Both Trent Hidlay and Josh Barr will be looking to make their first senior world team after having each medaled at age-level world championships. They'll compete at Final X on June 14 for the starting spot at 92kg and a ticket to Zagreb, Croatia to represent Team USA in September. 

Trent Hidlay Stats

Hometown: Lewistown, PA

College: NC State

NCAA finishes: 2nd, 5th, 4th, 2nd

Career record: 101-12

ACC titles: 4

Year of graduation: 2022

Pan-Am career record: 4-0, 1 gold

Age level world medals: 1 silver (U23), 1 bronze (U20)

Other international medals: 1 gold (Farrell), 1 silver (Budapest), 1 bronze (Zagreb)

Favorite soft drink: Mountain Dew

Josh Barr Stats

Hometown: Davison, MI

College: Penn State

NCAA finishes: 2nd

Years of NCAA eligibility remaining: 3

Year of (high school) graduation: 2023

Age level medals: 1 silver (U20)

Fargo Junior titles: 2

Fishing partner: Levi Haines

This will be the first meeting of Hidlay and Barr on the wrestling mat. 

How They Got To Final X

Trent Hidlay ran the 92kg gauntlet at the US Open this past April to secure his spot in 2025's Final X. Hidlay began his Open run with two quick techs before a tougher 7-4 battle with Eric Schultz in the semifinals and then a 7-1 controlling win over Missouri true freshman Aeoden Sinclair in the finals. 

Watch Hidlay punch his ticket to Final X with a win over Sinclair:

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Josh Barr did not enter the US Open, which is not terribly surprising given that it occurred barely a month after his first NCAA tournament for Penn State, which saw him finish as runner-up at 197 pounds. Instead, Barr recuperated from his maiden varsity season and entered the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament. The 92kg field was minuscule, and Barr had a bye to the semifinals. He defeated Dustin Plott 10-4, and then in the finals he beat the US Open runner-up, Aeoden Sinclair 7-3. 

Watch Barr qualify for Final X, also with a win over Sinclair (sorry Aeoden!):

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The Storyline

Who will take over the spot and attempt to continue Team USA's medal streak? The weight class has only existed at the senior level since 2018, when UWW added two more non-Olympic weights to the mix, 79 and 92. Four different members of Team USA have brought home hardware from every World Championship in which the division was contested. 

2018: J'den Cox - gold

2019: J'den Cox - gold

2021: J'den Cox - bronze

2022: J'den Cox - silver

2023: Zahid Valencia - bronze

2024: David Taylor - bronze

Now we get to find out who will take on the mantle and try to keep the streak alive, with the goal of earning gold for the first time since 2019. 

Just for fun, watch David Taylor win bronze at the 2024 World Championships:

The Matchup

Adding to the intrigue of the 92kg storyline is the fact that these two hammers have never squared off before. Barr is younger than Hidlay, but not dramatically so, and both have recent age-level world medals, Barr at 2024's U20s, and Hidlay at 2022's U23s. 

The two bruisers also have contrasting wrestling styles. Barr has proven to be a high-volume shooter who will push the pace for the entire six minutes. Hidlay is known for his relentless underhooks that set up a lot of fee-to-back four-point potential moves. Both have a lot of horsepower under their hoods, so fans can expect these two to turn the mat into an abattoir by the time their series is complete. 

Who Wins?

Three-match series at Final X are rare, but I think we might see one here. In his first varsity season at Penn State, Josh Barr broke many of his opponents in the third period (or earlier), but took losses against older and more experienced wrestlers who were able to withstand his furious pace. 

Hidlay is a fearsome opponent who has shown he can weather such storms. I think Hidlay emerges as Team USA's 92kg rep, but I think Barr is able to win one of the three matches. However, Barr definitley has a solid chance of proving that prediction wrong. 

As always, the real winners of a matchup like this are none other than the fans themselves.