U23 World Team

[D3 for LU]

48 minutes ago, bnwtwg said:

Ziegler was aware of the team selection critera criteria.

(What the hell... it was the only thing I could hang my hat on.)

D3

[Coastal]

7 hours 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

Some weights were really, really weak like 57 because the team had already been decided.    It's like the PGA tour event of the people who didn't qualify for the British Open.     86 had multiple All Americans since the team spot wasn't already pre determined.

[Yankeefan33]

Does anybody know if any eligible wrestler accepted the U23 spot? They had until Monday to do so, but USA Wrestling didn't issue a list or a team yet. I wondered if they postponed it because of the Jax/Vito wrestle-off

[Cornell Kevin]

On 6/25/2025 at 1:50 PM, Yankeefan33 said:

Does anybody know if any eligible wrestler accepted the U23 spot? They had until Monday to do so, but USA Wrestling didn't issue a list or a team yet. I wondered if they postponed it because of the Jax/Vito wrestle-off

USA Wrestling should make this announcement by tomorrow (Friday) based on when it has been announced in the past vs when decisions had to be in. Usually has been decisions by senior national team due on a Monday with announcement following that Friday.  This way they have time to ask #2, 3 or even 4 now in the pecking order.  
 

I think we will see: 

57kg LL - would attempt to become the first american male wrestler to win gold in all 3 U17-U20-U23 age levels. If Penn St decides not to send guys to U23 due to it being during start of college season, then Nico Provo next up. 

61kg Jax Forrest - kid seems to want to wrestle in everything.  He is entered in to the ranking series with only a couple of days between his series with Vito and that. Speaking of which, this delay makes this decision much more difficult as he clearly does not know if he made the senior team yet. If he turns down I think Blaze will too in which it will go to Nic Bouzakis. 

65kg Vince Cornella- doubt Blaze takes this, he likely focuses on U20s. Cornella did make a U20 team a few years back taking 5th. 

70kg PJ Duke - he had shown a strong desire to do all 3 we will see if Penn St coaches give him the . If he is a no then Josh Edmond gets the nod

74kg MM -took a bronze last year, lost to the guy Japan had slotted in their senior team this year. He may be a little beat up now but U23s almost 4 full months away. 

79kg Dean Hamiti- I don’t see Levi accepting this with him being on senior team and his senior season coming up.  I don’t picture Hamiti not taking the spot, why would he not?                   If not him than Simon Ruiz will. 

86kg Rocco Welsh is the guy

92kg Barr - if Penn St sends guys then Barr will be there. It not then Aeoden Sinclair will go. 

97kg Grand Valley kid with very long name is the guy

125- Daniel Herrera is the guy

[Ragu]

2 hours ago, Cornell Kevin said:

97kg Grand Valley kid with very long name is the guy

Garavous Kouekabakilaho

[Jason Bryant]

USA Wrestling should make this announcement by tomorrow (Friday) based on when it has been announced in the past vs when decisions had to be in. Usually has been decisions by senior national team due on a Monday with announcement following that Friday.  This way they have time to ask #2, 3 or even 4 now in the pecking order.  
 
I think we will see: 
57kg LL - would attempt to become the first american male wrestler to win gold in all 3 U17-U20-U23 age levels. If Penn St decides not to send guys to U23 due to it being during start of college season, then Nico Provo next up. 
61kg Jax Forrest - kid seems to want to wrestle in everything.  He is entered in to the ranking series with only a couple of days between his series with Vito and that. Speaking of which, this delay makes this decision much more difficult as he clearly does not know if he made the senior team yet. If he turns down I think Blaze will too in which it will go to Nic Bouzakis. 
65kg Vince Cornella- doubt Blaze takes this, he likely focuses on U20s. Cornella did make a U20 team a few years back taking 5th. 
70kg PJ Duke - he had shown a strong desire to do all 3 we will see if Penn St coaches give him the . If he is a no then Josh Edmond gets the nod
74kg MM -took a bronze last year, lost to the guy Japan had slotted in their senior team this year. He may be a little beat up now but U23s almost 4 full months away. 
79kg Dean Hamiti- I don’t see Levi accepting this with him being on senior team and his senior season coming up.  I don’t picture Hamiti not taking the spot, why would he not?                   If not him than Simon Ruiz will. 
86kg Rocco Welsh is the guy
92kg Barr - if Penn St sends guys then Barr will be there. It not then Aeoden Sinclair will go. 
97kg Grand Valley kid with very long name is the guy
125- Daniel Herrera is the guy

Grand VIEW not Grand Valley.

[Cornell Kevin]

My bad must have auto corrected on phone, done that a few times..sneaky sneaky phone 

[Cornell Kevin]

This years U23 world team will
be composed of 7 Nittany Lion Wreslters.

