The Allen County War Memorial in Fort Wayne, Ind., will once again host the USA Wrestling Kids Folkstyle Nationals on Jan. 25-26, 2025. This prestigious event will showcase the nation’s best boys and girls youth wrestlers, competing in folkstyle, the traditional style of wrestling in the United States.
Competition for boys will be in four age divisions (14U, 12U, 10U, 8U) and for girls in four age divisions (14U, 12U, 10U, 8U). Young wrestlers are encouraged to sign up for this outstanding competition.
This event is part of the coveted USA Wrestling Triple Crown in all of the age groups. An athlete in the boys divisions wins the USA Wrestling Triple Crown if they win the USA Wrestling national title in folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman in the same year. For girls at these age groups, the Triple Crown includes the Brian Keck Preseason Nationals, the USA Wrestling Kids Folkstyle Nationals and the USA Wrestling Women’s Nationals in freestyle.
ВОТ КАК ТРЕНИРУЮТСЯ НАСТОЯЩИЕ БОРЦЫ
In 2024, the first year in which boys and girls competed side-by-side at this event, individual champions hailed from 25 different states.
Greco-Roman Nationals Highlights
On June 27th and 28th in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Maryland’s Kids stepped on the mat in an attempt to earn more national accolades. The Alliant Energy PowerHouse was the scene as the Greco Roman was the first discipline to be contested. Fresh off their seventh-place finish at the 14U Greco Roman National Duals, Team Maryland crowned two champions in the 14U age group, with both being Rampage Wrestlers, Korbin Kiessling (75 pounds) and Terriel Cooke (132).
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Kiessling’s title kept him on the path to earn his third USA Wrestling Triple Crown (winning nationals in Folkstyle, Freestyle, and Greco Roman). The Folkstyle crown came during the winter months, the Greco crown was earned with a 6-0 blanking of Iowa’s Beckett Moyer (Moyer Elite) in the finals. Kiessling had beaten Moyer, 9-2, at the Greco Duals. Kiessling had to win three matches to reach the final and did so with relative ease as all three resulted in bonus point wins with two tech falls and a pin.
The lightning quick fall came 21 seconds into Kiessling’s first match in the Round of 16 with Pennsylvania’s Paeton Miller. In the quarterfinals, Kiessling posted an 8-0 tech fall in 2:42 over Michael Zuercher (Ohio Crazy Goats). The semifinals returned a similar 8-0 count but that came in just over a minute, 1:02, versus Michigan’s Brooks Horwath (Team Donahoe Wrestling). Horwath would go on to take third.
Cooke’s finals opponent was Rylen Hanson (Immortal Athletics WC, Iowa), who was handled with a 9-0 tech fall in 2:22. Cooke’s semifinal showdown was versus a known roughneck, Nebraska’s Evan MacCallum (MWC Wrestling Academy). MacCallum was second in Greco last year with a win over McDonogh’s Wes Baumgartner. At this year’s edition, MacCallum would not taste success against his Maryland foe as Cooke edged him, 4-3. Colorado’s William Coleman (Grit Athletic) was discarded in the quarters with an 8-0 tech that took 1:50 to unfold.
Four more of the 14U grapplers would reach the podium, three of them being part of the HeadHunters Wrestling Club as a bronze was brought home by Edward Encarnacion at 88 pounds, Justin Wildy, Jr. was fourth at 115, and Alvin Pinkney landed in fifth at 126 pounds. Kyle Link placed sixth at 92 pounds for Rampage Wrestling.
Encarnacion lost his first match to the eventual silver medalist, Iowa’s Kai McDonald (Sebolt Wrestling Academy), 3-0, in the Round of 16. Once in the consolation bracket, Encarnacion posted five straight wins to gain his bronze. In the bronze bout, Encarnacion decisioned Illinois’ Thomas Blanke (The Wrestling Academy), 9-2. Three tech falls and a pin were earned in the matches leading up to the consolation finals.
