By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

LAS VEGAS – An exciting batch of U20 men’s freestyle quarterfinals is set at the 2026 U.S. Open Championships—Senior division champion Bo Bassett and NCAA champion Landon Robideau highlight the top contenders.

Shortly after Bassett defeated Joey McKenna by 10-0 technical fall in the 65 kg Senior men’s freestyle final on Saturday night, he switched gears to win a fourth U20 match of the day. Bassett has outscored his first four U20 opponents by a 42-0 margin. As the only past men’s freestyle U20 World medalist in the field, Bassett is the clear favorite in the weight.

It was a similar story for Robideau, who collected four technical falls to reach the 70 kg quarterfinals. The recently crowned NCAA champion for Oklahoma State moves into pole position in the weight after No. 1 seed Melvin Miller was upended by David Gleason in the round-of-16.

U17 World champions Samuel Sanchez (57 kg), Jayden James (74 kg) and Michael Mocco (125 kg) have combined for nine technical falls in nine matches wrestled.

Sanchez, a two-time U17 World champion, is one of three U17 World medalists at 57 kg. Grey Burnett earned U17 World bronze last year, while Henry Aslikyan did so the year prior. Sanchez and Aslikyan will meet up in the quarterfinals, first thing on Sunday. The reward for the Sanchez-Aslikyan winner is a likely date with Isaiah Cortez, who won U20 World silver in Greco-Roman two years ago.

For Mocco to win a national title, he will have to go through Rylan Kuhn, then, in all likelihood, take out Coby Merrill and Dreshaun Ross in back-to-back bouts. It’s a tall task considering Merrill is fresh off a win against Olympian and World bronze medalist Mason Parris, and Ross being solidified as the top heavyweight prospect in the country.

Additional U17 World medalists in the quarterfinals are Keanu Dillard at 61 kg, Tanner Hodgins at 92 kg and Brock Mantanona at 86 kg. If seeds hold, Mantanona would face 2023 U17 World Team member Aeoden Sinclair in the finals. Both were NCAA All-Americans at 184 pounds last month, and wrestled in the consolation semifinals (Sinclair won, 11-3).

Remarkably, there are no returning champions in the U20 men’s freestyle division this year, leaving the door wide open for fresh faces to take over.

The U.S. Open Championships wrap up on Sunday with a sprint to the finish in the U17 and U20 men’s freestyle divisions, starting at 10 a.m. (PT).

All the action from the U.S. Open Championships is available to watch live or on-demand on FloWrestling. Brackets and match-by-match results can be found on USA Bracketing.

2026 U.S. Open Championships 

At Las Vegas, Nevada, April 25 

Reference Links 

• Live stream

• Brackets

• Event hub

U20 Men’s Freestyle 

Quarterfinal Matchups 

57 kg 

Grey Burnett (Burnett Trained Wrestling) vs. Dominic Deputy (Wolfpack RTC)

Loc Webber (Beast Mode Wrestling) vs. Antonio Mills (Roundtree Wrestling Academy)

Isaiah Cortez (Spartan Combat RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Hayden Schwab (Immortal Athletics WC)

Henry Aslikyan (Cliff Keen WC) vs. Samuel Sanchez (Titan Mercury WC)

61 kg 

Jackson Blum (Indiana RTC) vs. Nicholas Sorrow (Simmons Academy Of Wrestling)

Elijah Cortez (Spartan Combat RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Carter Pearson (Cyclone RTC)

Arno Vardanyan (World Team Training Center) vs. Ronnie Ramirez (Cowboy RTC/Titan Mercury WC)

Dean Anderson (Valiant WC) vs. Keanu Dillard (Lehigh Valley Wrestling RTC)

65 kg 

Bo Bassett (Titan Mercury WC) vs. Isaiah Schaefer (Boilermaker RTC)

Sam Herring (Pennsylvania) vs. Tyler Dekraker (Spartan RTC@LHP)

Lincoln Sledzianowski (Garage Boyz) vs. Clinton Shepherd (Howe Wrestling School, LLC)

Matthew Martino (NJRTC) vs. Kellen Wolbert (Askren Wrestling Academy)

70 kg 

David Gleason (Tiger Style WC) vs. Vince Bouzakis (Pittsburgh WC)

Nathaniel Askew (Tar Heel WC) vs. Seth Mendoza (Tiger Style WC)

Landon Robideau (Cowboy RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Charles Vanier (Minnesota - RTC)

Gus Cardinal (Valiant WC) vs. Jake Miller (Broken Arrow WC)

74 kg 

Jayden James (KD Training/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Jacob Herm (Jackrabbit WC)

Rocco Cassioppi (Hononegah WC) vs. Silas Stits (Golden One RTC)

Kody Routledge (Cowboy RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Haakon Peterson (Askren Wrestling Academy)

Matthew Staples (Midwest RTC) vs. Bruno Cassioppi (Hononegah WC)

79 kg 

Ryan Burton (SERTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Joseph Jeter (Position Wrestling)

Sullivan Ramos (Ranger WC) vs. Lane Foard (Wyoming Wrestling RTC)

Asher Cunningham (Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Elliott Humphries (Pennsylvania RTC)

Cody Kirk (CLT RTC) vs. Christopher Crawford (Indiana RTC)

86 kg 

Aeoden Sinclair (Tiger Style RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Lucas Ricketts (Maurer Coughlin WC)

Eli Leonard (SWA/Gorilla Lab) vs. Waylon Cressell (PWC RTC)

Jarrett Wadsen (Jackrabbit WC) vs. Jordan Chapman (Scarlet Knight WC)

Riley Johnson (MWC Wrestling Academy) vs. Brock Mantanona (Cliff Keen WC)

92 kg 

Ladd Holman (Juab WC) vs. Levi Bussey (California)

Lincoln Jipp (Big Game WC) vs. Tanner Hodgins (Shore Thing WC)

Karson Tompkins (Air Force RTC) vs. Jake Conroy (Spartan Combat RTC)

Guy Fraley (Ranger WC) vs. Jimmy Mastny (Relentless Training Center)

97 kg 

Aiden Cooley (Best Trained Wrestling) vs. Brokton Borelli (California RTC)

Robert Platt (Tar Heel WC) vs. Thomas Reilly (Ranger WC)

Garett Kawczynski (Askren Wrestling Academy) vs. Cason Howle (Wolfpack RTC/Titan Mercury WC)

Maximus Konopka (South Side WC) vs. Michael Boyle (Ohio Crazy Goats)

125 kg 

Dreshaun Ross (Cowboy RTC) vs. Dean Bechtold (Steller Trained Wrestling)

Jay Henderson (Spartan Combat RTC/Titan Mercury WC) vs. Tyson Martin (Askren Wrestling Academy)

Coby Merrill (New York AC) vs. Jacob Levy (Tar Heel WC)

Rylan Kuhn (Air Force RTC) vs. Michael Mocco (Hawkeye WC)