U23 World Team

[cowcards]

Now that the U23 trials are over we are able to rank the order of preference for the world team spot based upon this criteria:

1. In order of rank: Top-4, age eligible, athlete from 2025 Senior Men’s Freestyle National Team
2. U23 Trials Champion

These are listed in order of selection preference:

57 - Lilledahl, Provo, Ziegler
61 - Forrest, M. Blaze, Bouzakis
65 - M. Blaze, Cornella
70 - Duke, Edmond
74 - Mesenbrink, J. Blaze, Caliendo
79 - Haines, Hamiti, Ruiz, Mantanona
86 - Welsh
92 - Barr, Sinclair, Nelson
97 - Kouekabakila
125 - Herrera

Let me know if I messed up any DOB years. 

Anyone know if the U20 team is the same? The qualifying procedures are a bit murky to me.

Lilledahl (57), Forrest (61), M. Blaze (65), Duke (70), J. Blaze (74), & Sinclair (92) are all U20 eligible as well. Ruiz (79) too? I haven't looked at the U23 champ DOB to see if the other weights could be U20. 

Edited June 2 by cowcards

[Husker_Du]

Pretty sure U20 is straight up results from this weekend's trials.

I.E. Lilledahl and Forrest have no claim to those spots. 

[Wolfman2610]

Correct me if I am wrong...

But I always thought that National team was top-4 in an Olympic year; Top-3 in any other season!!

So for example....At 65kg; wouldn't Blaze need to win his true 3rd in order to have any dibs to the U23 spot?

If he was to lose at Final X; technically, I am not sure if he'd be considered part of the NT!

Edited June 2 by Wolfman2610

[cowcards]

11 minutes ago, Wolfman2610 said:

Correct me if I am wrong...

But I always thought that National team was top-4 in an Olympic year; Top-3 in any other season!!

So for example....At 65kg; wouldn't Blaze need to win his true 3rd in order to have any dibs to the U23 spot?

If he was to lose at Final X; technically, I am not sure if he'd be considered part of the NT!

I actually combined the first 2 criteria into 1. It list top-3 from the National team and then the 4th best. Since Blaze has no one else ranked higher, 4th will still get him first priority. 

But yes, 4th is not part of the national team. It’s technically criteria 2. 

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

10 hours ago, Wolfman2610 said:

Correct me if I am wrong...

But I always thought that National team was top-4 in an Olympic year; Top-3 in any other season!!

So for example....At 65kg; wouldn't Blaze need to win his true 3rd in order to have any dibs to the U23 spot?

If he was to lose at Final X; technically, I am not sure if he'd be considered part of the NT!

I think cowards hit on this, but: top 3 is national team, but they made top 4 qualifiers for U23 this year. (and perhaps in the past)

[nhs67]

20 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

I think cowards hit on this, but: top 3 is national team, but they made top 4 qualifiers for U23 this year. (and perhaps in the past)

Imagine Forrest claiming the 61 KG spot only for Blaze to claim the 65 KG spot.

Cornella wrestled out of his mind, but I can't help but to think he would have had a considerable amount more trouble placing in that U20 65 KG bracket Saturday.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

27 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

I think cowards hit on this, but: top 3 is national team, but they made top 4 qualifiers for U23 this year. (and perhaps in the past)

* Sorry cowCards.  Was typing with an injured finger and an unfamiliar keyboard while also being distracted.  My apologies!

[nhs67]

55 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

* Sorry cowCards.  Was typing with an injured finger and an unfamiliar keyboard while also being distracted.  My apologies!

I was thinking "Shiiiit... a bunch of folks done hit on this already?'  Then I read the prior post, and I was like 'daaaamn he going after cowcards hard!'  Then I was like like 'meh... probably didn't mean anything bad by it.'  Then I saw your response/post.

[Truzzcat]

I on behalf of USA wrestling would like to allow Luke to take the u20 spot. Simply because I want as many golds as possible and I don't think Knox can beat the Russian at least in his current form.

[Wrasslin]

6 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

I on behalf of USA wrestling would like to allow Luke to take the u20 spot. Simply because I want as many golds as possible and I don't think Knox can beat the Russian at least in his current form.

