FARMINGTON, Utah – Each of the No. 1 seeds in the four preliminary pools won their respective pools to kick off the 2026 USA Wrestling 16U National Duals. Pennsylvania (Pool A), Washington (Pool B), Wisconsin (Pool C) and Minnesota Red (Pool D) all went unbeaten on Wednesday at the Western Sports Park.
To start the day, 37 teams were spread across four preliminary pools in straight-line brackets. The top two teams in each preliminary pool move into the Gold/Silver Bracket, where they are guaranteed a top-eight finish and are still in the hunt for the national title.
Top overall seed, Pennsylvania, rolled through Pool A. They scored over 50 points in each of their duals and notched 38 bonus wins across three matches. To secure a spot in the Gold/Silver Bracket, Pennsylvania recorded a 52-20 win over California Gold behind nine technical falls and pins from Jack Stonebraker and Keegan Hewitt.
In Pool B, Washington, which was the No. 2 overall seed, rallied from behind in its final preliminary dual against Colorado. Colorado, which was the second seed in the pool, led 15-12 after six bouts. However, Washington grabbed a 24-20 advantage and never looked back en route to a 44-32 victory to take first place in the pool.
After back-to-back decisive wins as the top seed in Pool C, Wisconsin edged out second-seeded Illinois, 40-34, to take the top spot in the pool. Illinois won the first four matches in the dual, but Wisconsin worked its way back into the match, winning four of the next five bouts. Illinois also did not win back-to-back matches after taking the first four in a row.
Minnesota Red capped off the day with a first-place finish in Pool D following a 49-26 win over Iowa. As the top two seeds in the pool and the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds overall, the two sides battled back-and-forth with Minnesota Red holding a 29-23 advantage with five matches to go. Minnesota Red won those five contests, with four being bonus wins, to pull away and win the dual.
Iowa and California Gold both rebounded from their losses in first-place matches and captured victories in true second matches. Iowa won a 42-29 affair against Ohio in Pool D, and California Gold won 48-27 in Pool A versus Utah Gold. Colorado and Illinois both avoided true second duals after beating Kansas and Michigan Blue, respectively, in the semifinals of their preliminary pools.
The Gold/Silver Bracket includes Pennsylvania, Minnesota Red, Illinois and Colorado in Pool A and Washington, Wisconsin, Iowa and California Gold in Pool B. One of those eight teams will take home the Greco-Roman crown tomorrow.
Action at the 16U National Duals continues Thursday at 8 a.m. MT with the remaining Greco-Roman color pool duals and placement matches. A complete schedule of events for this weekend’s tournament is available at usawrestlingevents.com.
Live stream and archived matches are available on FloWrestling. Updated brackets and match-by-match results are available on USA Bracketing.
