Pennsylvania rolls with four champs; Kentucky, Georgia grab two historic titles to close out Junior boys freestyle

FARGO, North Dakota – In 1997, Kentucky’s Joe Carr Jr. stood second on the awards podium after falling in the 143-pound finals in the Junior Boys division at the Fargodome.

It took nearly three decades for another Kentucky wrestler to return to the Junior freestyle finals – and when it happened – it was golden. Jordyn Raney and Lucas Ricketts became the first two champions in any Junior age group as the pair claimed championships on Wednesday night at the 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals in the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota.

Raney, the champion at 138 pounds, defeated Wisconsin’s Kellen Wolbert in a wildly entertaining 19-14 thriller. Raney won his second title in Fargo all-time as he and twin brother Jayden won 16U Greco-Roman titles in 2022.

Just about an hour later, Ricketts scored a match-clinching takedown with three seconds remaining to rally past Minnesota’s Jarrett Wadsen 5-5, taking the bout on the last point scored criteria.

Both Raney and Ricketts were state champions this past season for Union County High School in Morganfield.

Team-wise, Pennsylvania rolled, going 4-1 in the finals and earning 14 All-American honors along the way. Melvin Miller repeated with an impressive 13-2 technical fall over Wisconsin’s Sullivan Ramos at 165 pounds. Nicholas Singer, the champion at 175 pounds, was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler after collecting five technical falls and two pins en route to the big stop sign. Singer teched California’s Mason Ontiveros 10-0 to close out his tournament.

Bo Bassett captured his first Junior Nationals title with a fall over past 16U champion Clinton Shepherd of Indiana at 144 pounds. Bassett cranked Shepherd over and collected the fall 83 seconds into the bout.  

Pennsylvania’s first title of the night came in the opening weight class as Nathan Schuman earned a 13-0 technical fall over Colorado’s Onofre Gonzales at 100 pounds.

Pennsylvania scored 221 points and won its third straight Junior Boys division championship. California was second, with two champions and 160 points. Illinois finished third with 134 points, Wisconsin followed in fourth with 75 points and Georgia was fifth with 72.

Georgia joined Pennsylvania and Kentucky as states with multiple champions. Antonio Mills (126 pounds) and Logan W. Paradice (150 pounds). Mills had another thriller, topping Illinois’ Nicholas Garcia 10-8. Paradice pinned teammate Dallas Russell in the second period in the first all-Georgia final, regardless of style, in tournament history. Three of Georgia’s four All-Americans reached the finals.

The fifth-place finish is the best finish in state history in the division.

Moses Mendoza finally punched through and hit the top of the podium with a 6-6 criteria win over California teammate Isaiah Cortez at 132 pounds. Mendoza has collected seven medals in his Fargo career. He’d previously finished second in men’s freestyle in 16U in 2022. Rocklin Zinkin was the other California champion, blitzing New Jersey’s Cameron Sontz in 1:43 with a 10-0 technical fall.

Dreshaun Ross captured the championship at 285 pounds in a sluggish 2-2 criteria win over California’s Coby Merrill. The match lacked offense, although there were a couple of instances where Merrill’s defense proved to be extremely sound. Trailing 2-1 with all three match points coming from inactivity points, Ross scored the match-winning point as Merrill was hit with a caution point with three seconds left for fleeing, giving Ross the criteria and the stop sign.

At 215 pounds, 2024 runner-up Cade Ziola moved up one spot on the podium and became Nebraska’s first champion in the division since Thomas Gilman in 2011 with a 15-4 technical fall over Ohio’s Michael Boyle.

At 106, Turner Ross took home a 6-6 criteria win over Cason Craft in an all-Oklahoma final. Ohio picked up a championship at 113 pounds as Rylan Seacrist picked off Pennsylvania’s Justin Farnsworth 6-1. Missouri’s David Gleason topped Illinois’ Wyatt Medlin 10-6 to claim the title at 157 pounds.

2025 U.S. MARINE CORPS JUNIOR NATIONALS
At Fargo, N.D., July 16, 2025

TEAM SCORES
1. Pennsylvania 221
2. California 160
3. Illinois 134
4. Wisconsin 75
5. Georgia 72
6. Ohio 68
7. Florida 67
8. Iowa 66
9. Minnesota 63
10. Oklahoma 60
11. Indiana 59
12. New Jersey 58
13. Kentucky 50
14. Colorado 39
15. Missouri 30
16. Nebraska 27
17. Michigan 27
18. Nevada 24
19. Texas 21
20. Tennessee 19
21. Utah 16
22. Idaho 15
23. Connecticut 12
24. Arizona 11
25. Louisiana 9
26. Oregon 9
27. Washington 7
28. South Dakota 4
29. New Mexico 2

Outstanding Wrestler: Nicholas Singer (Pennsylvania) 175 pounds
Most Falls: Reese Spiro (Massachusetts), 5 in 9:00.

