2021 USA Wrestling Junior National Duals

Four Teams Separate From Freestyle Pack On Day 1 Of Junior Duals

Four Teams Separate From Freestyle Pack On Day 1 Of Junior Duals

Four teams separated from the pack Friday and ran through the opening day of freestyle competition without a loss at the Junior National Duals.

Jun 19, 2021 by Andy Hamilton
Four Teams Separate From Freestyle Pack On Day 1 Of Junior Duals

Four teams separated from the pack Friday and ran through the opening day of freestyle competition without a loss at the Junior National Duals. 

Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Oklahoma buzzed through pool competition Friday, positioning themselves to duke it out Saturday for the title in Tulsa. 

Illinois captured its fourth straight Greco duals title on Thursday and has been a perennial freestyle title contender, too, although it hasn’t been able to haul home a freestyle championship since 2013. But Illinois took care of business Friday, disposing of California Blue (64-6), Florida (56-9) and New Jersey (38-29) in pool competition before kicking off Gold/Silver competition with a 43-22 win against Wisconsin. 

Iowa, seeking its first freestyle title since 2005, steamrolled through Pool D with lopsided wins over Arkansas (64-1), Minnesota Red (50-12) and Ohio Red (50-14) and took care of California Red (36-27) in its Gold/Silver opener. 

Minnesota Blue punctuated its dominant day with a 40-24 Gold/Silver victory against New Jersey. The Minnesotans also posted pool wins against Nebraska (58-6), Michigan Blue (58-8) and Wisconsin (41-18). 

Oklahoma, looking for its second straight title, beat South Carolina (65-1), North Dakota (51-15) and top-seeded California (40-25) to win Pool A. Oklahoma handled Ohio 38-28 to begin Gold/Silver competition. 

The tournament continues at 9 a.m. CT on Saturday. The action will be streamed live on Trackwrestling.