The senior-to-be at Odessa High School took home fourth place in the 157-pound bracket at the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals held in Fargo, North Dakota.
Brown reached the semifinals in the tournament and finished with a 6-2 record, securing his fourth All-American honor at the tournament.
Next year, though he would be young enough to return one more time, he said that his future plans will stop him from going. He committed to wrestle for the U.S. Naval Academy and he will be in boot camp next summer when wrestlers converge back on Fargo.
“I had a really good bracket, so being able to just go out there and even make a semi, it was really cool,” he said. “It was a great experience, for sure. I was just grateful to go out there and compete. I mean, it was really cool that I could go out and place and do as well as I did, but I was really just glad to go out there and do what I love to do.”
Brown posted tech falls on his way to the quarterfinals, dispatching Oklahoma’s Braxten Anung (10-0), Georgia’s Paxon Legatt (11-0), Kansas’ Donald Jackson (13-2) and Pennslvyania’s JAmes Whitbred (13-2).
The first challenge came in the quarterfinals, a 14-6 win against Mason Petersen from Nebraska. A state champion from Columbus, who went 55-0 last season, was up 6-1 after the first period against Brown, who is a 3-time MSHSAA state champion.
“I found a way,” Brown said. “I was just really keeping the pace and trying to wear him out. It was just giving everything I had, no matter what was happening in the match. Just continuing to wrestle throughout the match, whether I was down or whether I was winning.”
In the semifinals, Brown lost by a 10-0 tech fall to Charlie DeSena from Florida. DeSena would win the national title.
DeSena was a National Prep Wrestling Championship finalist from Lake Highland Prep School and is a Penn signee.
In the consolation semifinal, Brown held off Wyatt Medlin from Illinois, winning 7-4.
Wrestling for third place, Brown lost by a tech fall, 16-6, against Minnesota’s Lincoln Robideau.
“There’s always a chance every time you go out there that you’re not even going to place or you might not win a single match because of the caliber of the kids that you’re wrestling,” he said. “But nothing compares to Fargo. You’re going to see kids that you haven’t seen at all. That’s pretty cool.”
Makai Smalley, another state champion for Odessa last year, also went on the trip to Fargo. The 138-pound Class 2 champion went 1-2 in his bracket.
“Wrestling there makes the (high school) season so much easier having guys in the room that were All-American to challenge other kids to do the same thing,” Coach Jeff Brown said.
Jet Brown and former wrestler Lake Waters are the program’s two All-Americans in summer wrestling. Waters earned his honors at the U.S. Open.
Navy calling
Brown is one of four known commits for Navy, joining three from Pennsylvania.
Brown had a few options for where to go for the 2027-28 school year.
He said he took visits to Missouri, Air Force and Army, in addition to Navy.
However, the Midshipmen provided him what he was looking for.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I knew I wanted to join the military and I watched my brother (Taylor Brown) graduate from West Point,” Brown said. “I knew I wanted to go to an academy to wrestle. Then, going out there on my visit, it just felt like a family, and so I knew that was a place for me.”
He’s the first Missourian that will be on the Navy roster since Hayden Benter from Columbia Hickman spent the 2023-24 season there.
Before that, Andrew Javier from Lindbergh and Caleb Kelly from Principia competed during the 2020-21 season.
“Being able to see that your hard work is finally paying off is pretty cool,” Brown said. “But at the same time, it stinks that you have to go and tell some of the other coaches that I’m not going to be joining your program. But that’s just part of life.”
