Pennsylvania Sets Records En Route to Eighth-Straight 16U Boys Freestyle Title, Marchetti Named OW at U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals

FARGO, North Dakota – Pennsylvania rewrote the record books on Sunday en route to its eighth-straight 16U Boys Freestyle team title at the 2026 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals at the FARGODOME.

Pennsylvania smashed the team scoring record with 352 points, which broke the previous record it set in 2021 with 273 points. Pennsylvania’s 28 All-Americans are also a new mark. The previous benchmark of 21 All-Americans was set in 2012 by Illinois, then matched by Pennsylvania in 2021 and 2025.

The accolades continued to roll in for Pennsylvania, with Alex Marchetti being named Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament. At 132 pounds, Marchetti won the title after beating out his Pennsylvania teammate, CJ Caines, 5-1. Across eight matches, Marchetti notched five technical falls, including a 10-0 tech fall in the semifinals to secure his championship spot.

Fellow Pennsylvania finalists Reece Movahed, Layden Acevedo and Bryce Collins also captured Fargo titles. Movahed shutout Vinny Ferrari of Texas at 144 pounds, 4-0, with Acevedo and Collins winning back-to-back at 175 and 190 pounds, respectively. Acevedo was one of five wrestlers to tech their way to titles after beating Destan Skelly of Minnesota, 11-0. Collins capped off his title run with a 6-2 decision over Duane Leslie of Washington.

Iowa, who finished second in the team race with 178 points, started the championship finals with three-straight champions. Kai McDonald and Johnathan Thompson recorded back-to-back tech falls to start the night. McDonald shutout Pennsylvania’s Grayden Paris, 10-0, at 88 pounds and Thompson claimed a 13-2 win against Jaxon Holtz of Ohio at 94 pounds. Thompson is one of four 16U wrestlers still in the running for a Triple Crown.

Cyrus Millage capped off the three-straight Iowa champions with a 10-8 victory over Nelson Villafane from Pennsylvania. Iowa’s fourth and final champion of the night was Jaimon Mogard (157 pounds), who kept his Triple Crown hopes alive following a 4-1 decision over 2025 Fargo All-American and No. 1 seed Tommy Rowlands of Ohio.

Iowa’s four champions are the most it has produced in tournament history, besting its 2024 output of three champions.

Georgia’s Harrison Murdock and Minnesota’s Sawyer Schendel are the final two wrestlers still in Triple Crown contention. Murdock teched his way to his Fargo title after beating Easton Kammerud of Wisconsin, 10-0. Schendel rallied in the final minute and outlasted Leland Havens of Wisconsin, who was also still in Triple Crown contention heading into the 285-pound final, in a 6-3 decision.

California was the final state to produce multiple champions after Sebastian Gutierrez and Michael Bernabe won back-to-back titles at 106 and 113 pounds. In a battle of returning All-Americans, Bernabe won a 4-4 contest against Iowa’s Diego Robertty in a rematch of last year’s fifth-place bout that went to Robertty. Trialing in the final 10 seconds of his championship match, Gutierrez scored a takedown and earned an extra point on a lost challenge to edge his teammate Cameron Bartlow, 6-5.

Wisconsin’s Kade Splinter posted the final bonus victory of the championship round with a first-period, 10-0 technical fall against Mason Chamberlain from Pennsylvania.

Cohen Reer of Ohio and Jeremy Carver from Indiana both earned All-American status in 2025 and found the top step of the podium during this year’s edition of the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals. Reer upset top seed Spencer McCammon from Indiana in a 13-5 contest at 120 pounds. As the top seed at 126 pounds, Carver used a late four-point throw to put a stamp on his Fargo title against Arizona’s Kash Larkin.

Rounding out the 16U Boys freestyle champions were Bryar Hooks of Oklahoma and Illia Kyrianenko of Florida. Hooks beat Austin Schield of Washington in the 138-pound championship, 5-3. Kyrianenko outlasted Virginia’s Reza Massjouni in an 8-6 decision.

Following Pennsylvania and Iowa as the top two teams in the team race, California finished third with 128 points, with Ohio (115) in fourth and Wisconsin (100) in fifth.

Before the championship bouts, the third-, fifth-, and seventh-place matches were contested.

The complete placement match results and top 10 in the team standings are available below.

Anthony Samanich of Illinois and Patrick Bulger of Pennsylvania finished tied for the most pins in the tournament with four pins each. Minnesota’s Beckett Edstrom’s 10-second pin from day one of the tournament held throughout the weekend as the fastest pin. As a team, Pennsylvania had 44 falls over the three days.

With the Fargo Beach Summer Kickoff Bash Boys division canceled for Monday, action from Fargo continues on Tuesday, July 14, with the start of the 16U and Junior Boys Greco-Roman tournaments. Junior Boys action begins at 8 a.m. CT with 16U matches kicking off at 3:30 p.m. CT.

Live stream and archived matches from the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals are available on FloWrestling. Brackets and live results are available on USA Bracketing.

Visit the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals Event Hub and USA Wrestling’s social media platforms for complete coverage of the action in Fargo.