Pennsylvania wins overall team race at U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals, followed by California and Illinois
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
With the conclusion of the Junior Greco-Roman and 16U Greco-Roman competitions on Saturday night, the overall team championship at the 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals has been determined. Each of the six national tournaments which are part of this extravaganza were completed (16U Girls, Junior Girls, 16U Boys Freestyle, Junior Boys Freestyle, 16U Greco-Roman, Junior Greco-Roman). In fact, Pennsylvania has won the team title in all four tournaments held, sitting with a combined 816 points.
Pennsylvania emerged as a dominant team champion, scoring 980 points and winning the team title in four of the national events (16U Girls, Junior Girls, 16U Boys Freestyle, Junior Boys Freestyle). Pennsylvania also had competitive showing in the two Greco-Roman tournaments, placing in a tie for fourth in Junior Greco-Roman, and in a tie for second in 16U Greco-Roman. Pennsylvania placed a full 340 points ahead of the next state association team.
California finished in second with the overall team race with 640 points. Although California did not win any of the six tournaments, the team was a consistent contender in each of them, placing in the top six each time. California was second in Junior Boys Freestyle, third in Junior Girls, fourth in 16U Girls, fourth in 16U Boys Freestyle, Sixth in 16U Greco-Roman and sixth in Junior Greco-Roman.
Illinois made a big jump during the two Greco-Roman tournaments, climbing from fifth in the overall standings after the first four national events up to third in the final overall team standings. Illinois made the biggest jump by winning the Junior Greco-Roman national event with 190 points, a full 101 points ahead of the next team. Illinois had four Junior Greco-Roman champions, Vincent DeMarco (106), Kaleb Pratt (113), Wyatt Medlin (157) and Josh Hoffer (215) and 12 total All-Americans. Their tie for sixth in 16U Greco-Roman featured a champion, Robert Ruscitti (126) and nine All-Americans.
Iowa held on to its fourth place in the final standings with a strong Greco-Roman effort, including winning the 16U Greco-Roman tournament and placing eighth in the Junior Greco-Roman. In the 16U Greco-Roman Nationals, Iowa finished with 138 points, including three individual champions Ty Martin (88), Diego Robertty (106) and Lucas Feuerbach (285) and nine All-Americans.
Ohio claimed fifth place in the overall standings, without winning one of the tournaments, but having consistency in each of the six tournaments. Its best tournament was 16U Boys Freestyle, where it placed second. Ohio was also fifth in the Junior Girls Nationals. Ohio placed in the top eight in five of the six tournaments.
The top five teams in 2025 were in the same exact order as last year, as Pennsylvania was the overall team champion at the 2024 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals, followed by California, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio.
Rounding out the top 10 teams in the 2025 overall standings were Wisconsin in sixth, Minnesota in seventh, New Jersey in eighth, Indiana in ninth and Oklahoma in 10th.
Pennsylvania becomes only the second state to win four tournaments during the week-long U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals, joining Illinois with this prestigious honor.
The top five in Junior Greco-Roman were Illinois, Utah, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
The top five in 16U Greco-Roman had Iowa in first place, with four teams tied in second place: Washington, Utah, Idaho and Pennsylvania.
The top five in Junior Boys freestyle were Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Wisconsin and Georgia.
The top five in 16U Boys freestyle were Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, California and Indiana.
The top five in Junior Girls were Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, Missouri and Ohio.
The top five in 16U Girls were Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma, California and New Jersey.
State/16UGirls/JRGirls/16UFS/JRFS/16UGR/JRGR/Total
Pennsylvania 151 177 267 221 94 70 980
California 86 119 120 160 87 68 640
Illinois 54 59 59 134 87 190 583
Iowa 77 61 121 66 138 66 529
Ohio 46 81 135 68 76 68 474
Wisconsin 73 55 45 75 74 56 378
Minnesota 35 66 71 63 55 70 360
New Jersey 84 81 82 58 25 15 345
Indiana 32 69 105 59 16 37 318
Oklahoma 88 6 24 60 52 71 301
Missouri 19 99 25 30 74 54 301
Colorado 78 29 19 39 53 65 283
Michigan 54 126 38 27 14 20 279
Florida 39 44 69 67 27 29 275
Utah 34 21 12 16 94 89 266
Washington 39 41 32 7 94 29 242
Idaho 27 49 5 15 94 45 235
Texas 89 21 32 21 20 33 216
New York 41 0 92 0 18 12 163
Georgia 12 0 16 72 44 17 161
Nevada 14 5 25 24 59 34 161
Kansas 68 5 10 0 42 34 159
Arizona 27 17 62 11 31 7 155
Nebraska 20 24 0 27 14 62 147
Tennessee 72 0 35 19 5 9 140
Maryland 40 27 31 0 15 10 123
Virginia 0 43 11 0 46 2 102
Connecticut 12 60 5 12 12 0 101
Alaska 15 12 0 0 35 35 97
Kentucky 0 0 2 50 0 35 87
Oregon 19 20 0 9 7 14 69
New Mexico 24 5 0 2 0 27 58
Delaware 0 25 9 0 20 0 54
Montana 0 9 20 0 12 12 53
North Dakota 15 0 9 0 20 9 53
South Dakota 22 2 15 4 7 0 50
Arkansas 0 9 0 0 20 0 29
Louisiana 0 0 0 9 20 0 29
Massachusetts 0 15 0 0 12 0 27
Hawaii 0 7 0 0 0 20 27
Alabama 12 0 0 0 0 9 21
West Virginia 0 15 0 0 0 2 17
North Carolina 2 9 0 0 2 0 13
South Carolina 0 7 0 0 0 0 7
US Territories 0 0 7 0 0 0 7
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