MEDAL MATCH RESULTS

100
1st - Nathan Schuman (PA) T.F. Onofre Gonzales (CO), 13-0 (3:30)
3rd - Symon Woods (IL) T.F. Jackson Thorn (MN), 12-0 (1:01)
5th - Bennett Wachter (OH) T.F. Joey Synan (PA), 13-3 (2:17)
7th - Aidan Ortega (IL) Dec. Alex Huddleston (IN), 8-2

106
1st - Turner Ross (OK) Dec. Cason Craft (OK), 6-6
3rd - Landon Thoennes (MN) Dec. Niko Odiotti (IL), 13-8
5th - Michael Salas-Sanchez (OR) F. Daniel Romero (CO), 4:13
7th - Vincent DeMarco (IL) Dec. Kaiden Belinsky (IA), 17-10

113
1st - Rylan Seacrist (OH) Dec. Justin Farnsworth (PA), 6-1
3rd - Jarrett Smith (MI) Dec. Liam Davis (FL), 6-2
5th - Kaleb Pratt (IL) T.F. Loc Webber (OH), 10-0 (4:01)
7th - Layne Martin (MI) Dec. Camden Rugg (WI), 10-6

120
1st - Rocklin Zinkin (CA) T.F. Cameron Sontz (NJ), 11-0 (1:43)
3rd - Brock Rothermel (PA) T.F. Mason Jakob (TN), 12-1 (3:20)
5th - Alex Rozas (LA) T.F. Ayden Dodd (OH), 10-0 (1:06)
7th - Cale Vandermark (IA) Dec. Zaiyahn Ornelas (NE), 4-0

126
1st - Antonio Mills (GA) Dec. Nicholas Garcia (IL), 10-8
3rd - Paul Kenny (NJ) F. Mikey Ruiz (TX), 1:43
5th - Vincent Anello (NJ) Dec. Brady Collins (WI), 8-0
7th - Siraj Sidhu (CA) T.F. Lander Bosh (UT), 16-5 (5:12)

132
1st - Moses Mendoza (CA) Dec. Isaiah Cortez (CA), 6-6
3rd - Dale Corbin (PA) T.F. Slater Hicks (CA), 10-0 (4:41)
5th - Manuel Saldate (NV) Dec. Justyce Zuniga (WA), 9-6
7th - Timothy Koester (IA) T.F. Vince Jasinski (IL), 14-3 (1:37)

138
1st - Jordyn Raney (KY) Dec. Kellen Wolbert (WI), 19-14
3rd - Tyler Dekraker (PA) T.F. Sam Herring (PA), 11-0 (3:42)
5th - Maximus Brady (IA) Dec. Elijah Cortez (CA), 9-7
7th - Isaiah Schaefer (IN) For. Valentine Popadiuc (NM),

144
1st - Bo Bassett (PA) F. Clinton Shepherd (IN), 1:23
3rd - Jake Miller (OK) Dec. Michael Romero (CA), 7-3
5th - Haakon Peterson (WI) F. Bobby Duffy (NJ), 2:33
7th - Jet Brown (MO) Med. For. Jesse Grajeda (CA),

150
1st - Logan W. Paradice (GA) F. Dallas Russell (GA), 5:07
3rd - Matthew Martino (ID) T.F. Brandon Dean (CO), 10-0 (6:00)
5th - Gus Cardinal (AZ) T.F. Davis Parrow (MN), 12-2 (2:14)
7th - Maksim Mukhamedaliyev (IL) T.F. Conlan Carlson (MN), 14-4 (1:38)

157
1st - David Gleason (MO) Dec. Wyatt Medlin (IL), 10-6
3rd - Gabriel Delgado (NV) Dec. Zeno Moore (FL), 5-5
5th - Bruno Cassioppi (IL) Med. For. Reagan Milheim (PA),
7th - Declan Koch (WI) T.F. Silas Stits (IN), 11-1 (5:09)

165
1st - Melvin Miller (PA) T.F. Sullivan Ramos (WI), 13-2 (4:54)
3rd - Maximus Dhabolt (IA) T.F. Liam Carlin (CT), 13-2 (3:36)
5th - Arment Waltenbaugh (PA) F. JayDen Williams (MI), 2:18
7th - Lucas Boe (FL) T.F. Isreal Ibarra (AZ), 13-2 (5:36)

175
1st - Nicholas Singer (PA) T.F. Mason Ontiveros (CA), 10-0 (2:06)
3rd - Waylon Cressell (IN) T.F. Eli Leonard (WI), 10-0 (0:29)
5th - Ladd Holman (UT) T.F. Maximus Norman (TN), 10-0 (1:15)
7th - Lincoln Jipp (IA) For. Keenan Sheridan (SD),

190
1st - Lucas Ricketts (KY) Dec. Jarrett Wadsen (MN), 5-5
3rd - Michael White (IN) F. Jaxon Penovich (IL), 1:10
5th - Robert Kucharczk (FL) Dec. Alex Reyes (NJ), 14-7
7th - John Murphy (MN) Dec. Sutton Kenning (MN), 8-7

215
1st - Cade Ziola (NE) T.F. Michael Boyle (OH), 15-4 (5:18)
3rd - Kai Calcutt (IL) T.F. Levi Bussey (CA), 10-0 (0:31)
5th - Aiden Cooley (TX) T.F. Alexander Smith (FL), 12-2 (1:55)
7th - Josh Hoffer (IL) Dec. Ronan An (GA), 8-5

285
1st - Dreshaun Ross (IA) Dec. Coby Merrill (CA), 3-2
3rd - Michael Mocco (FL) Dec. Mark Effendian (PA), 5-2
5th - Dean Bechtold (PA) T.F. Jacob Levy (FL), 11-0 (2:15)
7th - Trayvn Boger (UT) Med. For. Micah Hach (SD),