Jet Brown needed less than five minutes of mat time to announce himself in Fargo.
The Missouri junior opened the 157-pound freestyle bracket with four straight technical falls. Braxten Antuna of Oklahoma went in 1:39, Paxon Legatt of Georgia in 1:06, then Donald Jackson of Kansas and James Whitbred of Pennsylvania. None of them made it out of the first period unscathed. By the time he handled Nebraska’s Mason Petersen 14-6 in the quarterfinals, Brown was five matches deep and hadn’t been seriously tested.
Florida’s Charlie DeSena ended that in the semifinals. Brown answered the way you’d want him to, grinding out a 7-4 win over Illinois’ Wyatt Medlin in the consolation semis to guarantee himself a top-four finish. Minnesota’s Lincoln Robideau took the third-place match, and Brown settled for fourth, the highest placement by any Missouri boy at the 2026 Junior and 16U Nationals.
Missouri came home with five All-American finishes from four wrestlers. It also came home with a long list of kids who were one match away, which is the part of Fargo nobody puts on a T-shirt.
A crowded room at 157
Brown’s bracket says something about where Missouri’s depth sits right now. The state entered eight wrestlers at 157 in Junior freestyle, more than at any other weight in any style, in either division.
Most of them ran into the wall that the round of 64 and 32 becomes at a national tournament. Colin Rutlin got the furthest of the rest, going 4-2 with three technical falls before Alaska’s Jacob Morris beat him 16-13 in a consolation round of 16 match that could have gone either way. Taryn Nichols went 2-2. So did Colton Wilson.
Eight in, one All-American out. That’s roughly the national conversion rate, and it’s worth remembering when the placement table looks thin.
Carter Brown doubles up
The only Missouri boy to place in both styles was Carter Brown, who went 10-5 across the week at 215 pounds and finished fifth in Greco-Roman and eighth in freestyle.
His Greco run had a nice bit of symmetry to it. Brown pinned Iowa’s Kaden Stitt in 1:27 in the round of 32, lost a quick quarterfinal to Kansas’ Cooper Reves, a fall in 1:15, the kind of match that’s over before you’ve settled into your seat. Then he drew Stitt again in the bloodround. This time he put him away 8-0 to punch the All-American ticket. He teched California’s Carter Vannest 10-2 to reach the consolation semis, ran into Idaho’s Gage Ponton, and closed the week with a 7-3 decision over Georgia’s Xander Dossett for fifth.
Freestyle followed a similar shape. Three wins to the quarters, including technical falls over North Carolina’s Nash Mullis and New York’s Yanni Drapaniotis, then a loss to North Dakota’s William Ward. Brown answered with a 32-second fall over Pennsylvania’s Kendahl Hoare in the bloodround to lock up the placement before losses to Indiana’s Ceasar Salas and Connecticut’s Maximus Konopka settled him at eighth.
Twice he reached the quarterfinals. Twice he got sent to the back side. Twice he won the match that mattered. There are worse templates for a week in Fargo.
Angst grinds it out
Rowdy Angst was Missouri’s other Junior Greco placer, taking eighth at 113.
He opened with a pair of technical falls, taking out Arizona’s Derek Weible in 28 seconds and Minnesota’s Blake Brose 14-2, before Florida’s Koa DeLoach stopped him in the round of 16. Then came the work: a fall over South Carolina’s Carter Lirgg in 2:23, a 9-0 tech over Iowa’s Damien Yeoman, and an 8-5 decision over Kansas’ Tanner Rhoton in the bloodround to get on the podium. Florida’s RJ Phelan and Utah’s Evan Centeno closed it out.
Angst also wrestled 113 in freestyle, where he went 3-2 and won his first two by tech, including a 27-second dismantling of that same Damien Yeoman. Combined, it was an 8-5 week across ten matches in two styles.
Conaway’s long way around
Brock Conaway’s All-American run at 190 in 16U freestyle was the most improbable of the bunch, mostly because of how it started: a 10-7 loss to Ohio’s Tyler Soeder in his first match of the tournament.
He then won seven in a row.
Six of the seven came by technical fall, and five of those took less than 90 seconds: Karson Snyder in 41 seconds, Xavier Jackson in 32, Chase Sullivan in 46, Wyatt Graham in 44, Luca Turano in 1:25. That is not a wrestler surviving the consolation bracket. That is a wrestler annoyed about something.
Only Wisconsin’s Elias Green made him work, and Conaway edged that one 14-12 in the bloodround. Florida’s Samuel Josey and Wisconsin’s Treyton Altuve got him at the end, and he finished eighth at 7-3.
Missouri had a second wrestler at 190 who nearly joined him. Owen Britton went 5-2 with four bonus-point wins, including a 32-second fall over Florida’s Bryce Velez, before California’s Keanu Garcia beat him 13-8 one round shy of the bloodround.