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Pinkney won his fifth-place match with a 13-3 tech fall of Wisconsin’s Reid Nicklay (LaCrosse Wrestling). Pinkney put up a 4-2 record as he made his way through the bracket. One of Pinkney's wins was 16-16 over Cash Dorazio (Ohio Crazy Goats), who placed seventh. Link lost his fifth-place match to Immortal Athletics’ Davis Westendorf, 6-3. After losing his first match in the Round of 16, Link won four straight to get into placement position. All four wins came on decisions.
Maryland crowned two other champions in Greco Roman, HeadHunters Ethan Encarnacion (12U 78 pounds) and Subhan Ahmad (10U 93 pounds). Encarnacion improved on his seventh-place finish of a year ago to take top honors with a 5-2 win of Tennessee’s Kalix Kilpatrick (Grindhouse Wrestling). Three tech falls paved Encarnacion’s way to the finals with his quarterfinal win being the only one that wasn’t a shutout as he beat fellow Marylander, Tanner McCray-Bey (Rampage), 9-1 (3:24). An 8-0 tech preceded that in 1:21 over Indiana’s Eli Burke and a 9-0 semifinal victory came after in 2:34 versus Illinois’ Iaromir Zhukovskii (Built By Brunson).
Ahmad dominated the competition, throwing up two techs en route to the finals where he stuck Anthony Quiroz (Region Wrestling Academy, Indiana) in 59 seconds. The other two foes were taken out with 8-0 scores, Illinois’ Alexander Cid (Toss Em Up) fell in the semis in 2:48, while Wisconsin’s Ari McKenna (Team Nazir Training Center) was kicked to the curb in 3:25.
Maryland’s sole silver medalist came in the 10U slate with HeadHunters’ Calvin Thompson dropping his 71-pound finals match to Wisconsin’s Cameron Allen (Oconomowoc WC), by tech, 11-2 (3:32). Three tech falls propelled Thompson’s run to the finals. Pennsylvania’s Dylan Logue was handed a 10-1 loss in 1:50 in the semis. Missouri’s Enzo Iorio (Open Mats WC) was also given a 10-1 loss, but took a little longer, coming at the 2:15 mark. It only took 40 seconds to send Texas’ Elijah Rodriguez (All American WC) packing on a 9-0 tally.
In addition to Edward Encarnacion’s bronze medal, two more Marylanders added bronze to their collections, Samuel Heath (10U 49 pounds) and Daniel Beltran, also at 49 pounds but in the 8U brackets. Heath’s bracket was a round robin affair with him suffering two losses. Beltran decked Minnesota’s Alan Petersen in his consolation final, 1:07.
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Beltran picked up pins in his other two wins (1:29 and 57 seconds) with his loss coming to the champion, Minnesota’s Theseus Yang-Elson (Summit Wrestling Academy), 16-8 in 3:00. Beltran’s brother, Gabriel, reached the podium in the fifth spot at 56 pounds in the 10U group after going 2-2 with a placement match tech fall, 11-2, versus Leo Navarro (Legacy Elite WC, OR).
Two more 10U kids stood on the awards stand for Maryland, Elijah Jean Paul (HeadHunters) placed fourth at 63 pounds and Alexander Fernandez (Southern Maryland WC WolfPack) placed seventh at 84 pounds.
McCray-Bey bounced back from his loss to Encarnacion to take fourth, losing to Pennsylvania’s Liam Reeves (Steel Valley Renegades), 4-4. All five of McCray-Bey’s victories came on technical falls. Sultan Ahmad placed fifth at 70 pounds in the 8U Division. Ahmad took 10 seconds to pin Missouri’s Cameron Chartier (Webb City Youth WC) in his placement match. Rampage’s Caleb Romero was seventh at 62 pounds in the 8U Division. Romero teched New Jersey’s Dallas Carter (All I See Is Gold), 10-2 in 1:02, in the seventh-place match. Two 12U grapplers reached the blood round before bailing out, Southern Maryland’s Brian Flynn (98 pounds) and Ace Hamilton (108).
