Black named Outstanding Wrestler, Attao repeats as champion at U20 Greco-Roman Nationals

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – It was an exciting championship finals in the U20 Nationals Greco-Roman Championships on Wednesday night, the first day of the 2024 Pritchard Companies U.S. Open at the South Point Arena.

Otto Black of Colorado Top Team was named Outstanding Wrestler after defeating returning champions Landon Drury of Betterman Elite Wrestling in the 63 kg finals, 10-5. With the scored tied at 5-5 with Black holding criteria, Black nailed a sweet five-point back arch to close out the victory. Drury was fifth in the 2023 U20 Worlds, while Black was fifth in the 2021 U17 World Championships.

Repeating as U20 Nationals Greco-Roman champion was Aden Attao of Suples WC (130 kg).who pinned Hayden Simpson of the Cowboy RTC in 39 seconds in the finals. Attao, a two-time U20 World Team member and 2022 U20 World bronze medalist, attends Oregon State.

Champions in the U20 Nationals will advance directly to the best-of-three championship finals series at the U20 World Team Trials in Geneva, Ohio, May 31-June 2. Winners also earn the right to compete at the 2024 Pan American U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, July 11-13.

2022 U17 World champion and 2023 U20 World Team member Joel Adams of the Best Wrestler was dominant in his 8-0 technical fall over Brennan Van Hoecke of Florida in the 67 kg finals.

The Khosravy brothers from California, 19-year old Arvin and 17-year-old Arian, were co-champions at 82 kg. Arvin, a two-time U17 World team member, moved up two weight classes, where he met his younger brother in the finals. A USA Wrestling rule allows brothers to choose not to compete in a national tournament finals and become co-champions.

Cory Land of Panther WC RTC, a 2021 U17 World silver medalist, claimed the 60 kg gold medal, with a 7-2 victory over Elijah Cortez of the Daniel Cormier WC in the 60 kg finals. Land, who competes for UNI, is returning from an injury which made him miss the college season.

High school wrestler Isaiah Cortez of the Daniel Cormier WC was the 55 kg champion, beating Elyle Francisco of the Anchorage Youth Wrestling Academy, 3-1.

Other individual champions were Brett Back of Dubuque RTC (72 kg), Aydin Rix McElhinney of the Northern Colorado WC (77 kg), Nick Nosler of the Southern Illinois RTC (87 kg) and Soren Herzog of the Air Force RTC at 97 kg. Three of this group are NCAA Div. I wrestlers, Rix McElhinney at Northern Colorado, Nosler at SIU-Edwardsville and Herzog at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The men’s freestyle division of the U20 Nationals begins on Friday and concludes on Saturday.

All of the action is live on FloWrestling https://flosports.link/3S5LB5x

2024 U.S. OPEN

At Las Vegas, Nev., April 24

U20 National Greco-Roman results

55 KG

1st Isaiah Cortez CA (Daniel Cormier Wrestling Club) dec Elyle Francisco AK (Anchorage Youth Wrestling Academy), 3-1

3rd Ezekiel Witt KS (Manhattan Wrestling) dec Kody Tanimoto TX (Spartan Mat Club), 5-2

5th Mack Mauger ID (Team Idaho Wrestling Club) inj dft. Rhett Peak OK (Checkmate WC)

7th Davis Motyka PA (XCalibur Athletics) inj dft Zachary Silvis MN (Greco-Roman Development), 0-0 0:00

60 KG

1st Cory Land AL (Panther Wrestling Club RTC) dec. Elijah Cortez CA (Daniel Cormier Wrestling Club), 7-2

3rd Teegan Vasquez MT (Kalispell Wrestling Club) tech fall Cale Seaton IA (Big Game Wrestling Club), 12-4 4:47

5th Bubba Wright KS (Air Force Regional Training Center) pin Adam Butler OH (The Wrestling Factory of Cleveland), 10-2 2:13

7th Colson Hoffman GA (Compound Wrestling) inj dft Lukas Kanownik ID (Suples Wrestling Club)

63 KG

1st Otto Black CO (Colorado Top Team Wrestling Club) dec. Landon Drury CO (Betterman Elite Wrestling), 10-5

3rd Amryn Nutter WI (Combat W.C. School of Wrestling) dec. Rhett Koenig WI (Gopher Wrestling Club - RTC), 3-2

