'26 USA Senior World Team Trials, 5/14-15, thread
- Thread starter Acacia
- Start date
I'll be honest and say I'm worried about Kasak. He looked fine until his quarterfinals match. I thought he was going to have to Med FF out of the match towards the end when he had numerous stoppages for injury time. Then, about 1 1/2 minutes into his semis match, he went down again and ended up defaulting. I was sitting very close to the point where he exited the platform and he had to be helped down by two guys. I sure hope he is OK, but he may need to take a break from wrestling for a while.
It's not our business to know about injuries, but yeah he looked rough at the end. Hope he gets better.
Hopefully all three of Jax, Davino and Seidel will compete. I also wonder if Suriano and/or Arujau might drop to to 61kg for the tournament?
Required qualifications----
April 2026 U20 Men’s Freestyle U.S. Open Championships Gold Medalist
2025 Senior Men’s Freestyle National Team Member
2024 Senior Men’s Freestyle Olympic or World Team Member
2025 U20 Men’s Freestyle World Medalist
2025 Junior Men’s Freestyle Pan American Games Gold Medalist
Wrestlers who meet the following criteria will qualify for the World Team Trials Challenge
2025 U23 Men’s Freestyle World Medalist
March 2026 NCAA I top 3 place finisher
2025 U17 Men’s Freestyle World Champion (age eligible)
November 2025 Bill Farrell International highest placing (top 4) U.S. athlete, who has yet to
qualify, will earn a spot in the 2026 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament
February 2026 UWW Medalists at Ranking Series events #1 & #2
April 2026 Senior Men’s Freestyle U.S. Open Championships - top 7 place finisher per weight class
May 2026 Senior Pan American Championships Medalist
Only 57KG, 61KG, 70KG, 74KG and 125KG will be wrestling.
April 2026 U20 Men’s Freestyle U.S. Open Championships Gold Medalist
2025 Senior Men’s Freestyle National Team Member
2024 Senior Men’s Freestyle Olympic or World Team Member
2025 U20 Men’s Freestyle World Medalist
2025 Junior Men’s Freestyle Pan American Games Gold Medalist
Wrestlers who meet the following criteria will qualify for the World Team Trials Challenge
2025 U23 Men’s Freestyle World Medalist
March 2026 NCAA I top 3 place finisher
2025 U17 Men’s Freestyle World Champion (age eligible)
November 2025 Bill Farrell International highest placing (top 4) U.S. athlete, who has yet to
qualify, will earn a spot in the 2026 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament
February 2026 UWW Medalists at Ranking Series events #1 & #2
April 2026 Senior Men’s Freestyle U.S. Open Championships - top 7 place finisher per weight class
May 2026 Senior Pan American Championships Medalist
Only 57KG, 61KG, 70KG, 74KG and 125KG will be wrestling.
57kg - Spencer Lee, no Penn State excitement unless Grey Burnett wants to wrestle
61KG - Forrest, Davino, Seidel, DeSanto, Gross, maybe Arujau
70KG - Robideau, Henson, Pantaleo, Miller, maybe PJ Duke
74KG - Carr, Sealey, Maybe Mesenbrink, Duke or James (all qualified)
61KG - Forrest, Davino, Seidel, DeSanto, Gross, maybe Arujau
70KG - Robideau, Henson, Pantaleo, Miller, maybe PJ Duke
74KG - Carr, Sealey, Maybe Mesenbrink, Duke or James (all qualified)
James said in his post u20 interview he is going at 74kg at seniors.
Kasak has qualified as has Retherford.
I wasn't sure. I was wondering why he wasn't at the open and thought maybe he was going to trials but really don't know what qualifies one to go to WTT or not. What does qualify someone for WTT?I would too, but he is not qualified for World team trials
Kasak is my favorite psu wrestler that kid is a beast
Qualifiers list is out:
www.themat.com
2026 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament Men’s Freestyle Qualifiers
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – 100 men’s freestyle athletes have qualified for the 2026 Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament to be held May 14-15 at Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center in Louisville, Ky.Five men’s freestyle weight classes (5...
www.themat.com
I should have read all the other responses. Didn't mean to throw salt in the wound.
2026 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament Women’s Freestyle Qualifiers
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – 91 women’s freestyle athletes have qualified for the 2026 Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament to be held May 14-15 at Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center in Louisville, Ky.Seven women’s freestyle weight classe...
www.themat.com
Insider alert: Hidlay-Mike Mach won’t happen at final x. Being moved up one week. Hidlay unavailable due to his wedding. Mike Mach unavailable due to being in Hidlay’s wedding.
Who schedules a wedding during Final X? Or is that only a college football thing for the entire fall? Lol.
In all seriousness, cool for them. And good info.
It’s a week later than in past years. Trent didn’t know. Guessing he was trying to get max newlywed time between final x and ramp-up for worlds.
I got ya! I was just being facetious off the old college football joke. All good, and yes, that makes total sense.
They should just wrestle it before the ceremony
What's next for Penn State wrestling following an interesting US Open? Portal set to close and more
Penn State wrestlers are moving on to the next stage of the offseason following the US Open tournament in Las Vegas.
"newlywed time"? is that what we're calling it now?
If Mesenbrink doesn’t go I wonder if PJ wrestles 74kg? If he can still make 70kg I feel that makes more sense but I have no idea if that’s still possible. I think he can make the team at either weight but I’m not sure what path would be easier
Great to see that Olympic and World champion Amit Elor is signed up. She gave birth to her son, Aryeh, on January 23 of this year. Wrestling in the WTT four months after giving birth is pretty amazing. She is currently going through a very difficult family situation right now that is alluded to in the comments on her most-recent Instagram post, which is not the one posted below:
Have a story going up in a few minutes on this but five Nittany Lions are entered:
74 kg: James, Duke, and Sealey
125 kg: Cole and Connor Mirasola
Still not entered:
Mesenbrink, Henckel, Kasak, Barr, SVN
74 kg: James, Duke, and Sealey
125 kg: Cole and Connor Mirasola
Still not entered:
Mesenbrink, Henckel, Kasak, Barr, SVN
I’m pumped that PJ is going! He can win 74kg especially with MM not going.
I doubt any of the guys you listed end up going. No weight for Henckel or Barr to compete at plus he’s banged up
I would not be surprised, either, but will still continue to include them on the list of potential entries since they qualify until the deadline passes and/or we get word otherwise that they will be out.
First five Penn State wrestlers, including Penn State star PJ Duke at a new weight, register for 2026 World Team Trials
Penn State wrestlers are gearing up for their last chance to make Final X by entering the 2026 World Team Trials.
I figured but, see my reasoning above. I’ll make the caveats more clear in future posts, though.
I'm starting to think we should just be happy he finishes his wrestling career this year at Penn state. He just may not be like most, or like how we would be if we were blessed enough to possess his talent and ability. He may genuinely not care to wrestle that much longer, regardless of how good he is. Or, he may have said " I've been doing international wrestling at one level or another for going on 4/5 years and need a summer to live my life". Time will tell.