14U Greco-Roman Medal Match Results
The following table summarizes the medal match results for the 14U Greco-Roman category:
| Weight (lbs) | 1st Place | 3rd Place | 5th Place | 7th Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75 | Korbin Kiessling (Rampage Wrestling) | Brooks Horwath (Team Donahoe WC) | Michael Anello (New Jersey) | Joey Myers (Pennsylvania) |
| 80 | Joseph Sullivan (Apex Wrestling NYC LLC) | Andrew Taussig (Greater Heights WC) | Kanin Kumfer (Interior Grappling Academy) | Giovonni Nix (Englewood Live Wire WC) |
| 84 | Chase Smith (Cleveland WC) | Mac Heysinger (Mustang WC) | Mason Irwin (All I See Is Gold Academy) | Kaden Joustra (ISI WC) |
| 88 | Nelson Villafane (Mat Assassins WC) | Edward Encarnacion III (HeadHunters WC) | Jacob Gwin (Threestyle Wrestling Of Oklahoma) | Preston Silva (Ruthless WC) |
| 92 | Chase VanPortfliet (Michigan Premier WC) | Austin Armstrong (East Idaho Elite WC) | Davis Westendorf (Immortal Athletics WC) | Wyatt Hueftle (Cozad WC) |
| 96 | Amir Newman-Winfrey (Immortal Athletics WC) | Jacobie Robbins (Greater Heights Wrestling) | Luca Grasso (MWC Wrestling Academy) | Gunner Killingsworth (Threestyle Wrestling Of Oklahoma) |
| 100 | Marcarlo Mannello (GPS Wrestling) | Manny Novelli (Avalanche Wrestling Association) | Jaxson Barton (Illinois) | Leonydes Peraza (Gladiator Wrestling) |
| 105 | Evan Restivo (M2 Training Center) | Aden DiGiovanni (Team Donahoe WC) | Brantley Williams (Vortex WC) | Tony Mohwish III (West Virginia) |
| 110 | Rocky Thompson (Open Mats WC) | Javen Russo (Troup Wrestling) | Mason Wright (Suples WC) | Atticus Salinas (Gold Rush Wrestling) |
| 115 | Devin Garcia (Suples WC) | Dominick Turner (STL Warrior) | Jameson Williams (Gold Rush Wrestling) | Santino Martinez (Izzy Style Wrestling) |
| 120 | Vincenzo Mannello (GPS Wrestling) | Adonis Washington (The Wrestling Academy) | Islam Sadyrbekov (Pennsylvania) | Grahm Jacobson (Pinnacle WC) |
| 126 | Ryatt Rodden (Harrah WC) | Adam Rea (Open Mats WC) | Alvin Pinkney (HeadHunters WC) | Cash Dorazio (Ohio Crazy Goats Wrestling) |
| 132 | Terriel Cooke (Rampage Wrestling) | Evan MacCallum (MWC Wrestling Academy) | Bentley Holmes (The Best Wrestler) | Asher Anthony (Richmond WC) |
| 140 | Everett Zeitler (Aviators Wrestling) | Jeremiah Hayes (Backyard Brawlers Midwest) | Tiger Ruiz (NB Elite WC) | Kooper Kovnesky (Headwaters Wrestling Academy) |
| 155 | Dylan Sardina (Ringers WC) | Gavin Brown (Contenders Wrestling Academy) | Braydon Peterson (Minnesota) | Ryder Zychek (South Side WC) |
| 175 | Noah Fitzgerald (Red Cobra Wrestling Academy) | Braylon Yates (East Rowan Wrestling) | Cameron Strong (Interior Grappling Academy) | James Griffin (Ragin Raisins Wrestling) |
| 225 | Rosco Lewis (Shelton Wrestling Academy) | Treyton Werth (Alpha Elite Wrestling) | Kasjan Wnuk (South Side WC) | Keegan Gillmore (Big Game WC) |