5th Kaden Ercanbrack UT (NMU-National Training Center) dec. Carter Nogle MD (HeadHunters Wrestling Club), 11-8

7th Tanner Frothinger ID (Suples Wrestling Club) tech fall William Anderson AL (Ironclad Wrestling Club), 11-2 2:27

67 KG

1st Joel Adams NE (The Best Wrestler) tech fall Brennan Van Hoecke FL (Florida), 8-0 1:08

3rd Colton Parduhn AK (Interior Grappling Academy) tech fall Gunnar Hamre WI (Combat W.C. School of Wrestling), 8-0 3:51

5th Pierson Manville PA (Pennsylvania) tech fall Noah Manuel Tapia IL (Blue & Gold Wrestling Club), 9-0 1:48

7th Paul Kelly CA (Poway High School Wrestling) pin Noah Rice PA (Lancaster Alliance Wrestling Club (LAW)), 4-4 1:52

72 KG

1st Brett Back WI (Dubuque RTC) dec Tyler Antoniak NE (MWC Wrestling Academy), 4-2

3rd Jadon Skellenger ID (Team Idaho Wrestling Club) dec. Braden Stauffenberg IL (Michigan Wrestling Club), 10-5

5th Aliaksandr Kikiniou CA (Poway High School Wrestling) pin Owen Hicks NY (Curby 3 Style Wrestling Club), 4-0 0:36

7th Hunter Sturgill TN (Baylor Wrestling Academy) dec Gabriel Delgado NV (Gold Rush Wrestling), 7-3

77 KG

1st Aydin Rix McElhinney ME (Northern Colorado Wrestling Club) tech fall Leister Bowling IV CO (Colorado Top Team Wrestling Club), 8-0 3:10

3rd Bradley Gillum IL (Southern Illinois Regional Training Center) dec Caden Young WI (Mustang Wrestling Club), 5-3

5th Gavin Ricketts KY (Kentucky) inj dft Ashton Miess WI (Combat W.C. School of Wrestling), 0-0 0:00

7th Benjamin Smith MD (Lancaster Alliance Wrestling Club (LAW)) dec. Magnus Kuokkanen WI (Indiana RTC), 5-1

82 kg

1st Arian Khosravy CA (California) and Arvin Khosravy CA (California), co-champion

3rd Aidan Squier CT (Combat W.C. School of Wrestling) VSU Keenan Wyatt AL (Knights RTC), 8-0 1:18

5th Brent Slade, jr. IA (Moen Wrestling Academy) VFA Noah Poe-hatten MT (Montana), 4-4 1:01

7th Deontre Buttram OK (Del City Wrestling Club) VFA Roth Powers AK (Avalanche Wrestling Association), 9-4 2:39

87 KG

1st Nick Nosler IL (Southern Illinois Regional Training Center) tech fall Antony Tuttle MN (Pinnacle Wrestling Club), 9-0 4:43

3rd Lars Michaelson WA (NWWC) dec. Anders Thompson MT (Flathead High School Wrestling), 4-0

5th Matthew Rodriguez KS (Tiger Den Wrestling Club) inj dft Mason Christian MT (Montana), 0-0 0:00

7th Riley Hucks SC (Sons Of Thunder Wrestling) pin Aiden Cooley TX (Best Trained Wrestling), 5-0 0:38

97 KG

1st Soren Herzog CO (Air Force Regional Training Center) tech fall Soren Pirhoun VA (Gunston Wrestling Club), 9-0 1:57

3rd Max Ramberg WI (Viking RTC) pin Brennan Carey MO (Combat W.C. School of Wrestling), 4:17

5th Cittadino Tuttle MN (Pinnacle Wrestling Club) tech fall Joseph Lewis IA (Iowa), 10-1 6:00

7th Michael Calcagno IL (Izzy Style Wrestling) dec. Ian Smith WI (CrassTrained: Weigh In Club), 25-19

130 KG

1st Aden Attao ID (Beaver Dam Wrestling Regional Training Center) pin Hayden Simpson OK (Cowboy RTC), 0:39

3rd Joshua Terrill MI (Michigan Wrestling Club) pin Cameron Groncki NY (NMU-National Training Center)

5th Shilo Jones ID (Team Idaho Wrestling Club) dec. Jaren Rohde WI (Dubuque RTC), 15-9

7th Cody Kwak WI (Victory School of Wrestling) inj dft Jackson Mankowski WI (Wisconsin)