The bloodround was brutal
Missouri went 4-9 in the consolation quarterfinals, the round that separates an All-American from a plane ride home. No one felt that math harder than Reed Wilson.
Wilson won more matches than any other Missouri boy in Fargo. Thirteen of them, across both styles at 165 pounds, against four losses. He placed in neither.
In freestyle he was 7-2, and the run included a genuinely satisfying piece of revenge. After losing 7-4 to Connecticut’s Evan Schibi in the round of 64, Wilson chased him down through the consolation bracket and teched him 13-0. He beat Washington’s Tre Haines on criteria in a 7-7 match to reach the bloodround. Then Illinois’ David Ogunsanya beat him 6-5.
Greco was, if anything, crueler. Wilson opened 2-0 with two technical falls, lost 8-5 to Kansas’ Emerson Tjaden in the round of 32, and reeled off four straight wins, two by fall and two by tech, none of them close. Waiting in the bloodround: Emerson Tjaden. Tjaden teched him in 1:12.
He wasn’t alone in that round. Landen McDowell went 6-2 at 165 in freestyle and lost his bloodround 5-2 to Pennsylvania’s Joe Bachmann. Jordan Fincher (5-2, 175 freestyle) got pinned in his by Iowa’s Maximus Dhabolt. Carter Wallis went 5-2 in Greco at 126 and dropped an 11-8 decision to California’s Thiago Silva. Joseph Camelin was 4-2 at 215 in Greco before Carter Vannest beat him 21-13. Talon Worden lost his at 215 in 16U freestyle after reaching the quarters. Kage Stewart lost the 16U heavyweight bloodround 3-1, two points from the podium.
Kosta Hatzigeorgiou may have had the sharpest turn of the tournament. He went 4-0 into the 126-pound 16U Greco quarterfinals with three technical falls in the run, and then lost two in a row to finish 4-2.
Good records, no podium
Some of Missouri’s better weeks ended before the bloodround entirely.
Jace Renfro lost his first freestyle match at 190 by tech in 49 seconds, then won six straight, mixing falls, techs, and a pair of grinding decisions over Michigan’s Max Sundquist and Illinois’ Maximus Purdy, before Wisconsin’s Eli Leonard stopped him one round short.
Zyan Knollmeyer was 5-1 at Junior heavyweight, his only loss to Washington’s Kade West, and had just won a 4-4 criteria match over Iowa’s JT Kelso. His tournament ended on a medical forfeit.
Roman Stewart went 5-2 at 150. Chance Ruble went 4-2 at the same weight with three techs. Patrick Provost went 4-2 at 144. Cole Martin went 4-2 at 100 in 16U freestyle. John Cox lost his opening match at 126 by a single point, 11-10, then won four in a row before losing another one-score match, 10-8.
Fargo is a tournament of one-point margins, and Missouri lost a lot of them.
Greco held the line
Junior Greco was the only bracket where Missouri finished above water, at 71-69 across 34 entries.
Beyond Carter Brown and Angst, Carter Wallis was the story that didn’t quite land. He had three technical falls in his first three matches, including a 23-second dismissal of Michigan’s Christian Gregory, before Nebraska’s Cruzer Dominguez caught him. Camron Duffield went 4-2 at 150 with three bonus-point wins and lost his last one 11-10. Carson Owens went 4-2 at 132.
In 16U Greco, Chrystopher Hawkins lost his opener and then teched four straight opponents at 144. Lee Furnace III went 4-2 at 132 with four technical falls. Dominick Turner went 4-2 at the same weight.
By the numbers
Missouri entered 176 boys across the four brackets: 57 in Junior freestyle, 51 in 16U freestyle, and 34 apiece in Junior and 16U Greco. Those entries came from 124 individual wrestlers, 52 of whom wrestled both styles. The state went a combined 322-355.
When Missouri won, it usually won big. Of those 322 victories, 246 came with bonus points: 193 technical falls, 53 falls, and only 72 decisions. Kennan Beatty had the fastest of them, pinning Oklahoma’s Edan Fugett in 20 seconds at 132 in Junior Greco. Chance Ruble teched Idaho’s Ty Adams 8-0 in 21 seconds. Joseph Camelin needed 22.
The state records tell their own story. Missouri went 16-13 against Iowa, 15-14 against Minnesota, 13-12 against both Kansas and New York, 12-11 against Oklahoma, and 12-10 against Colorado, competitive against most of the neighborhood and the upper Midwest.
Against the eastern powers it was rougher: 20-29 versus Illinois, 18-27 versus Pennsylvania, 10-18 versus Ohio, 8-17 versus Florida.
And then there’s Indiana, against whom Missouri went 5-27.
One postscript for the bracket nerds: the state’s only unavoidable casualty came at 175 in Junior freestyle, where Jordan Fincher teched teammate Luke Hayden 10-0 in the round of 64.