Who's the Russian? U20 European Championships is end of June so not even decided. What am I missing? Lay it on me, Truzzcat! 

[bnwtwg]

11 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

I on behalf of USA wrestling would like to allow Luke to take the u20 spot. Simply because I want as many golds as possible and I don't think Knox can beat the Russian at least in his current form.

I would like him to take the juniors and U23 spot, then take some time off and comes back for NCAAs. I'm big on Lilledahl's future at 57 (or maybe 61, but hopefully 57). The more high-stakes international reps he can get, the better he will be in the long run. But he didn't enter because he's beyond juniors, it is what it is.

Edited June 3 by bnwtwg

[SocraTease]

Wow, it could be a very Penn State dominant team. 7 our of 10 weights. 

Is PSU hegemony entering the freestyle world now for a long run?

57 - Lilledahl,
65 - M. Blaze
70 - Duke
74 - Mesenbrink
79 - Haines
86 - Welsh
92 - Barr

[scourge165]

3 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

I would like him to take the juniors and U23 spot, then take some time off and comes back for NCAAs. I'm big on Lilledahl's future at 57 (or maybe 61, but hopefully 57). The more high-stakes international reps he can get, the better he will be in the long run. But he didn't enter because he's beyond juniors, it is what it is.

You really think he'll be able to hold 57KG? He looks like he's 4-5 inches taller than Lee... and he's not exactly physically mature. 

Why can't Lee be the "future" at 57KG? He should have at least another cycle. Did I miss something? 

[Truzzcat]

13 hours ago, Wrasslin said:

Who's the Russian? U20 European Championships is end of June so not even decided. What am I missing? Lay it on me, Truzzcat! 

ozdamirov he won their equivalent to u20 nationals he's pretty nasty.

[bnwtwg]

6 hours ago, scourge165 said:

You really think he'll be able to hold 57KG? He looks like he's 4-5 inches taller than Lee... and he's not exactly physically mature. 

Why can't Lee be the "future" at 57KG? He should have at least another cycle. Did I miss something? 

If Micic and RBY can make 57 for a tournament then I have faith in LL. But if he outgrows and moves to 61 then so be it - better to be successful at a higher weight than suck yourself out to BBQ.

Regarding Spencer Lee - he isn't the future, he is the present. But he will also be 30 at the end of this quad and especially at 57 losing even a split second of a hair of reaction time means everything. Father Time is undefeated against everyone not named Kyle Dake or Benjamin Button.

[nhs67]

16 minutes ago, bnwtwg said:

If Micic and RBY can make 57 for a tournament then I have faith in LL. But if he outgrows and moves to 61 then so be it - better to be successful at a higher weight than suck yourself out to BBQ.

Regarding Spencer Lee - he isn't the future, he is the present. But he will also be 30 at the end of this quad and especially at 57 losing even a split second of a hair of reaction time means everything. Father Time is undefeated against everyone not named Kyle Dake or Benjamin Button.

Happy I finished reading before I was like "LETS WAIT UNTIL FINAL X TO SAY HE IS UNDEFEATED!!"

Are we at the point where Dake is now winning fantasy matches?  Wasn't he 0-455, or some ridiculous number like that, in fantasy matches at some point?

[AgaveMaria]

12 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

Happy I finished reading before I was like "LETS WAIT UNTIL FINAL X TO SAY HE IS UNDEFEATED!!"

Are we at the point where Dake is now winning fantasy matches?  Wasn't he 0-455, or some ridiculous number like that, in fantasy matches at some point?

Dake is now 0-637 in fantasy matches against David Taylor. The guy can't catch a break no matter how young he gets.

[bnwtwg]

15 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

Happy I finished reading before I was like "LETS WAIT UNTIL FINAL X TO SAY HE IS UNDEFEATED!!"

Are we at the point where Dake is now winning fantasy matches?  Wasn't he 0-455, or some ridiculous number like that, in fantasy matches at some point?

Dake could never beat Taylor, and now he can't beat Taylor's protege. It's just fantasy science and people need to accept the facts.

