16U Boys freestyle quarterfinals set, nine remain in Triple Crown hunt at U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals

FARGO, North Dakota – The 16U Boys freestyle field of 1,786 has been whittled down to 272 following day two of wrestling at the Fargodome—the all-important quarterfinals and bloodround loom tomorrow morning.  

With no 2024 champions in the mix, the highest returning place winners were Tyler Verceles and Corey Brown of Maryland, plus Paul Ruiz of California. All three earned runner-up finishes last year. Brown and Ruiz remain in position for a repeat finals bid at the 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals, while Verceles withdrew from the tournament on day one due to injury.

Brown picked up a pair of solid wins on Tuesday—8-2 over Iowa’s Kipton Lewis and 13-2 over Washington’s Ryder Owen—to make the 120-pound quarterfinals. Up next is Folkstyle Nationals runner-up Izayiah Chavez of Texas.

Ruiz continued to be a wrecking ball, picking up his third and fourth technical fall of the event, to earn his way to the 126-pound quarters. He has outscored his four opponents a combined 44-2 thus far in Fargo. Connecticut’s Jaxsen Bailey gets the next crack at Ruiz.

Nine athletes remain eligible for the USA Wrestling Triple Crown award, four less than when the day started. Still in the mix are Max Lindquist of Missouri at 88 pounds, Wyatt Dannegger of Missouri at 100 pounds, Blake Nevils of Idaho at 132 pounds, Carson Neubert of Wisconsin at 138 pounds, Riker O’Hearon of Utah at 138 pounds, Thunder Page of Kansas at 150 pounds, William Fullhart of Iowa at 165 pounds, Ceasar Salas of Indiana at 215 pounds and Andrew Olson of Minnesota at 285 pounds.

Folkstyle Nationals champions and Triple Crown chasers Coy Mehlert of Iowa, Braden Shoemaker of South Dakota, Maximus Purdy of Illinois and Bruno Pallone of Montana all dropped into the consolation rounds on Tuesday, dashing Triple Crown dreams.

Six-of-17 No. 1 seeds have been ousted from the championship side of the tournament, and three eliminated entirely. Indiana’s Spenser McCammon (106), Alaska’s Trestin Houck (126) and West Virginia’s Eli Knight (190) were bounced from the consolation rounds short of All-America status. Falling in the round-of-16, but still in the hunt for All-America honors, were Chase Karenbauer of Pennsylvania at 113 pounds, Shane Ostermiller of Alaska at 144 pounds and Tommy Rowlands of Ohio at 150 pounds.

Team points are only awarded to the top eight placers in each weight class, meaning fans must wait until tomorrow morning for official team scores to start populating. Pennsylvania is in command with the most wrestlers left in the tournament at 34, 19 of which are quarterfinalists. Ohio sits in second place with 24 wrestlers left in the field and 10 quarterfinalists. Iowa (21), Illinois (20) and California (17) round out the top five states in terms of wrestlers who made it to day three.  

The 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals continue at 10 a.m. (CT) on Wednesday with the remaining rounds in the 16U and Junior Boys divisions. The championship finals are set for 5:30 p.m. (CT).

Catch all the action from Fargo, N.D., live or on-demand at FloWrestling.com. Tournament brackets and updated results are available through USA Bracketing.

Visit the USA Wrestling Event Hub for more coverage and need-to-know information to follow the 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals.