By Zack Chavez
USA Wrestling

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – United World Wrestling has released the brackets for men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman at the 2026 U20 Pan American Championships, set for Thursday—Sunday at the Physical Education Center Admiral Adalberto Nunes (CEFAN) in Rio de Janeiro. The three Olympic styles will be contested July 9-11, followed by beach wrestling on July 12.

Women's freestyle competitors Molly Allen, Kailey Benson, May Cuyler and Gretchen Donally are all winners of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award while Brock Mantanona is a Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award winner.

Four age-group World medalists will represent the U.S. men’s freestyle team on Thursday: Grey Burnett, Bo Bassett, Brock Mantanona and Coby Merrill. Mantanona needs four wins to secure gold at 86 kg, while Merrill needs only three wins to claim the 125 kg title.

Burnett is a strong contender for gold at 57 kg in a field that includes Peru’s Oziel Herrera Mallqui, the 2026 South American Youth Games U17 silver medalist, and Puerto Rico’s 2025 U17 World Championships competitor Nathaniel Lyttle. Bassett is seeking his first U20 Pan American crown and opens his 65 kg tournament run against Canada’s Diyaal Johal.

Women’s freestyle takes the mat Friday, highlighted by Aubree Gutierrez, who aims for her second 53 kg Pan American Championship gold medal of 2026. Gutierrez went 4-0 with three shutouts and two technical falls to win April’s U17 Pan American Championship and will face Guatemala’s Siria Gamboa Rodriguez, a 2025 U17 Pan American Championship silver medalist, in her opener.

Greco-Roman competition begins Saturday, headlined by Amryn Nutter at 67 kg. Nutter secured his 2026 U20 World Team spot with a title at the U.S. Open Championships and will make his Pan American Championships debut against Chile’s Sebastian Bustamante Mejias, a two-time U23 Pan American Championship bronze medalist.

Initial opponents for all 30 U.S. wrestlers are listed below. Athletes in a round-robin bracket will have multiple opponents listed.

The tournament will be contested over three days, with all 10 weights in each style competing start to finish in a single day. Men’s freestyle leads off on July 9, followed by women’s freestyle on July 10 and Greco-Roman on July 11. Wrestling begins at 10 a.m. local time each day. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is one hour ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

A live stream of the event is available to the U.S. audience through FloWrestling. Brackets and updated results are hosted on UWW Arena.

Stay tuned to TheMat.com and USA Wrestling’s social media platforms for complete coverage of the U20 Pan American Championships.

2026 U20 Pan American Championships  

At Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 9-12 

Reference Links  

Event website

Live stream

Brackets and results

Event Schedule  

Thursday, July 9 

Men’s Freestyle 

10 a.m. – Qualification rounds, repechage, medal matches

4:15 p.m. – Opening ceremony

Friday, July 10 

Women’s Freestyle 

10 a.m. – Qualification rounds, repechage, medal matches

Saturday, July 11 

Greco-Roman 

10 a.m. – Qualification rounds, repechage, medal matches

Sunday, July 12 

Beach 

1 p.m. – Qualification rounds, repechages, medal matches

*All times listed local to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which is located one hour ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

U.S. Men’s Freestyle Draws  

57 kg – Grey Burnett (Perrysburg, Ohio/Burnett Trained Wrestling)

VS Pablo De Vidts Saez (Chile)

61 kg – Dean Anderson (Mesa, Ariz./Valiant WC)

VS Moses Mendoza Garza (Mexico) or Wenzo Nogueira da Silva (Brazil)

65 kg – Bo Bassett (Windber, Pa./Titan Mercury WC)

VS Diyaal Johal (Canada)

70 kg – Vince Bouzakis (Shavertown, Pa./Pittsburgh WC)

VS Brandon Hernandez Cardona (Guatemala)

74 kg – Haakon Peterson (Hollandale, Wis./Askren Wrestling Academy)

VS Kevin Aleman Gomez (El Salvador) or Alejandro Villalobos Araya (Costa Rica)

79 kg – Ryan Burton (Sparta, N.J./SERTC/Titan Mercury WC)

VS Santiago Valenzuela Mendez (Chile)

VS Sergio Espinoza Muniz (Mexico)

86 kg – Brock Mantanona (Bermuda Dunes, Calif./Cliff Keen WC)

VS Axel Nava Guzman (Mexico)

VS Tejvir Dhinsa (Canada)

VS Marcelo Miranda de Sousa (Brazil)

VS Luis Santiago Vargas (Puerto Rico)

92 kg – Jimmy Mastny (Woodstock, Ill./Relentless Training Center)

VS Alan Garcia Morales (Puerto Rico)

VS Angel Flores Gonzalez (Mexico)

VS Sebastian Mejia Munoz (Colombia)

