New Mexico’s Woolsey makes history, wins OW; Pennsylvania repeats as Junior Girls team champs, edging out Michigan by a single point

Fargo, North Dakota – Pennsylvania remained atop of the women’s wrestling world when the nine-day marathon that is Fargo came to a close.

But it was by the slimmest of margins.

With three individual champions, the Keystone State won the Junior Girls team championship and the Battles Won Award with 165 points, one point ahead of second place Michigan on Saturday afternoon at the 2026 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals in the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota.

New Mexico’s Eloise Woolsey was named the Outstanding Wrestler, winning the 155-pound title with an 8-5 decision over New Jersey’s Ella Poalillo, becoming the state’s first women’s freestyle champion in either the Junior or 16U divisions. Woolsey went 6-0 and beat four previous Fargo finalists en route to the title including a win over Connecticut’s Sarah Henckel, a 2022 16U champion, and Poalillo, a U17 World bronze medalist.

Jaclyn Bouzakis and Emma Bacon both won their second Junior titles and third overall, while Marlee Solomon won her first stop sign to highlight Pennsylvania’s 11 All-Americans.

Michigan, with a pair of champions and a state-record five Junior Girls finalists, will have to wait at least another year to try to claim its second title. The state won the unofficial title in 2003. The Mitten was paced by 100-pound champion Lillee Denson and 170-pound champion Kaili Manuel.

Bouzakis’ third all-time title in Fargo was a 12-2 technical superiority victory over Colorado’s Emma Faczak at 105 pounds. A three-time National Preps champion at Wyoming Seminary and two-time U17 World bronze medalist, Bouzakis now has four total medals here in Fargo. As tradition with the family of Bouzakis wrestlers, Jaclyn honored the memory of her late brother, Greco-Roman Bouzakis, who passed away in 2016, by kissing a pair of wrestling shoes and hanging them around her neck after the championship.

Solomon’s 120-pound title came with a controlled 4-0 win over Texas’ Hailey Delgado, last year’s 16U champion at 105 pounds. Solomon’s title is her first after finishing as the runner-up in the 16U division the past two years. She’s a two-time PIAA champion at Canon-McMillan in Western Pennsylvania.

The third PA title came with authority as Bacon pinned Arizona’s Camila Torres 27 seconds into the 135-pound final. Bacon quickly transitioned from a takedown to turn Torres with a bar and half to get the fall. The win gave Pennsylvania a six-point lead, a lead that would be trimmed, but never relinquished.

Michigan had its chances to grab the team title and started off strong as Denson won her first Junior title with an 11-3 victory over Colorado’s Justice Gutierrez at 100 pounds. Denson was rolling, but nearly saw it evaporate as Gutierrez reversed Denson to her back for a two-point exposure. Denson recovered and cruised the rest of the way.

Manuel won her first Junior title to go with a pair of 16U titles in a dominant 11-0 technical fall win over Pennsylvania’s Ciyanna Okocha. With Pennsylvania up by just one point and no more finalists, it left Michigan’s championship hopes in the hands of 207-pound finalist Maddie Hayden. Illinois’ Phoenix Molina dashed Michigan’s championship hopes, shutting out Hayden 6-0, and winning Illinois’ only title of the night.

Third-place Indiana and Wisconsin each crowned two individual champions. The third-place finish was Indiana’s highest in state history in the Junior Girls division. The first Indiana title came at 140 pounds where Maddie Marsh decisioned Michigan’s Alexis Lazar 5-2. The Hoosier State closed out the night with Aubrey Bartkowiak’s 25-second gold medal fall over Texas’ Alyciana Rogers at 235 pounds – one of the six falls in Saturday’s Junior finals.

Both Wisconsin champs scored falls in the finals as 130-pounder Madilyn Peach pinned Texas’ Kailin Sebert at 2:21 and Brooke Huffman pinned Utah’s Tevia Nau Rarick in 73 seconds in a matchup between past 16U champions at 190 pounds.

