Final Takeaways From The 2025 US Open
Final Takeaways From The 2025 US Open
Key takeaways from USA Wrestling's 2025 US Open and what to expect going forward with the rest of freestyle season.
With the NCAA Championship over a month in the rearview and with freestyle season zooming along, now's a good time to take stock of the 2025 US Open and see what it's implications are for the rest of freestyle season.
More Open Content: Senior Results | U20 Results | U17 Results | Women's Freestyle Stock Watch | Best Matches
What We Learned From The Open
Final X Set For 57 & 61 Kilograms
Spencer Lee and Vito Arujau accepted their bids to Final X at 57 and 61 kilos, respectively, thanks to Lee's Olympic silver from Paris and Arujau's bronze from the 2024 World Championships in Albania. Because Spencer and Vito took advantage of that privilege, the US Open became a wrestle-off to determine their Final X opponent.
At 57, it was Luke Lilledahl who teched three of his opponents 10-0 (including Liam Cronin in the finals) and won his semifinal bout 10-4 to impressively earn his first senior-level Open title. The four-time age-level world medalist and two-time age-level world champ will now face off with Lee, who himself is a three-time age-level world gold medalist to go with his Olympic silver, for the right to represent the United States at the 2025 World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.
Jax Forrest, another youngin -- he's just a junior in high school! -- had one of the more noteworthy Opens in recent memory. The Oklahoma State commit beat two national champs, Seth Gross in the finals and Nahshon Garrett in the quarterfinals, to earn the right to wrestle Vito Arujau, the 2023 world gold medalist and a two-time NCAA Champ, at Final X.
Watch every Jax Forrest Match at the 2025 US Open:
Youth Movement Is Going Strong
The year following the Olympics is usually one of many transitions, as veterans retire and new blood gears up for the next Olympic quad. 2025 is proving to be no exception, as world medalists and team USA mainstays such as David Taylor, J'den Cox and Nick Gwiazdowski (among others) have announced their retirement from senior-level competition within the last year.
Evidence of the new generation poised to step into the breach was on full display in Las Vegas last weekend.
Besides the aforementioned champs Luke Lilledahl and Jax Forrest, the Open also featured Marcus Blaze and Ben Davino finishing third and fourth at 61kg, Aden Valencia taking third at 65kg, and Aeoden Sinclair reaching the finals of 92 kilos.
All of the wrestled mentioned in the previous paragraph are U20 eligible, meaning they don't turn 21 until 2026.
It's tough to see legends of American wrestling leave their shoes on the mat, but the future of Team USA's freestyle squad remains bright!
Watch Blaze and Davino's third-place bout:
Zahid Won 86kg, Now What's Dake's Next Move?
2023 world bronze medal winner Zahid Valencia defeated four-time world gold medalist and two-time Olympic medalist Kyle Dake in 86kg finals in one of the most anticipated and thrilling bouts of the entire event.
That win put Valencia in Final X with an opponent to be determined at the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament. Dake famously won four NCAA titles at four different weight classes, and has not been shy about changing weights on the senior level as well. He's got two world golds at both 74kg and 79kg. He also won the 2015 US Open at 86kg and was runner-up at the 2016 Olympic Team Trials at 86kg to eventual Olympic bronze-medalist J'den Cox.
Dake will have to go through the Challenge Tournament in a couple of weeks from now to make the world team no matter what. Does Dake stay at 86kg and try another crack at Valencia (and the rest of the field?). Does he slim down to 79 with Evan Wick waiting in Final X, or does he bump up again to 92, which has Trent Hidlay sitting in Final X?
It seems unlikely that Dake would cut back down all the way to 74, and the most likely scenario is probably Dake staying at 86kg, but I also wouldn't count out a move down to 79. We'll all find out soon enough!
Watch Valencia vs Dake in the 86kg finals:
The Cowboy RTC Flexed Its Muscles
David Taylor said he wanted to make the Regional Training Center in Stillwater a priority when he assumed the reins of the Oklahoma State wrestling program, and he's backed up his intentions by adding Zahid Valencia and Joey McKenna to the squad. Those moves paid dividends as McKenna and Valencia both won their respective weight classes and qualified for Final X.
