2026 U20 Trials Preview

At the US Open it was Isaiah Cortez reminding a star-studded HS cast (in the deepest weight) that some of these recent graduates still got plenty of fight in their own right, trying to make this world team. So it would not surprise me at all if Cortez, waiting in the finals, defends that Vegas outing and makes the team.

However, I'm not convinced that sitting out is a clearcut advantage, rather than taking on a bracket and building momentum.

I'm giving the slight edge to Burnett to reach the 2 out of 3 series by way of a head to head win over Rocklin Zinkin en route to making the U17 team. Zinkin got revenge during the season in a tightly contested, ultimate tie-break, match. Would be a coin flip.

We'll also get our first Munaretto sighting of the freestyle season. A two-time U17 gold medalist, he's certainly a top contender to make this team.

Then there's a trio of Aslikyan, Mills, and Schwab. Aslikyan gets the ranking edge with wins over both of them in Vegas.

Paul Kenny is another former U17 gold medalist. He's dropping from 61 to 57 and can't be overlooked either. Assuming he made this weight comfortably, he should have a decent size advantage over the most of the field.

There are even more top 25 high schoolers in this field. Mason Jakob is only unranked because, like Zinkin and Munaretto, hasn't wrestled yet. He's generally top 10 worthy and could be a pick to reach the semifinals.

If there's a wildcard of sorts here, I think it's either Loc Webber or Isaiah Chavez. Webber got the win in the all Ohio rivalry with Seacrist. Chavez is the U17 kid jumping up in the style that is by far his best.

My pick is Burnett. But, there's about a half dozen I wouldn't be surprised at all if they earn the trip to Slovakia.

The Gilroy twins put in work in Vegas, with Elijah winning 61 following up Isaiah at 57. Now, I would be even more inclined to think he repeats the feat here, because the 61 field is not nearly as deep as 57. The issue, though, is newcomer to the U20 trials path is Aaron Seidel.

Seidel has to be considered a strong favorite here, considering how well he's been doing at the collegiate level, and the challenges he's had with Jax Forrest, Ben Davino, and Marcus Blaze.

As for the rest of the challenge tournament, it was Dean Anderson reaching the finals against Cortez. I expect him to go as far as his path takes him before Seidel. That could be the semifinals, or the finals.

We should keep an eye on U17 wrestler, Tommy Wurster. He was a Fargo champ last year and could be another whose best style is this one, which also happens to be the one prone to upsets.

There are a pair of top 25 guys as well in Brady Collins and Gage Spurgeon. I wouldn't be surprised if they knock someone ahead of them off, but it would be quite the story if they reach the finals, or perhaps the 2 of 3.

Not as much to dive into here as the high school ranks provide 4 ranked entries. Out of that group, Dean Anderson is the biggest contender. Though, I don't see how this isn't Seidel's weekend.

It's tough to keep coming up with the superlatives for Bo Bassett and his exploits, but we should at least take the time to recognize just how impressive he's been. There's no reason to think he won't win the world team spot, but we'll still look at the top contenders as it is a pretty top level group.

Kellen Wolbert was the US Open runner up to Bo, and if he were born in a different era, this might be his spot to lose.

After Wolbert we have Shepherd who beat Dekraker who beat Herring. The only one missing from this top 6 is Lincoln Sledzianowski. Sledzianowski has established himself as a real threat in freestyle — if he registers we'll update this.

I think this group of 4 behind Bo is liable to end in any order, despite the US Open results.

There's a pair of Iowa wrestlers, Youngblut and Landers who would love to surprise the field in Ohio.

Then, there's another U17 wrestler in the mix, this time it's world team member Arseni Kikiniou. I'm really curious to see how he fares against this field. Maybe he's the one to reach Bo.

When you have such a large favorite it makes the entire thing tough to analyze past that. And until we see otherwise, we're calling this Bo, next.

The biggest story at this weight in Vegas was more about who didn't make the finals: Melvin Miller. He was busy pulling the double shift, competing in the Senior bracket, and my guess is that was the focus for him. He did finish 4th there, but ultimately didn't place in U20. With only one event to focus on now, I expect we see a bounce back performance where he should be the #1 challenger to Seth Mendoza to then face Robideau.

It was Seth, making a decent weight jump from his HS career (up to 70KG), who faced Robideau in the US Open finals. He's very much a top contender to run it back.

Among the high school group, DeSena, Cardinal, and [Jake] Miller, are all candidates to reach the tournament finals. DeSena in particular picked up wins over the other two and has moved his way into our freestyle top 2 as a result.

Among the college guys, Bouzakis is always tough and Gleason is the one who pulled off the upset over Melvin, can he do it again?

Ultimately, I think Robideau holds his spot atop the weight and heads to Slovakia this Summer.

Similar to Bo at 65, Jayden James has separated himself from the rest of the high school pack. He had one of the most dominant U20 US Opens. He most recently just walked into the Senior team trials and ended up one match away from Final X. However, if this year mirrors last year (when he made the U20 finals before securing U17 world gold), then we would expect him to bounce back in Ohio earning his way to Slovakia.

His biggest test looks like collegian LaDarion Lockett. Lockett, if fans remember, was the one who beat James in the best of 3 at this tournament last year. A rematch is what we expect, and we're calling for a flip of the outcome. Though, we shall see.

There's plenty of other talent here in the field. Haakon Peterson was the US Open finals opponent for Jayden. Cassioppi and his brother Bruno were at this weight together, where they finished 4th and 6th respectively.

Mac Crosson will be a tough out, he didn't place in Vegas, but lost to the same top 10 opponent (Matt Staples) twice.

And we can't forget James' training partner and KD teammate, Cam Howard. Howard is the 2026 U17 rep at 71KG so he's doing the same thing James did last year, get that U17 spot then take on the U20 challenge at the next weight up. Could be another big step for him.

Among the college guys, Lockett's teammate, Kody Routledge is always a tough out and we can expect Will Denny and Jacob Herm to make deep runs.

I think we all kinda want the 2025 U20 rematch with LaDarion and Jayden. That's what I'm predicting we get, and it could be a classic.

79 at The US Open gave us one of the deepest brackets coming into that weekend. There were something like 7 or 8 of the top 10. But, it also included plenty of young college talent and it was Ryan Burton (class of 2025) who came out victorious.

Along the way to the Vegas title — and his place in the best of 3 here — Burton defeated two of the top 5 in Mario Carini (joining Burton next year at Virginia Tech) and Joe Jeter. Carini would then fall to Heiser and Jeter to Jax Miller. I had picked Carini to win that US Open bracket and — despite the dnp there — he's my pick to reach his future teammate for some more Hokie vs Hokie battles.

Also in this mix of top high school contenders are Maximus Dhabolt and Bruno Cassioppi. Dhabolt took a loss to Humphries but didn't finish the tournament. He has a win over Jax Miller (who beat Jeter) this Spring which gives him the #2 spot in our rankings and he should be a real threat for a deep run.

Bruno is up from 74 and while he may have a size disadvantage, we know from older brother Tony, to twin brother Rocco, the name Cassioppi is always going to be a tough out.

Cunningham was Burton's finals opponent in Vegas and if I were a betting man, I might say he's the odds on favorite to run it back. Then there's Heiser (who beat Carini) and Humphries (who beat Dhabolt and the aforementioned Miller). Sullivan Ramos is another collegian who really established himself nationally during last year's Spring and Summer season — this might be his best style.

What might not be the deepest bracket has plenty of quality at the top. I do like Carini to bounce back and make a push to the finals. It's just tough to see anyone out of the field knocking off Burton in 2 out of 3.

This weight here was fairly well controlled by the collegiate guys, and there's no reason to think it won't be again. Sinclair is sitting in the best of 3 and it was Mantanona who faced him in the Vegas finals. And that's what I think happens again here.

As for the high school guys, the top contender is definitely Waylon Cressell but there are new names to factor in here: Aaron Stewart, who was the 80KG U17 world team member last year, and Michael White, who has simply just continued to climb toward the top of his weight class in his senior season.

Murphy is a tough out and U17 finalist, Mario Hutcherson, is down at his more natural weight. As is the theme where there are U17 guys in the mix, they have my utmost attention — always interested to see how they fare.

Ultimately, I think we see a repeat of Vegas. That means Sinclair the winner and U20 team member.

Even setting aside that Waters finished #1 in the country for the HS season at 190 (a weight that he, Mastny, Holman, and Hodgins all competed at at some point during the season), he was our freestyle #1 at 86 last year. He wasn't at the US Open and hasn't had a freestyle match yet this Spring. So even though he comes in unranked, he is our pick to ultimately make the U20 team.

Sitting in the best of 3 is US Open champ Mastny. But it should be noted, Jipp and Mastny had perhaps the single best match of the entire U20 weekend back then and could be primed to run that back as well.

Holman and Hodgins could knock off any of these guys, and Holman was able to get the better of Hodgins at the Open once already. Holman's only loss there came to Bussey.

Speaking of Levi Bussey, he's looking like the top collegiate challenger here once again. Jipp beat him in Vegas but that could easily go the other way this week.

Here is a bracket with relatively few top high school wrestlers but the ones we do have are all at the top — I mean literally, if Waters would be #1 then it's 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Whoever comes away the US rep will have no doubt earned it.

Not much to say here. First of all, Boyle boiled the US Open field worse than the July Vegas sun. Second of all, there are only 6 total entries at this weight. That means we're thin on narratives.

I think Kawczynski has the best chance of the two high schoolers to reach the best of 3. However, it was Platt in the finals in Vegas and would be our pick to return here.

Not seeing how Boyle isn't the team rep, he was the most dominant of all U20 wrestlers in April.

And now we have yet again a weight the entire top 5 and that includes a top 2 that might be the single best rivalry going in the sport. Last year it was Dreshaun Ross getting the better of Coby. At the US Open last month, it was Merrill's revenge.

Outside of what seems like the inevitable top 2 meeting in the best of 3, we do get the #3, 4, and 5 all here as well. Perhaps not quite to the same level as the Merrill Ross rivalry, Bechtold and Mocco have their own brewing for that spot right after the top 2. The most recent match up went to Bechtold.

Crashing this party is Ashton Honnold. Can he break through with a big win and create a top 5 all on one tier? Remains to be seen.

Ultimately, I think you have to go with Merrill or Ross, and I'm sticking with my fellow CA native.