featured photo of Max Hay courtesy of Bret + Jennifer Peterson, WIWrestle

FARGO, N.D. — Team Wisconsin is set to compete at the 2025 U.S Marine Corps Junior Nationals, spanning an entire week from July 12-19.

The Basics
Roughly 300 athletes will represent the state across six national tournaments, covering two age groups and three disciplines: 16U and Juniors in women’s freestyle, men’s freestyle, and Greco-Roman—contested in that order. Every single athlete qualified to represent the state team. (View preliminary rosters here.)

This marks the third year the tournament is split by discipline, and both divisions (16U and Juniors) are competing on the same days

• Women’s freestyle July 12-13
• Men’s freestyle July 14-16
• Greco-Roman July 18-19. 

The only big change is that on day 1 of women’s freestyle, Juniors will compete in the morning and 16U in the afternoon. View the schedule and watch guide here.

While most people already affectionately call it ‘Fargo,’ the title did get an official change. It’s now shortened to Junior Nationals. And even if we someday retire the line about it being the largest wrestling event in the world… that day isn’t today. Every single year, Wisconsin has a handful of athletes and wrestling parents who are new to the event that serves almost as a rite of passage. USA Wrestling reported a total of 8,069 athletes in 2024 and are expecting more this year based on pre-registration numbers.

Returning AAs, Ranked Wrestlers + State Champs
Wisconsin will see 19 returning All-Americans leading the teams of battle-tested wrestlers. (View the 2024 summary here.)

Women’s Freestyle:
Expect the women’s freestyle team to make some noise. Not only is this once again the largest group of women heading out to Fargo—42 16U and 40 Juniors—but most of the team is coming in from an already competition-heavy spring and summer on the national stage. A large majority of these ladies were on the National Duals teams helping Wisconsin to a 2nd place finish in 16U and 3rd in the Juniors division.

Two returning champions are on the roster. Taylor Whiting (No. 22 P4P and No. 3 at 115) is registered at 115 after claiming the Junior title at 110 in 2024. Whiting placed 3rd at U20 World Team Trials this spring and competed in the senior division at the US Open in April.

The second returning champion, Brooke Huffman, is in the running for USA Wrestling’s Triple Crown after winning Folkstyle Nationals and the Girls High School Showcase (freestyle) this spring. She seeks to claim a Junior title in her third trip to Fargo.

There are 7 more returning All-Americans on the squad. Juniors Carley Ceshker and Riley Hanrahan both went 7-0 at Junior National Duals last month. Ceshker is a 3x Fargo AA, and Hanrahan jumps into the Junior division ranked No. 20 P4P and No. 2 at 140. This spring, Hanrhan placed 2nd and 3rd at U17 and U20 World Team Trials, Ceshker was 8th in U20. Brynn Engel, runner up in 2024, will get another crack at a 16U title as she stays in the younger age group another year.

Taylor Whiting, Madilyn Peach, Lillie Banks, Olivia Hofrichter, Isabelle Olesen, Kimura Segerson-Hutter, and Brooke Huffman all claimed 2025 individual WIAA State titles in 2025. Dealya Collins, a 2023 All-American, placed 8th at the girls' high school showcase this spring.

Men’s Freestyle:
The Men’s freestyle competition requires three entire days of wrestling from Monday - Wednesday and it’s no surprise why. Between the state allotment of four per weight class and the national auto-qualifiers, Wisconsin alone brings enough depth to field a small army. The teams are loaded with Juniors hunting to break through to the top 8 and a crop of returning 16U AAs now leveling up for more of the same.

Kellen Wolbert is fresh off a 6-0 run at Junior National Duals and is registered to take on the 138-pound bracket. He placed 7th as a JR in 2024, and also has a 16U title to his name from 2022.

Like Wolbert, many of the entries are wrestlers who put together strong performances at National Duals in Milwaukee—Camden Rugg (113) went undefeated . . . Sullivan Ramos (165) went 14-1 between both styles. At heavyweight, Hunter Vander Heiden comes in nationally ranked at No. 13. He went 11-0 at National Duals for both Greco and freestyle, and again will double up the styles.

Making a final return to Fargo this year is No. 18 Haakon Peterson, who is expected to compete at 144. Peterson has wrestled in the finals at Fargo 5 times and holds 4 titles.

Each of the 16U All-Americans from 2024 will step into the Junior division. This includes 2024 runners-up Makhi Rodgers and Hunter Stevens, and All-Americans Liam Crook, Cael Leisgang and Max Hay. Rodgers and Hay both placed 7th at U17 World Team Trials this spring. Also placing at the US Open and on the roster are Luke Driedric, Garrett Kawczynski, Mason Moody and Easton Kammerud. Kawczynski was a 16U All-American in 2023. Swick is registered in both freestyle and Greco.

With the 16U Men’s Freestyle team making history in Utah last month in claiming the duals title it will be fun to watch this strong group of 16U wrestlers take on the national individually in Fargo and see how it all shakes out at the end of the day.

2025 state champions in the mix include: Camden Rugg, Carson Neubert, Liam Nietzel, Kellen Wolbert, Nolan Skebba, Liam Crook, Guy Fraley, Garrett Kawczynski and Tanner Gormanson in D1. Collin Frey, Kolten Bollig, Blake Endres, Ethan Immel, Haakon Peterson, Owen Seffrood, Tristan Steldt and Hunter Vander Heiden in D2. Aidan Gruenenfelder, Wyatt Unser, Colton Weiler and Tyson Imhoff in D3.

Greco-Roman
The final two days of competition (July 18 - 19) will highlight Greco-Roman. All four of the returning All-Americans will compete in the Junior division: Hunter Vander Heiden, Amryn Nutter, Preston Krueger and Will Christopher. Vander Heiden and Sullivan Ramos went undefeated at Junior Duals, while Christopher and Henry Vander Heiden gave up just a single loss in the two-day events.

Nutter placed 2nd at U17 World Team Trials in April. The roster includes several Greco US Open All-Americans from U15 Nationals, including Lincoln Swick (2nd), Michael Daleiden (5th), and Josiah Beltran (6th).

Watch out for members of the 16U national duals team to make some noise with the likes of Tomm Heiser, Connor Woosencraft, Kade Splinter and Carson Neubert, and more.

As a whole, Fargo will be a great test of the year-over-year development of Wisconsin’s Greco programs. The summer season is ramping up after a a series of Greco training camps that coaches pointed to after duals as a source of team development and connection as both programs saw improvement as numbers strenghten and and the fundamentals are honed in on in such a skill specific craft. Wisconsin fans should be looking to watch the Greco team let it fly.

Across each of the styles, wrestling families and fans have a lot to look forward to from July 12 - 19. Expect gritty matches, podium runs, rises to the challenge, the ups and downs of Fargo and a definite showcase of Wisconsin character and skill as these wrestlers take on the nation.

Good luck to all our wrestlers—let’s make 2025 another trip to remember!

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Daily recaps will be posted to the WWF blog, and you can follow updates on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

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