VS Allan de Sousa Beserra (Brazil)

97 kg – Michael Boyle (Columbus, Ohio/Ohio Crazy Goats Wrestling)

VS Anyelo Vasquez Ramos (Colombia)

VS Adrian Vasconcelos de Santana (Brazil)

VS Harjot Shergill (Canada)

VS Humberto Valverde Uzner (Mexico)

125 kg – Coby Merrill (Ontario, Calif./New York AC)

VS Pedro Fernandes de Morais (Brazil)

VS Carlos Cabrales Encarnacion (Mexico)

VS Jagroop Dhinsa (Canada)

U.S. Women’s Freestyle Draws  

50 kg – Sarissa Tucker (Midland, Va./Legacy Dragons Wrestling)

VS Giovanna Cincinato Pimenta (Brazil)

VS Kayla Batres (Guatemala)

53 kg – Aubree Gutierrez (Norwalk, Calif./Surfside X Wrestling)

VS Siria Gamboa Rodriguez (Guatemala)

55 kg – Marlee Solomon (McDonald, Penn./Team Pennsylvania)

VS Milagros Salgado Rios (Panama)

57 kg – Molly Allen (Council Bluffs, Iowa/Cowgirls WC)

VS Ivanna Lopez Rodriguez (Mexico)

VS Myla Blackshaw (Canada)

VS Isabella da Silva (Brazil)

59 kg – Kailey Benson (Cottleville, Mo./Cowgirls WC)

VS Jania Dunigan (Puerto Rico)

62 kg – Carley Ceshker (Lake Geneva, Wis./B.A.M. Training Center)

VS Allison Valdez Obando (Guatemala)

VS Leiddy Acuna Penaranda (Ecuador)

65 kg – Maddie Marsh (Markleville, Ind./Red Cobra Wrestling Academy)

VS Beatriz Calasans Camargo (Brazil)

VS Valeria Perez Pacheco (Mexico)

VS Shantallee Barrios Bonalde (Colombia)

68 kg – May Cuyler (Bristow, Va./Vision Wrestling)

VS Mackenzie Cayer (Canada)

VS Elida Castanon Buendia (Mexico)

VS Leyla Mallqui Hinostroza (Peru)

VS Mayara Neper Oliveira Santos (Brazil)

72 kg – Gretchen Donally (Ballantine, Mont./Colorado Mesa WC)

VS Jolina Healey (Canada)

VS Nicol Hurtado Castillo (Colombia)

VS Jennifer Olmedo (Mexico)

VS Rayne Alves da Silva (Brazil)

76 kg – Jael Miller (Smicksburg, Pa./Cardinal WC)

VS Sophia Perez Bassino (Brazil)

VS Edna Jimenez Villalba (Mexico)

VS Paola Rodriguez Guzman (Puerto Rico)

VS Clara Smithanik (Canada)

U.S. Greco-Roman Draws  

55 kg – Caleb Noble (Gurnee, Ill./Southwest RTC/Toss Academy)

VS Luis Hernandez Martinez (Mexico)

VS Yuri Landim Ribeiro (Brazil)

VS Danny Meneses Vergara (Chile)

60 kg – Will Detar (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Exodus WC)

VS Augusto Vargas Valle (Chile)

63 kg – Anthony Delgado (Las Vegas, Nev./Gold Rush)

VS Daniel Guevara (Mexico)

VS Samuel Lucas Maia (Brazil)

67 kg – Amryn Nutter (Fennimore, Wis./NMU-National Training Center)

VS Sebastian Bustamante Mejias (Chile)

72 kg – Hunter Sturgill (Hixson, Tenn./Indiana RTC)

VS Pablo Cacerez Avendano (Colombia)

VS Anthony Molina Rubio (Peru)

77 kg – Will Scherer (St. Louis, Mo./NMU-National Training Center)

VS Sebastian Gomez Uribe (Colombia)

82 kg – Logan Bruce (Santa Rosa, Calif./Valley Silverbacks WC)

VS Santiago Valenzuela Mendez (Chile)

VS Miguel Vega Salazar (Colombia)

87 kg – Adonis Bonar II (Omaha, Neb./MWC Wrestling Academy)

VS Kevin Leal Sanchez (Colombia)

VS Cristhoper Perez Dominguez (Guatemala)

97 kg – Brenton Russell (Westpoint, N.Y./West Point WC)

VS Dorian Trejo Olguin (Mexico)

VS Alan Garcia Morales (Puerto Rico)

130 kg – James Hartleroad (Saint Joe, Ind./Midwest RTC)

VS Carlos Cabrales Encarnacion (Mexico)

VS Juan Calderon Molina (Ecuador)

VS Andre Brandao Santana (Brazil)