Oklahoma City, Okla. to host National Junior Duals in 2009 and 2010

Max Nowry of Illinois battles Ryak Finch of Arizona in Junior freestyle action. John Sachs photo

USA Wrestling has awarded the 2009 and 2010 National Junior Dual Meet Championships to Oklahoma City, Okla.

This popular event for boys features dual-meet competition between state-level teams in the Olympic styles of the sport, freestyle and Greco-Roman. Oklahoma City has served as the host city for the last three National Junior Duals events.

The competition will remain at Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center on the campus of Oklahoma City University (OCU) in Oklahoma City, Okla.

"We are real excited to host the event again," said event director Archie Randall, the head wrestling coach at OCU. "It is a great event for our school, where we can showcase our program to the nation. The National Duals are one of the most exciting events ever."

The 2009 National Junior Dual Meet Championships will be held June 23-28.

"USA Wrestling is pleased to award the National Junior Duals to Oklahoma City for another two years," said Pete Isais, National Events Director for USA Wrestling. "This is one of the most popular age-group events that we host, and it has continued to get better. We look forward to working with Archie Randall and his organizing committee for two more seasons."

USA Wrestling will host two major national events at Oklahoma City University in 2009. In addition, the Girls Folkstyle National Championships will be hosted at OCU, March 27-29.

Many of the athletes who compete at the National Junior Duals have gone on to earn national titles and All-American honors at the ASICS/Vaughan Junior National Championships later that summer.

Since its inception in 1991, the National Junior Duals have been held in only two states, Illinois and Oklahoma. The state of Oklahoma has hosted the tournament 13 times, including four years in Oklahoma City. Other Oklahoma cities to host the event have been Lawton, Edmond and Enid. The three cities in Illinois which served as hosts were Wheaton, Park Forest and Edwardsville.

The defending National Junior Duals champions in both freestyle and Greco-Roman is Illinois, which swept both titles in 2007 and 2008. Illinois is the only team to have won both the freestyle and Greco-Roman team titles the same year.

Oklahoma has won the most National Junior Duals freestyle titles with nine, and Minnesota boasts the most National Junior Duals Greco-Roman titles with eight.

"For wrestlers, you get between 5-12 high-quality matches. It allows the state associations to have a great team competition. The facility allows the fans to get right to matside. This is the best of wrestling. You get great competition, a chance to be an All-American or National champion and the fans get involved. I feel that this is the premier event," said Randall.

JUNIOR NATIONAL DUALS LOCATIONS
1991 - Wheaton, Ill.
1992 - Wheaton, Ill.
1993 - Park Forest, Ill.
1994 - Lawton, Okla.
1995 - Lawton, Okla.
1996 - Edwardsville, Ill.
1997 - Edwardsville, Ill.
1998 - Oklahoma City, Okla.
1999 - Edmond, Okla.
2000 - Edmond, Okla.
2001 - Enid, Okla.
2002 - Enid, Okla.
2003 - Enid, Okla.
2004 - Enid, Okla.
2005 - Enid, Okla.
2006 - Oklahoma City, Okla.
2007 - Oklahoma City, Okla.
2008 - Oklahoma City, Okla.