A New Era for the US Men's Freestyle Team?

In the 1998 hit “Closing Time” by Semisonic, the band sings that “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” That song came to me as I was following the World Team Trials this weekend, particularly from the men’s freestyle avenue of the tournament. 

In 2018, UWW expanded its weight class offerings from eight to ten and modified some of the actual weights. Those changes allowed the US men’s freestyle team to get a few more wrestlers that were blocked by returning team members into the mix. What resulted has been a great era of wrestling - one of the best in our storied history. 

This golden era has had some consistent central figures. Kyle Snyder has been a part of every world/Olympic team since 2015. Kyle Dake has made all seven world/Olympic teams since 2018. Jordan Burroughs has made five world teams in that time period. David Taylor made six world/Olympic teams during that span. James Green made four. J’den Cox made four, as did Thomas Gilman. 

Now, in the spring of 2025, we could be looking at a world team that has none of those central figures! Snyder’s status is up in the air after his recent arrest. Green did not make the finals of the WTT’s. Dake is up a weight class and will have to avenge a US Open loss against Zahid Valencia (with two wins) to make the 2025 squad. Cox, Gilman, and Taylor are all in the coaches chairs. Burroughs did not participate in any of the qualifying events, but has not announced his retirement. 

The first year of a new Olympic cycle is traditionally filled with retirements and weight changes, so it’s not unusual to see this type of transition. However, the amount of change that we could see is out of the ordinary. 

With Dake’s move up to 86 kg, we’ll have a representative at 74 kg not named Burroughs or Dake for the first time since 2010!

Regardless of Final X results, we are guaranteed to see a first-time world team member in half of the ten weight classes. Should an upset(s) occur, that number could only increase. Surprisingly enough, the 2023 men’s world team had six first-timers, so this transition did not happen overnight (Richards, Arujau, Lee, Marsteller, Valencia, Parris). 

Before 2023, the last time we had five or more first-time world team members was in 2009 and 2010 which ended up being two rough years for USA Wrestling; however, the bounce back started shortly after. 

My opinion is that this changing of the guard is more of a quick transition from one generation to the next than a rebuilding effort. Looking at the potential 2025 team, we could have five past world medalists on the team (Lee, Arujau, Diakomihalis, Dake/Valencia, Snyder) in addition to a few team members who appear to be ready to compete for medals right away (Mesenbrink/Carr, Hendrickson). 

In the coming years, we might see this time of turnover on a regular basis. The kids keep getting better at younger ages. In men’s freestyle, Final X will feature two wrestlers who have yet to start their collegiate careers (Jax Forrest/PJ Duke). Others like Marcus Blaze and Bo Bassett posted strong wins at the Trials and have already proven they can compete domestically at the Senior level. 

With such regular infusions of talent, it might mean that there are fewer and fewer ironmen like Burroughs/Dake/Snyder. Should that be the norm, it would be another reason to show this current/past crop of wrestlers appreciation. 

In about a month, we’ll find out who exactly are the representatives for the 2025 World Championships after the action goes down at Final X; however, it won’t be “Closing Time” for Team USA merely a new beginning for a new generation of success.