57KG LUKE LILLEDAHL Penn St
61KG JAX FORREST       Okla St 
65KG MARCUS BLAZE Penn St
70KG PJ DUKE                  Penn St
74KG M. MESENBRINK Penn St
79KG LEVI HAINES         Penn St
86KG ROCCO WELSH   Penn St
92KG JOSH BARR           Penn St
97KG KOUEKABAKILAHO GV
125KG D. HERRERA Iowa St 

• PJ Duke, 18 years of age, will be competing in the trifecta this year. He is on and competing in U20, U23, and Senior World Championships. While Amit Elor has done this exact trifecta in back to back years, winning 6 golds, no American male has ever attempted this.  

Americans pulling multi-duty: 
-PJ Duke 70kg; U20…U23….Sr
- Marcus Blaze;
U20 61kg…U23 65kg 
-Levi Haines 79kg; U23…..Sr. 
(Forrest 61kg; U23, maybe Sr)

• Mitchell Mesenbrink, who has a U20 Gold & Silver, will be looking to improve on his U23 Bronze medal from last year. 

• Luke Lilledahl has been in 4 consecutive world age level finals. Luke has gone
2024 U20 Gold 
2023 U20 Silver
2022 U17 Gold
2021 U17 Silver

Luke Lilledahl now stands in attempt to becoming the 1st and only American male to win Gold in U17/U20/U23 World championships. If he does  not pull off the Gold this year at U23s..Both him and Meyer Shapiro will still have 3 years left of U23 eligibility to accomplish this. 

• 7/10 U23 National team members are on our American Senior National team…
-#2 Lilledahl 57kg
-#1/2 Forrest 61kg
-#3 Blaze 65kg
-#1 Duke 70kg
-#2 Mesenbrink 74kg
-#1 Haines 79kg
-#2 Barr 92kg

• This teams past age level world teams and results 

-Lilledahl 
2024 U20 Gold 
2023 U20 Silver
2022 U17 Gold
2021 U17 Silver

-Forrest 
2022 U17 Silver

-Blaze
2023 U17 Gold
2024 U20 Bronze

-Duke 
2024 U20 Bronze

-Mesenbrink
2022 U20 Silver
2023 U20 Gold
2024 U23 Bronze
 
-Haines 
2021 U17 7th

-Barr 
2024 U20 Silver

[Wrasslin]

On 6/3/2025 at 5:22 AM, Truzzcat said:

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

Dude just got teched in 45 seconds in European U20 semis...2-on-1 drag by then laced. Didn't really get the chance to see what he had (first time seeing him). He did kinda look like the wrestling version of Kramer tho. 

[Truzzcat]

2 hours ago, Wrasslin said:

Dude just got teched in 45 seconds in European U20 semis...2-on-1 drag by then laced. Didn't really get the chance to see what he had (first time seeing him). He did kinda look like the wrestling version of Kramer tho. 

Reflecting on things Russia has been bad at 57kg so he may have just looked good against the field.

[bnwtwg]

On 7/4/2025 at 2:00 PM, Truzzcat said:

Reflecting on things Russia has been bad at 57kg so he may have just looked good against the field.

Not sure I'm tracking...

Uguev won 2018 + 19 worlds + 2020ne olympics and was the heavy favorite in 2022 until RUS was banned. Lebedev held down the weight for a few quads before that and won at least a couple world titles and added multiple medals, and the guy who beat him for the 2012 spot won olympic gold.

No one knows what would have happened at the olympics last year because RUS was banned. Whoever they send as their world rep in a couple months is in the medal hunt at the very least.

[Truzzcat]

58 minutes ago, bnwtwg said:

Not sure I'm tracking...

Uguev won 2018 + 19 worlds + 2020ne olympics and was the heavy favorite in 2022 until RUS was banned. Lebedev held down the weight for a few quads before that and won at least a couple world titles and added multiple medals, and the guy who beat him for the 2012 spot won olympic gold.

No one knows what would have happened at the olympics last year because RUS was banned. Whoever they send as their world rep in a couple months is in the medal hunt at the very least.

Pavlov won Russian Nats in 2024 and he is 0-2 against Lilledahl. Mongush was the favorite most likely this year after beating pavlov at the Yarygin but did not compete. I was more so saying that currently their depth at 57kg is not good so the u20 field may have been watered down thus making Ozdamirov look better than he actually is.

[bnwtwg]

26 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

Pavlov won Russian Nats in 2024 and he is 0-2 against Lilledahl. Mongush was the favorite most likely this year after beating pavlov at the Yarygin but did not compete. I was more so saying that currently their depth at 57kg is not good so the u20 field may have been watered down thus making Ozdamirov look better than he actually is.

Mongush convincingly won Euros a couple months ago so I would say he is solid. He also took second at the Albania rankings tourney up at 61 immediately prior to Euros and his loss was to Takara (Japan) who just won Asia so it's not a bad loss by any stretch.

Regarding Pavlov - Losing to Lilledahl isn't exactly a blemish either. It's not conjecture that he is ready now to compete at the senior level and will be a medal threat within a year or two at most, it's just a matter of when he can break through domestically first.

Edited July 8 by bnwtwg
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