BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Minnesota wrestlers played a key role for Team USA at the 2026 U20 World Championships, highlighted by podium finishes in men’s freestyle and women’s freestyle alongside a solid appearance in Greco-Roman.
The Championships spanned eight days of competition—Greco-Roman competed August 16-19, women’s freestyle August 18-21, and men’s freestyle wrapped up August 20-23.
2026 USA Wrestling Northern Plains Regional 16U and Junior Freestyle Championships results. May 8-10, at Wisconsin Dells, WI.
2026 USA Wrestling Northern Plains Regional 8U-14U Freestyle Championships results. May 8-10, at Wisconsin Dells, WI.
2026 USA Wrestling Northern Plains Regional Greco-Roman Championships results. May 8-10, at Wisconsin Dells, WI.
Caley Graber (Northfield, Minn./Summit Wrestling Academy) has been named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week.
Graber captured two titles this past weekend at the Minnesota USA Wrestling Freestyle/Greco-Roman State Tournament. Throughout the weekend, she went 6-0, with each win coming via technical fall. Graber outscored her opponents 58-2.
In the freestyle tournament, after posting a 12-2 win in the opening round, she needed just 55 seconds to notch a 12-0 win in the semifinals. In a rematch of the Minnesota high school state championship bout, Graber posted a 10-0 win over Lauren Elsmore to claim the title. Continue reading at themat.com →
The U.S. Greco-Roman team saw some bright spots throughout its time in Zagreb, but failed to medal at any weight. 2024 U17 World champion Jayden Raney won two matches at 55 kg and hung with four-time World champion Eldaniz Azizli of Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals. Kamal Bey once again proved he’s right there with the best in the World at 77 kg—going 1-2 with his only two losses being 2-1 to eventual World champion Malkhas Amoyan of Armenia and 4-2 to eventual bronze medalist Ahmet Yilmaz of Türkiye.
Team USA picked up its fourth World champion of the week at Arena Zagreb when Helen Maroulis won the 57 kg women’s freestyle gold medal in spectacular fashion, her fourth World title and eighth medal at the Senior World Championships. She is also a three-time Olympic medalist. The U.S. added bronze medals from Kennedy Blades at 68 kg and Kylie Welker at 76 kg, and a fifth-place finish from Macey Kilty at 65 kg.
The U.S. finished in fourth place in the women’s freestyle team rankings. Japan, North Korea and China took the top three spots on the team podium.
Team USA scored three World champions—Kyle Snyder at 97 kg, Zahid Valencia at 86 kg, and Trent Hidlay at 92 kg—plus a silver medal from Levi Haines at 79 kg and a bronze medal from Real Woods at 65 kg. Fifth-place honors went to Jax Forrest at 61 kg and David Carr at 74 kg, who came up short in hotly contested bronze medal matches.
The U.S. finished as runner-up to Iran in a down-to-the-wire team race. Iran took the team title with 145 total points, nine ahead of the U.S. mark of 134. Japan slotted in third with 111 team points.
USA Wrestling and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) have partnered for the use of USA Bracketing for all event, results, statistics and weight management beginning with the 2025-2026 wrestling season.
With the partnership, all section and state tournament events in Minnesota will utilize USA Bracketing. Additionally, all school-hosted dual meets and tournaments will be able to utilize the software at no additional cost for the school/host with the ability to stream to multiple providers with fully integrated graphics.
USA Bracketing will allow for event hosts to include multiple levels (varsity and junior varsity) of competition, while simultaneously running individual and dual meet competition in one single event.
2025 USA Wrestling 16U and Juniors Boys Greco-Roman National Championships results. Friday-Saturday, July 18-19 at Fargo, N.D.