The other three falls came from Bacon, 115-pound champion Abigail Gonzalez of Florida, and 125-pound champion Mackenzie Carder of Ohio. Gonzalez pinned Idaho state champion Kinzie Williams at 1:48, while Carder took out Arizona’s Martynique Davis at 1:05.

Not to be lost in all the team race talk and historic achievements is the performance from 145-pound champion Nora Akpan of Minnesota, who repeated as a Junior champion with an 11-5 win over Michigan’s Belicia Manuel, the oldest of the two Manuel sisters in the finals. Earlier in the day, Akpan defeated returning champion Violette Lasure of Pennsylvania 7-5 in the semifinals.

Virginia’s Sarissa Tucker won the Commonwealth’s fifth ever title in the division, topping Indiana’s Isabel Kaplan 4-0. It was Tucker’s third medal in Fargo and second in the Junior division after she took fifth last year.

At 95 pounds, New Jersey’s Francesca Gusfa won the state’s fourth ever Junior Girls title with a 14-3 technical fall over Indiana’s Katelyn Rowles. It was Gusfa’s second career placement in Fargo after finishing fifth in the Junior division last year. A New Jersey state champion this past year at Ridgewood, Gusfa represented the U.S. at the 2024 U17 World Championships in Amman, Jordan, finishing seventh. It was Rowles second medal in Fargo. She finished third in 2024 at 88 pounds in 16U.

The U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals is being archived on FloWrestling. Brackets and match-by-match 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.

• Event Hub
• Archived Matches
• Brackets and Results

1. Pennsylvania, 165

2. Michigan, 164

3. Indiana, 117

4. Texas, 84

T5. California, 68

T5. Arizona, 68

T7. Ohio, 61

T7. Wisconsin, 61

9. Iowa, 60

10. New Jersey 57

1st - Francesca Gusfa (New Jersey) tech. fall Katelyn Rowles (Indiana), 14-3

3rd - Leivelle Alejado (Hawaii) dec. Aaliyah Brown (Indiana), 12-6

5th - McKenzie Mantei (Michigan) dec. Alliya Walker (Virginia), 6-5

7th - Mya Van Beek (Iowa) fall Alexandra Thomas (Florida), 5:27

1st - Lillee Denson (Michigan) dec. Justice Gutierrez (Colorado), 11-3

3rd - Abigail Peterson (Iowa) dec. Sky Ramos (Hawaii), 13-6

5th - Maisie Elliott (Washington) fall Vina Nguyen (Washington), 2:07

7th - Lilly Breeden (Missouri) fall Noah Kovach (Texas), 0:29

1st - Jaclyn Bouzakis (Pennsylvania) tech. fall Emma Faczak (Colorado), 12-2

3rd - Ryleigh Sturgill (Tennessee) tech. fall Grace Jawulski (Florida), 10-0 (0:31)

5th - Kyrstan Perez (Oklahoma) dec. Kiana Lien (California), 13-7

7th - Katie Biscoglia (Iowa) dec. Dilynn Albrecht (Wisconsin), 7-3

1st - Sarissa Tucker (Virginia) dec. Isabel Kaplan (Indiana), 4-0

3rd - Eva Zimmerman (Utah) dec. Summer Mutschler (Maryland), 15-10

5th - Jayden Keller (Missouri) For. Julia Horger (Pennsylvania)

7th - Elizabeth Valenzuela Smith (Arizona) dec. Kayleigh Milam (Missouri), 14-8

1st - Abigail Gonzalez (Florida) fall Kinzie Williams (Idaho), 1:48

3rd - Malia Ottow (Washington) dec. Hepua Salter (Hawaii), 4-0

5th - Daynah Gomez (Arizona) dec. Morgan Hyland (Pennsylvania), 9-8

7th - Ali Svancara (Idaho) fall Jaydin Cuevas (Colorado), 1:04

1st - Marlee Solomon (Pennsylvania) dec. Hailey Delgado (Texas), 4-0

3rd - Aubree Gutierrez (California) dec. Cheyenne Frank (Michigan), 10-7

5th - Kaylyn Harrill (Nebraska) fall Reagan Mathers (Arizona), 1:36

7th - Angelina Gochis (Illinois) fall Violet Diaz (Iowa), 0:19

1st - Mackenzie Carder (Ohio) fall Martynique Davis (Arizona), 1:05

3rd - Raenah Smith (Pennsylvania) dec. Neve O'Byrne (Pennsylvania), 12-8

5th - Me'kala James (California) fall Kylee Kurszewski (Wisconsin), 3:33

7th - Cameron Leng (Ohio) tech. fall Samiyah Rahming (Pennsylvania), 10-0 (2:19)