[Wolfman2610]

On 6/1/2025 at 11:51 PM, cowcards said:

I actually combined the first 2 criteria into 1. It list top-3 from the National team and then the 4th best. Since Blaze has no one else ranked higher, 4th will still get him first priority. 

But yes, 4th is not part of the national team. It’s technically criteria 2. 

Thank you for the confirmation/clarification....

I thought criteria stated that only Senior National team members were eligible!

But I am guessing it must have been updated!

https://www.themat.com/olympic-world-teams

Edited June 3 by Wolfman2610

[cowcards]

1 hour ago, Wolfman2610 said:

Thank you for the confirmation/clarification....

I thought criteria stated that only Senior National team members were eligible!

But I am guessing it must have been updated!

https://www.themat.com/olympic-world-teams

Yea. That link is different than the criteria posted. I believe this is the first time I have seen the 4th place, age-eligible, added to the criteria.  

[Cornell Kevin]

For U23 it had always been Senior National team members had first dibs on the spot, followed by the U23 champion.  This year it was changed in adding the 4th in line for seniors at the weight prior to U23 National Champ.  

Couple of notes: 

- Seems obvious but many have asked.:If Jax passes on taking the U23 spot, No..Marcus Blaze cannot accept both the 61kg and 65kg spots for U23. One or the other or neither. 

 

-All signs point to Marcus not taking either spot and focusing on winning a U20 World Gold Medal.  Blaze earned a bronze last year losing to eventual U20 Gold medalist, and senior champion Ono in the semis 7-2.  Rumorville has echoed that the Penn St staff prefers he does focus solely on the U20 Worlds and passes on both U23 spots. 

-If this is in fact true in regards to the coaches preference..it could be sign for things to come. I am very curious on which NLWC guys accept their U23 dibs on their weights.  U23 Worlds runs much later than U20 and even senior worlds 

-U20s August 20th-24th 

-Senior’s September 13th-18th

-U23’s October 22nd-26th

-First official day of  NCAA wrestling practice is October 10th, with the first day of competition being November 1st. 

If they prefer that Blaze does not do U23, it could very well hint that he will be starting at 133 as a true freshman while Ono red shirts.  PJ Duke has showed a great interest in competing in all 3 world championships. When asked yesterday on his flo interview about this, he said it had to be discussed with his coaches and family, however he did not rule it out. Furthermore, Kozalk asked him if he would possibly be going to the ranking series coming up. Duke responded that he most likely would not be, and he would rather wrestle in another world championships than do the ranking series as he still hunting for his first world gold medal.  

So will be interesting to see which of the NLWC accept the U23 spots. MM did last year earning a bronze. Maybe the Penn State coaches prefer just the two freshman pass on it, especially since they’re already competing another world championships. Or maybe they let them decide and rumorville is BS.   if they do prefer they pass it obviously isn’t because they don’t want them missing the week of practice… I’m sure it would be more so a concern that they’re peeking you around and because of that won’t be at their best come March whether it be to the physical or mental toll it takes. 

Edited June 17 by Cornell Kevin

[bnwtwg]

Obviously Penn State doesn't want him at U23 because then he would be blocking 21 year old Ono from the lineup and lady liberty needs all the team points she can get

[D3 for LU]

So... LEHIGH's Mason Ziegler, winner at the U23 tournament @ 57Kg, gets the short shrift here...

because the goalpost were moved?

(sheesh! )

D3

[bnwtwg]

1 hour ago, D3 for LU said:

So... LEHIGH's Mason Ziegler, winner at the U23 tournament @ 57Kg, gets the short shrift here...

because the goalpost were moved?

(sheesh! )

D3

Ziegler was aware of the team selection critera criteria.

Ziegler was welcome to enter the Senior US Open.

Ziegler was welcome to qualify for Senior World Team Trials.

Ziegler was welcome to outplace everyone ahead of him.

Ziegler is not welcome to claim "moving goal posts" when a 19 year old outperformed him at a superior tournament against superior competition to select the most superior team possible.

[nhs67]

Duke said on FRL that he would prefer to do U23s than the ranking series next month, FWIW.