New Jersey’s Upset Run Highlights Preliminary Pools; Pennsylvania Blue and Ohio Go Unbeaten on Day 1 of Men’s Freestyle at 16U National Duals

FARMINGTON, Utah – Unseeded New Jersey stormed through Pool A with a trio of upsets against top 16 seeds to win Pool A in men’s freestyle action at the 2026 16U National Duals at Western Sports Park. Pennsylvania Blue and Ohio were the only two teams in the field to go unbeaten during the first day of men’s freestyle competition.

New Jersey’s run to the pool title started in the qualifier round with a 57-19 win over Maryland. In the quarterfinals, New Jersey upset Oklahoma Blue, who was the 16th overall seed and fourth in the pool, 50-20.

Facing top overall seed Indiana Gold in the semifinals, New Jersey kept its run going with a 41-30 victory. New Jersey won four of the final five bouts to secure the win over Indiana Gold. In the first-place match in the pool, New Jersey battled Minnesota Red in a tight 38-32 affair. With the dual starting at 120 pounds, New Jersey used a run from 175 pounds to 100 pounds, where it won six of seven matches. The New Jersey run flipped a 20-13 disadvantage into a 37-27 lead.

Pennsylvania Blue carried over its momentum from a Greco-Roman title on Thursday and rolled to the Pool B title with three decisive wins. Pennsylvania Blue won 67-9 in the quarterfinals and 64-13 in the semifinals. For first place in the pool, Pennsylvania Blue beat California Gold, 50-22, with 10 bonus victories.

In Pool C, Illinois finished atop the group with a late rally against Wisconsin. Trailing 27-21 with five bouts to go, Illinois won the next four matches, anchored by pins from Grady Glowacki and Cameron Ramp to grab a 38-29 lead. Wisconsin won the final contest, but Illinois was victorious in the dual, 38-34.

For the title in Pool D between No. 4 overall seed Iowa Red and No. 5 overall seed Ohio, a fast start from Ohio paced it to first place in the pool. Ohio won the first six matches and seven of the first eight en route to a 39-34 victory. Pins from Anthony Oscar and Carter Baldwin helped seal first place for Ohio.

Each of the pool winners and runners-up moved into the Gold/Silver Bracket with a top-eight finish secured and a chance to win the men’s freestyle national duals title. The bracket included New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin and California Gold in Pool A and Pennsylvania Blue, Illinois, Iowa Red and Minnesota Red in Pool B.

In the first of three pool rounds in the Gold/Silver Bracket, New Jersey’s unbeaten run came to an end after a 45-26 setback to California Gold. Ohio kept its undefeated mark intact with a 40-31 victory against Wisconsin. In Pool B in the bracket, Pennsylvania Blue also stayed unbeaten with a 50-17 win over Minnesota Red, while Iowa Red handed Illinois its first loss of the day in a 39-33 affair.

The final two rounds of the Gold/Silver Bracket take place on Saturday to set up the placement matches on Saturday afternoon.

Action in the Bronze/Copper, Red/Blue, Green/Yellow, Purple and Teal color pools also got underway during the evening session on Friday.

Action at the 16U National Duals concludes Saturday with the final session starting at 8:30 a.m. MT. A complete schedule of events for this weekend’s tournament is available at usawrestlingevents.com.

Live stream and archived matches are available on FloWrestling. Updated brackets and match-by-match results are available on USA Bracketing.