1st - Madilyn Peach (Wisconsin) fall Kailin Sebert (Texas), 2:21

3rd - Olivia Bezdicek (Idaho) fall Haley Smarsh (Pennsylvania), 1:16

5th - Kayla Moroschan (Ohio) tech. fall Emma Chacon (Arizona), 10-0 (3:10)

7th - Willow White (Florida) forfeit Riley Drennan (Texas)

1st - Emma Bacon (Pennsylvania) fall Camila Torres (Arizona), 0:27

3rd - Naima Ghaffar (Indiana) fall Kaison Miller (Kansas), 1:14

5th - Nia Hagler (Utah) fall Chloe Wehry (Minnesota), 0:49

7th - Iyanna Crawford (North Carolina) tech. fall Eva Garcia (California), 10-0 (1:57)

1st - Maddie Marsh (Indiana) dec. Alexis Lazar (Michigan), 5-2

3rd - Jordyn Parker (Texas) fall Ema Durst (Illinois), 0:37

5th - Timberly Martinez (Colorado) dec. Clover Williams (Oklahoma), 9-2

7th - Keanna Conrad (Idaho) dec. Saige McCleery (Washington), 8-3

1st - Nora Akpan (Minnesota) dec. Belicia Manuel (Michigan), 11-5

3rd - Violette Lasure (Pennsylvania) fall Greta Brus (Iowa), 1:43

5th - Emily Beckley (Oklahoma) forfeit Hayden Bratland (Iowa)

7th - Chloe Sanders (Iowa) tech. fall Natalin Hout (California), 11-0 (2:13)

1st - Eloise Woolsey (New Mexico) dec. Ella Poalillo (New Jersey), 8-5

3rd - Sarah Henckel (Connecticut) tech. fall Symone Jewell (California), 10-0 (1:07)

5th - Julia Araujo (North Dakota) fall Mary Snider (California), 0:43

7th - Matilda Hruby (Colorado) fall Skylar Slade (Iowa), 0:11

1st - Kaili Manuel (Michigan) tech. fall Ciyanna Okocha (Pennsylvania), 11-0

3rd - Kiley Dillow (Kansas) dec. Olivia Georges (New Jersey), 11-5

5th - Sarah Pulk (Minnesota) forfeit Elizabeth Madison (Ohio)

7th - Rylynn Keziah (North Carolina) fall Clarion Fager (Utah), 1:04

1st - Brooke Huffman (Wisconsin) fall Tevia Nau Rarick (Utah), 1:13

3rd - Irelynn Laurin (Tennessee) tech. fall Ava Asing (Hawaii), 10-0 (3:19)

5th - Kanata Richardson (Michigan) dec. Autumn Elsbury (Iowa), 7-6

7th - Jaida Kuntz (Texas) forfeit JayaShree Bray (Nebraska)

1st - Phoenix Molina (Illinois) dec. Maddie Hayden (Michigan), 6-0

3rd - Deionna Borders (Ohio) fall Isabella Lorenzana (California), 2:30

5th - Lulu Kirk (Kansas) fall Vivianna Scott (Oregon), 4:43

7th - Sophiea Quinn (Missouri) fall Kimura Segerson-Hutter (Wisconsin), 3:16

1st - Aubrey Bartkowiak (Indiana) fall Alyciana Rogers (Texas), 0:25

3rd - Mya Brandenburg (Michigan) dec. Peyton Mullin (New York), 5-1

5th - Halle Spears (Michigan) dec. Jasmine Enriquez (Illinois), 7-2

7th - Angela Bereuter (Missouri) fall Katherine Luna (California), 1:23