality and number of participants in the 57 kg weight class, it feels like we’ll look back at this bracket in five to seven years and marvel at the accomplishments of its participants. First and foremost, is the top recruit in the Class of 2024 Luke Lilledahl. The three-time age-group world finalist won the Open and sits in the finals waiting for a challenger to emerge. His opponent could be any number of wrestlers. Vinny Kilkeary was a highly sought-after recruit who signed with Ohio State and redshirted the 2023-24 season. He was a runner-up to Lilledahl at the Open. Finishing behind Kilkeary in Vegas were Anthony Knox (3rd) and Seth Mendoza (4th). In MatScouts updated Class of 2025 rankings, Knox comes in at fourth and Mendoza at sixth overall. Knox fought and lost 3-1 to Kilkeary, which is a result that could easily be flipped in the opposite direction. Perhaps the biggest threat to Lilledahl comes from Jax Forrest. Lilledahl has taken close wins over Forrest in each of the last two Ironmans; however, Forrest is also a U17 world finalist. He also placed higher than Lilledahl at the Olympic Trials, though they both had similar results. If that isn’t enough, we also have Christian Castillo a 2022 U17 world silver medalist down at 48 kg, and Iowa commit Leo DeLuca a Junior and 16U national champion in freestyle in Fargo. DeLuca is also a top recruit in the Class of 2025 (#7). 2) Does Nasir Bailey Stay Hot? Oklahoma State redshirt Cael Hughes gets to sit in the finals at 61 kg and has the advantage, but you can’t count out true freshman All-American Nasir Bailey. Bailey didn’t attend the Open, but has qualified and a Bailey/Hughes could be a matchup we haven’t seen in a while. The Little Rock star has plenty of chops in the freestyle game as he won a Fargo Junior freestyle weight class in 2021 that included Emilio Ysaguirre and Nic Bouzakis. Could the momentum from a historic freshman year at Little Rock be enough to steer the advantage away from Hughes? 3) Bassett vs Valencia III The 65 kg bracket is very small but it could produce the third and fourth (and perhaps fifth) rounds of Bo Bassett and Aden Valencia in just a few months. The two tangled in the quarterfinals of the Last Chance Qualifier and Valencia led 2-1 after a period; however, Bassett turned it on to win 7-4. They met later that month at the US Open and Bassett prevailed 5-2 in the finals. Most opponents are not able to sustain the onslaught of offense and pace that Bassett provides. Valencia has proven he can keep it close with Bassett. Maybe he can make an adjustment or two and turn the tide and make this a full-blown rivalry in Ohio. 4) How Does Class of 2025 #1 PJ Duke Handle Older Competition? Earlier this week, the Class of 2025 Big Board was updated and PJ Duke remained atop the rising senior class. A long body of work is responsible for his ranking, but a dominant showing at the US Open didn’t hurt. Duke either teched or pinned six of his seven opponents with the most notable being Kannon Webster in the semifinals. Webster had an impressive redshirt season for Illinois and was ranked in the top ten nationally for a portion of the 2023-24. Webster also won a pair of Junior National freestyle titles in Fargo and was a finalist for another. In short, he’s well-versed in freestyle. And he was teched by Duke, 12-1. In addition to Webster, the 70 kg bracket will also contain a handful of threats that are older than Duke. A top-ten recruit from 2024, Brock Mantanona, and a pair of 2024 NCAA All-Americans, Antrell Taylor and Tyler Kasak. Mantanona was a U17 world bronze medalist last year and a two-time 16U freestyle finalist in Fargo (one-time champ). Taylor was a finalist at this event in 2023, losing to the eventual world champion, Meyer Shapiro, in the best-of-three finals. Kasak was a 2022 U17 world silver medalist and turned heads in Kansas City with his consolation barrage to a third-place finish for Penn State. With those contenders (and more) the challenge bracket should have some incredible matchups even before throwing Duke into the mix. 5) Cadet World Champs Clashing at 74 kg? What about a pair of U17 world champions clashing in the best-of-three finals at 74 kg. That’s what could be on the docket with Ladarion Lockett and Joseph Sealey potentially renewing acquaintances. The two met in the US Open finals and it was all Lockett, to the tune of 8-2. Sealey wasn’t able to muster any two-point scores throughout the contest. This could be a fun matchup for the future, as well. Sealey is headed to Penn State in the fall and Lockett has pledged to stay home and wrestle for Oklahoma State. Shortly after the David Taylor hire, Lockett restated his commitment to the Cowboy program. With OSU potentially getting back into consistent national contender status, could this be a matchup we see in a big-time dual meet or the NCAA finals with team race implications? 6) College Stars versus Ryder The 79 kg bracket at the Open featured quite a few serious contenders from the college ranks, but it was high school senior Zack Ryder who took the title. For the most part, he did so in a convincing fashion. To win again, Ryder will still need to fend off the challenge from a host of capable competitors. During the Open, Ryder’s closest match was a one-point win over fellow Penn State recruit Will Henckel. Before that bout, Ryder survived a match against the unorthodox Stanford freshman Lorenzo Norman. Both are expected to be in the field. So is Ryder’s Open finals opponent Noah Mulvaney. The Bucknell freshman has proven to be even better in freestyle than folk. Their final matchup proved to be one-sided, but Mulvaney is very capable. Perhaps the biggest hurdle standing in the way of a U20 world team appearance for Ryder comes in the form of Iowa freshman Gabe Arnold. Arnold cruised through the opening rounds of this tournament in 2023 to meet his old high school club teammate Matt Singleton in the best-of-three finals. Arnold took the second match, but ultimately lost in the deciding match by a point. Singleton went on to claim a U20 world bronze medal, while Arnold crushed en route to a gold medal at U20 Pan-Am’s. An Arnold/Ryder matchup could be one of the best of the entire tournament. The two met in 2022 at the U17 Trials and Ryder got the win. 7) Ben Kueter in the Mix! It’s incredible to think that Ben Kueter won a U20 world title in 2022 and is still young enough to wrestle in this division in 2024. That’s what happens when you win gold before your senior year of high school, which is a remarkable feat at 125 kgs. Kueter famously stayed in-state and went to Iowa to play football and wrestle. We didn’t get to see much of him on the mat in 2023-24 as he started late due to football and ended up redshirting. In his final appearance of the season, Kueter posted a solid 5-1 win over Oklahoma State’s Konner Doucet. Doucet ended up winning two matches at nationals. Despite Kueter’s history and talent, there are some talented big men who could give him some trouble. We’ll start with Virginia Tech’s Jimmy Mullen who won the Open and sits in the finals. Mullen was a U17 world silver medalist in 2021. Another wrestler in the field with hardware is 2022 U17 world champion Koy Hopke, a Minnesota signee. Aden Attao is also a U17 world medalist, but his best results have come in Greco-Roman. One rising senior to watch is Nick Sahakian. The Michigan recruit was leading Mullen in the Open finals when he was pinned. He edged Attao by a point to make the Open finals.

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Seven Storylines to Follow at U20 Trials

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