OMAHA, Neb. (January 12, 2022) – 909 wrestlers took to the mats at Ralston Arena in Omaha, Nebraska on January 8^th and 9^th for the 2022 AAU Wrestling Winter Youth Nationals with hopes of starting the new year as National Champions.

148 teams traveled to Omaha for the widely anticipated AAU national championship and brought wrestlers of all ages to compete. With five age divisions and multiple weight classes, the arena was filled from start to finish.

With boys and girls competing, the divisions were split up by age; The tots division comprised of girls and boys 6 & under, Bantam boys and girls comprised of wrestlers 7 & 8 years old, Midget boys and girls comprised of wrestlers 9 & 10 years old, Novice boys and girls comprised of wrestlers 11 & 12 years old, and SchoolBoy/SchoolGirl comprised of wrestlers 13-15 years old.

“This is an amazing, tough tournament,” said Dan Vacha, Tournament Director. “Every wrestler should be proud of every match they competed in.  You have a chain from this year, it means something.”

Two wrestlers that walked away with 1^st Place National Championship chains were Ignacio Villasenor (SchoolBoy) and Kaylyn Harrill (SchoolGirl). Villasenor represents the Pomona Elite Wrestling club from Colorado and Harrill represents The Best Wrestler club from Iowa. Villasenor took home his 8^th straight national championship and scored 56 total match points. Harrill got her 4^th national championship after scoring 26 total match points, the most of her age group.

The Nebraska Boyz had the most total match points with a combined 776 match points as a team, while the South Central Punishers out of Kansas had the weekend’s highest winning percentage, scoring 9 wins and 0 losses.

Results can be found on Trackwrestling and full length matches can be viewed on FloWrestling.

Looking ahead, Dan Vacha will be breaking day 1 into two sessions (morning and afternoon) to keep downtime between matches at a minimum.

Thank you to everyone who competed safely and successfully at the 2022 AAU Wrestling Winter Youth Nationals.

SAVE THE DATE: Next year’s dates are set for January 7-8, 2023.

Visit www.aauwrestling.net for additional information and upcoming events. Be sure to follow along on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.