Among the recent success stories came when Kyle Snyder burst onto the international wrestling scene to capture a Junior world title at age 17.
Snyder, of course, followed by winning a senior world title at age 19 before capturing an Olympic gold medal last year as a 20-year-old in Rio.
The U.S. has the potential for another big year and the road to the Junior Worlds will start with the country's top 17-20 year olds competing in the United World Wrestling Junior Freestyle National Championships this weekend in Las Vegas. The event is a qualifier for June's UWW Junior World Team Trials in Lincoln, Neb.
The UWW Junior World Team Trials for Greco-Roman also will be held at this weekend alongside the freestyle nationals at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
With the Senior U.S. Open in freestyle and the Senior World Team Trials in Greco also going on this weekend in Vegas, some elite Juniors may bypass the Junior events. But the field for the Junior events, as it typically is, will still be very strong.
Here are some of the top storylines to watch in the Juniors this weekend:
So many studs at such a young age
When the Cadet World Championships was reinstated in recent years, the U.S. received a huge boost.
A country that focuses a lot on folkstyle was given more opportunities to make gains in freestyle and on an international level.
Among the athletes who have cashed in on this opportunity are young stars Mark Hall and Spencer Lee. Both wrestlers won Cadet world titles before going on to earn Junior world titles for the U.S.
Mark Hall won a gold medal at the Junior World Championships last year (Photo/Justin Hoch)Hall, who won an NCAA title for Penn State as a true freshman last month, is registered for the Junior freestyle competition at 74 kilograms/163 pounds.
Hall and Lee are two special athletes who have already shown a penchant for delivering when the stakes are highest. Both are very advanced for their age and both possess the type of composure and maturity needed to excel at the international level.
Lee likely won't compete in Vegas after suffering a knee injury during the high school season.
And even more studs we could see ...
Daton Fix won a Junior World bronze medal at 55 kilograms (Photo/Justin Hoch)2016 Junior World bronze medalist Daton Fix (55 kilograms/121 pounds) is another young star with impressive credentials.
Fix knocked off Spencer Lee to make a Cadet world team before moving up to the Junior ranks. Fix is another wrestler with a tremendous upside. He is an aggressive, dominating wrestler with an abundance of ability.
Adding to the list of eligible 2016 UWW Junior Freestyle champions who could return are Mitchell McKee (60 kilograms), Cole Martin (63 kilograms), Beau Breske (79 kilograms), Zahid Valencia (84 kilograms), and Rylee Streifel (120 kilograms).
Valencia is coming off a third-place finish at the NCAAs as a freshman. And he is even better at freestyle than he is at folkstyle. He will attack opponents from the opening whistle.
2016 UWW Junior Freestyle National runner-ups eligible to compete in this year's competition include Patrick McKee (50 kilograms), Gavin Teasdale (55 kilograms), Evan Wick (70 kilograms), and Lance Benick (96 kilograms).
Greco returns top athletes for Trials
Two of the top young stars in the UWW Junior ranks are Kamal Bey and G'Angelo Hancock, who both are expected to compete in the Senior division this week.
Hancock is a Junior world bronze medalist who also won a Senior Nationals title this season at 96 kilograms. Bey also won a Senior Nationals title. He competed in Juniors at 74 kilograms.
Hancock and Bey have provided a huge boost to the struggling U.S. Greco-Roman program.
2016 Junior world bronze medalist Taylor LaMont (60 kilograms) is another eligible returning champion who has been one of the nation's top young Greco wrestlers for a number of years.
Two other returning champions who also competed in the 2016 Junior Worlds are Nick Reenan (84 kilograms) and Michael Rogers (120 kilograms). Also eligible to return is 2016 UWW Greco-Roman National champion Quentin Hovis (70 kilograms).
There also is a group of returning Junior runner-up finishers who can compete again this year. They include Dack Punke (50 kilograms), Jordan Martinez (55 kilograms), Mitchell McKee (60 kilograms), Ryan Leisure (63 kilograms), Jaron Jensen (66 kilograms), Jesse Porter (74 kilograms), Carter Nielsen (79 kilograms), Wyatt Koelling (84 kilograms), and Nicholas Boykin (120 kilograms).
The UWW Junior Greco tournament is set for Thursday, April 27 with the UWW Junior freestyle event April 28-29.
The UWW Junior Greco-Roman World Team Trials is the qualifying event for the UWW Junior World Championships in Tampere, Finland on Aug. 1-6.
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