U20 WTT and U23 Open Freestyle Preview

The U20 World Team Trials and U23 Nationals are this weekend in Geneva, OH. To qualify for the U20 World Team Trials, wrestlers had to place top-8 at the U20 US Open, top-6, in Fargo in 2023, or place at the NCAA tournament, so the brackets are fairly small. U23 Nationals, on the other hand, have large brackets with some of the best college wrestlers in the country. We give a full list of registered Michigan Grapplers below, as long as our best bets.

Winners of the U20 WTT challenge tournament will reach a best-of-3 finals against the US Open champion, while U23 will run a straight bracket to determine the world team member. The champ at each weight in U20 will represent the United States in Spain in September. The winner at each weight in U23 will rep the USA in Albania in October.

U20 Freestyle World Team Trials

65kg: Sergio Lemley (Michigan)
70kg: Brock Mantanona (Michigan commit)
70kg: Dylan Gilcher (Michigan, Detroit CC HS)
74kg: Beau Mantanona (Michigan)
86kg: Joshua Barr (Penn State, Davison HS)
92kg: Kael Wisler (Michigan State, New Boston Huron HS)
125kg: Joshua Terrill (Michigan State, Holt HS)
125kg: Nicholas Sahakian (Michigan commit)

Best Bets: Josh Barr is the obvious choice here. A 4x state champ for Davison, Barr is the projected starter for national champ Penn State next season. He was the runner-up at the US Open last month and will look for the finals rematch against Missouri-commit Aeoden Sinclair in the challenge finals. Barr was #1 in the country coming out of high school, having been a Junior Freestyle National Champ in Fargo.

Current Wolverine Sergio Lemley another name to watch after his breakout true Freshman season for Michigan. Lemley will likely have to avenge a loss to Aden Valencia (Stanford commit) from the US Open and knock off Pierson Manville (Arizona State commit) for a chance at a best-of-3 finals against phenom Beau Bassett.

One last name to watch here is recent Michigan-commit Nicholas Sahakian, who is the #1 heavyweight in the country. After being a U17 world teamer, Sahakian was a runner-up at this year's U20 US Open. Sahakian will be looking for a rematch against US Open Champ Jimmy Mullen (Virginia Tech), but he will have to beat Koy Hopke (Minnesota commit) to get there.

U23 Freestyle Nationals

57kg: Marcello Milani (Cornell, Orchard Lake St. Mary's HS)
61kg: Andrew Hampton (Michigan State, Stoney Creek HS)
61kg: Bryce Shingleton (Michigan State, Linden HS)
61kg: Caleb Weiand (Michigan State, Dakota HS)
70kg: Aiden Davis (Bucknell, Dundee HS)
74kg: Chandler Amaker (Central Michigan)
74kg: Cole Hopkins (Central Michigan, Evart HS)
74kg: Tyler Swiderski (Central Michigan, Dundee HS)
74kg: Derek Gilcher (Indiana, Detroit CC HS)
74kg: Brady Benson (Michigan State, Goodrich HS)
79kg: James Johnston (Long Island, Davison HS)
79kg: Ceasar Garza (Michigan State)
79kg: Martin Larkin (Michigan State)
79kg: Roland Denker (Michigan State, Bedford HS)
79kg: Ryan Boucher (Michigan State)
86kg: Lucas Daly (Michigan State)
86kg: Luke Vanadia (Michigan State)
92kg: Matthew McKenna (Michigan)
92kg: Jacob Cardenas (Michigan)
125kg: Ira Jenkins (Michigan, Whitehall HS)
125kg: Lance Trost (Michigan, Pinckney HS)
125kg: Max Vanadia (Michigan State)
125kg: Caden Ferris (Central Michigan, Delton Kellogg HS)
125kg: Daniel McKiernan (SIUE, Richmond HS)

Best Bets: Recent Michigan-transfer Jacob Cardenas is the best bet here. Cardenas was a standout for Stanford throughout his career, earning All-American honors in back-to-back years. Cardenas is also a two-time U23 veteran, earning a silver and bronze medal at the 2022 and 2023 U23 World Championships, respectively. He will likely have to beat 2x All-American Trey Munoz (Oregon State) to make it back to the U23 world team.

Another name we will want to watch here is Marcello Milani at 57kg. Milani only wrestled one year for Orchard Lake St. Mary's, winning an MHSAA state championship his Senior season. Milani was also a Junior Greco All American and placed at Super 32s. He will see a handful of NCAA qualifiers at 57kg, but he is capable of knocking anyone off.

One name listed as a sleeper in the tournament preview is Derek Gilcher, who missed most of the 2023-24 NCAA season due to injury. He was a 2023 NCAA qualifier and was highly ranked this past season before injury. Gilcher was a 3x state champ for Detroit CC HS and has wins over numerous other contenders.