16U Greco-Roman action begins Wednesday, Mauger and Hopke looking to win Triple Crown honors
by Joe Wedra, Special to TheMat.com
Photo of Zach Henson by Austin Bernard
FARGO, N.D.— Greco-Roman action kicked off Wednesday at the 2021 Junior Nationals as the preliminary matches in the tournament began the day’s slate of wrestling. A total of eight wrestlers who were crowned 16U men’s freestyle champions earlier in the week are wrestling for Greco-Roman titles as well.
Two wrestlers in this division have a chance to win USA Wrestling Triple Crown awards if they win the Greco-Roman tournament — Idaho’s Mack Mauger (94) and Wisconsin’s Koy Hopke (220). The Triple Crown is achieved by winning USA Wrestling national championships in Folkstyle, Freestyle and Greco-Roman.
Mauger had a bye into the Round of 16, while Hopke knocked off Timothy Saylor of Pennsylvania to advance.
Other freestyle champions who are looking to double up are: Ohio’s Javaan Yarbrough (88), Arizona’s Adrian Meza (126), Minnesota’s Zach Hanson (132), Nebraska’s Joel Adams (138), Connecticut’s William Henckel (145) and South Dakota’s Navarro Schunke (285).
Greco-Roman action begins again at 5:00 p.m. CST. Tonight, wrestlers will compete in both the Round of 16 and quarterfinals, which means we will have our Thursday semifinal pairings confirmed by the end of the night.
All action can be watched live on FloWrestling.
States with most wrestlers in the championship bracket
1 - Pennsylvania (24)
2 - California (20)
3 - Minnesota (16)
T4 - Illinois (15)
T4 - Ohio (15)
T4 - Washington (15)