Skip to content
USAW
HS-Youth
Women

USA Wrestling shatters records with 8,531 total entries in the 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D.

Share:

by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling

Panoramic view of the FargoDome during the 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals. (Photo by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers Are Warriors)

FARGO, N.D. – The 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals, hosted in the FargoDome in Fargo, N.D., is recognized as the largest wrestling tournament in the world.

In 2025, not only did the tournament see substantial growth in overall participation, but it also saw growth in all six national tournaments included in the week-long competition.

USA Wrestling saw another year of explosive growth, with a record 8,531 total participants, flying by the previous record of 8,062 set in the 2024 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals. It was an increase of 469 entries, an increase of 5.8 percent

2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals entries by tournament

  • USMC 16U Women's Freestyle Nationals: 1,029
  • USMC 16U Men's Freestyle Nationals: 1,786
  • USMC 16U Greco-Roman Nationals: 1,274
  • USMC Junior Women's Freestyle Nationals: 1,216
  • USMC Junior Men's Freestyle Nationals: 1,887
  • USMC Junior Greco-Roman Nationals: 1,339

Total: 8,531 total entries

Of the six tournaments which saw growth in 2025, the 16U Women’s Freestyle Nationals had the most increase in numbers and percentage, with an increase of 191 entries, for an increase of 22.8%.

Other tournaments with impressive increases were the 16U Men’s Freestyle Nationals with an increase of 88 athletes, the Junior Women’s Freestyle Nationals with an increase of 79 athletes and the Junior Men’s Freestyle Nationals with increase of 70 athletes.

2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals entries, in comparison to 2024 record event

  • 16U women’s freestyle: 1,029 vs. 838 (+ 191 entries)
  • 16U men’s freestyle: 1,786 vs. 1,698 (+88 entries)
  • 16U Greco-Roman: 1,274 vs. 1,261 (+13 entries)
  • Junior women’s freestyle: 1,216 vs 1,137 (+ 79 entries)
  • Junior men’s freestyle: 1,887 vs. 1,817 (+70 entries)
  • Junior Greco-Roman: 1,339 vs. 1,311 (+28 entries)

The competition was hosted on 30 mats in the FargoDome, with each mat branded with the logos of USA Wrestling and its sponsor RUDIS. The event schedule was adjusted to accommodate the growth in the number of entries, separating the Junior and 16U athletes for each discipline into their own sessions during the preliminaries.

“The event truly showcases the grassroots horsepower of USA Wrestling, our state associations and volunteer officials. This is the culmination of months and months of planning, preparation and training, and it requires the efforts of thousands of people. We all got to see the country's best high schoolers mix it up for over a week, and we're proud of and thankful for those who made this event the success it was,” said Tony Black, USA Wrestling Director of State Services.

Each state has their own individual qualification procedures with a maximum of four athletes per weight class. USA Wrestling also includes automatic qualifiers that don’t count against the athlete limit each state is allowed for the men’s divisions. Many individual state associations had larger teams in Fargo this year, as more athletes take advantage of qualifying through the automatic qualifiers each year.

“This has been a record-breaking year for USA Wrestling, thanks to everyone involved. We saw unprecedented entries at regional and national events. This incredible growth is a testament to our state leaders, mat officials, athletes, coaches, parents, and the countless volunteers who make USA Wrestling thrive,” said USA Wrestling National Events Director Pete Isais.

For the third straight year, the Junior Nationals and 16U Nationals events in each discipline were held side-by-side. Championship finals for the Junior Nationals and 16U Nationals were held next to each other on two raised mats, with women’s freestyle finals on Sunday night, men’s freestyle finals on Wednesday night and Greco-Roman finals on Saturday night.

All of the action was broadcast live by FloWrestling, which has archives of the competition available on demand for its subscribers. For the first time, the brackets and event organization for the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals was hosted on USA Bracketing, USA Wrestling’s state-of-the-art meet management program.

The 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals has rewritten the record books, as the world’s largest wrestling tournament continues to grow.