That is on top of recent grad Wyatt Hendrickson winning at 125 and high school junior and incoming recruit Jax Forrestt winning 61kg. So four Cowboys have already qualified for Final X. Good rides, Cowboys!
And The NLWC Is Right There With Them
Oklahoma State might have generated slightly more heat at the Open, but the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club continues to excel at producing senior-level champions, as evidenced by Luke Lilledahl, Mitchell Mesenbrink and Kyle Snyder all winning titles in Vegas.
They also did pretty well in the U20 brackets, with recruits PJ Duke and Will Henckel winning titles and redshirt freshmen Connor and Cole Mirasola winning as well.
The Cowboys managed a U20 champ as well, with Ladarion Lockett taking the 74kg U20 crown.
And of course, the real winners when a great college rivalry can continue during the freestyle season are, naturally, the fans.
We Have Two Women’s Final X Matches
Just like the men's freestyle team, two Final X weights for Team USA's distaff freestylers have their matchups finalized. 2024 world bronze medalist Macey Kilty will face Open winner Aine Drury at 65kg, and Paris Olympic bronze medalist and legend of the sport Helen Maroulis will return to the mat for a bout with Open champ Amanda Martinez.
Also making Final X yet again is two-time world medalist Kayla Miracle at her familiar weight of 62kg. Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades won at her new weight of 68. Former world teamers Abby Nette and Kylie Welker won titles. While Audrey Jimenez, Brianna Gonzalez, Cristelle Rodriguez and Alex Gladue will also try to make their first world team at Final X.
Women’s Weight Class Shuffle
Kylie Welker moved up to 76 from 72 and won the Open, while Olympic silver medalist at 76kg, Kennedy Blades, moved down and won 68kg. And though she didn’t wrestle at the Open, Olympic gold medalist at 68kg Amit Elor announced earlier that she’ll be moving back up to 72 for the Team Trials.
If those three women indeed make the world team, they'll all be favored to bring home hardware from Zagreb.
Watch Blades win a US Open title at 68kg:
The Greco-Roman World Team Is Set!
To give the Greco team a longer period of time to train together and gain international experience, the Greco-Roman world team was decided at the Open, with the event serving as it's de facto team trials.
From the experienced, such as Ellis Coleman, a 2012 Olympian, to Jayden Raney, a 2024 U17 gold medalist, this is one of the most diverse senior-level lineups in recent memory. You can read more about our Greco World Team but checking out our Pan-Am Preview here.
What Comes Next?
Look for the Greco-Roman team to compete in several international competitions between now and the World Championships, the exact tourneys TBD.
For the men's and women's freestyle competitors, two important dates should be circled on their calendars.
May 16-17: World Team Trials Challenge Tournament
This tournament will decide the remaining Final X competitors in the eight weight classes in men's and women's freestyle that only have US Open winners in Final X. We're keeping a list of entries here and should know the seeds no sooner than May 9.
It will be a single elimination bracket until the finals, which will be best two-of-three. And then we'll have our Final X matchups!
June 14: Final X - Newark
And of course, Final X will determine our men's and women's freestyle world teams! It's a best two of three series, with round 1 happening in the first session and round 2 and, if necessary, round 3, happening in the second session.
It's all going down in the home of the three-time Stanley Cup-winning New Jersey Devils, the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey!
Now that we've got our senior teams, two more important tournaments are worth highlighting.
July 17-20: Budapest Ranking Series
There are other options, but the Budapest RS event will be the likely stop for most of the world teamers looking for a tune-up before worlds. It's not too far from Zagreb, so the travel distance and time zone changes will help simulate worlds, and it's an opportunity to improve their seed, though that will likely be a distant secondary concern for most of the athletes.
September 13-21: World Championships
30 new world champs will be crowned and 90 more medals will be awarded in Zagreb, Croatia, capping off another senior-level freestyle season. You don't want to miss it, nor any of the events leading up to it. And you can watch it all with a FloWrestling subscription!