Early Upsets Abound In Junior Greco-Roman at 2026 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals

FARGO, N.D. – The classic style of Greco-Roman wrestling returned to the FARGODOME on Tuesday morning with 1,294 competitors battling in the Junior division. Unlike the first day of its freestyle counterpart, the Greco-Roman preliminaries saw several top names go down early.

The most notable early-round stunner came at 113 pounds, with returning champion Vincent DeMarco of Illinois dropping a 12-10 match to Austin Hayes of Maryland in the round-of-16. Additionally, three returning runners-up dropped to the consolations during session one—Xzander Donner of Kansas at 113 pounds, Daniel Goodwin of Illinois at 120 pounds and Paliku Chang of Hawaii at 132 pounds.

The carnage continued at 132 pounds with No. 1 seed Tanner Telford of Utah, a third-place finisher in the U20 Greco-Roman Nationals, being blanked by Iowa’s Elijah Hyet, 8-0. We also saw 2025 U17 World Team member and Junior freestyle finalist Thales Silva of California drop his opener to Maryland’s Landon Clore, 11-2, then get knocked out of the tournament in his fourth consolation match.

The upset bug may have been prevalent in the early going, but many top talents advanced through the front side of the brackets and look poised for deep runs into the All-American rounds.   

Of note, 10 of 15 weight classes, from 100 pounds to 157 pounds, wrestled to the quarterfinals, while the remaining five weight classes, 165 pounds to heavyweight, only wrestled to the round-of-16.

Two returning champions advanced to the quarterfinals with apparent ease at four technical falls apiece—Kaleb Pratt of Illinois at 132 pounds and Wyatt Medlin of Illinois at 157 pounds. Returning finalists Joel Friederichs of Minnesota at 120 pounds and Ladd Holman of Utah at 215 pounds survived unscathed on day one.

A pair of Junior freestyle champions stayed in the mix for a double Fargo title. Iowa’s Ty Martin, the 100-pound freestyle champion, moved up to 106 pounds for Greco-Roman and earned two technical falls to qualify for tomorrow’s quarterfinals. At 190 pounds, a trio of shutout technical falls booked Iowa’s Waylon Cressell a spot in the round-of-16. His quest to complete the USA Wrestling Triple Crown continues against Gabriel Cohn of Minnesota.

2025 U17 World bronze medalist Michael Rundell of Illinois outscored his four opponents a combined 34-0, finishing each match in under two minutes. He is opposite Friederichs in a premier quarterfinal contest at 120 pounds.

2024 U17 World Team member Loc Webber of Ohio bonused his way to the 126-pound quarterfinals, where he will face returning Junior Greco-Roman All-American Cruzer Dominguez of Nebraska.

Luke Knox of Pennsylvania secured the fastest fall of the day in Junior Greco-Roman at seven seconds. He qualified for the round-of-16 at 165 pounds.

Illinois currently boasts the most wrestlers left in the tournament with 32. California, which won the Junior freestyle team title, sits at 26. Iowa rounds out the top three with 21.

The U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals continues on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. (CT) with the start of the 16U Boys Greco-Roman tournament. The Junior division resumes at 9 a.m. on Wednesday with the remaining round-of-16 bouts, plus the quarterfinals and semifinals.

All matches from the event will be broadcast live on FloWrestling. Brackets and live results will be hosted 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.