Connecticut’s Jackson Heslin, left and Chase Kastner earned All-American honors at the USA Wrestling national championships in Greco -Roman on Sunday. (Photo courtesy Sarah Jadach)
Two state wrestlers earned All-American honors on the final day of USA Wrestling’s Junior and 16U national championship meet at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota.
Marlborough’s Jackson Heslin finished second at 126 pounds in the Junior Greco Roman competition while Southington’s Chase Kastner took third at 106 pounds in the 16-and-under (16U) Greco-Roman tournament.
Seven Connecticut wrestlers earned All-American honors by finishing in the top eight of their respective weight classes in the week-long event that attracted more than 8,000 wrestlers, making it the largest wrestling tournament in the world, according to USA Wrestling officials.
Southbury’s William Henckel (175) finished second in junior freestyle with Simsbury’s Max Konopka (190) taking second in the 16U freestyle. In the women’s competition, Milford’s Kayla Bates (112) was second in 16U freestyle, Southbury’s Sarah Henckel (145) was second in Junior freestyle and Norwalk’s Calli Gilchrist (120) was third in Junior freestyle.
Heslin, who will be a junior at Greens Farms Academy in Westport this fall, went 6-1 in the tournament with two pins. He dropped a 6-0 decision to Illinois’ Anthony Ruzic in the finals. Ruzic, a three-time Illinois Class A champion, will attend the University of Illinois this fall.
Heslin won six straight matches to get to the finals including a win by technical fall in 43 seconds over Minnesota’s Lawson Eller in the semifinals and a pin of Missouri’s Zane Reynolds. In the quarterfinals, Arizona’s Christian Castillo had a 6-0 lead in the first period before Heslin rallied to tie the match 6-6 after one period. Heslin prevailed, 12-6.
Kastner, who will be a sophomore at Southington High this fall, went 6-1 had a big rally in his 18-8 quarterfinal win over South Dakota’s Pierce Hurd to remain alive in the tournament. Hurd led 7-2 after one period and had an 8-2 lead early in the second period before Kastner ripped off 16 unanswered points.
Kastner had two four-point moves in the final seven seconds to turn a two-point lead into a big 10-point victory.
Kastner lost to eventual champion Hayden Schwab of Iowa in the semifinals, 6-3 before two wins in the consolation bracket. Kastner beat Washington’s Brycen Dawley, 15-10, to finish third.
It was his second USA Wrestling medal from Fargo. He was sixth in the 16U Greco Roman at 94 pounds in 2023.
Several other wrestlers had multiple wins in the Greco-Roman tournaments. In the Junior Division, Xavier Giles, a Bronx resident who wrestled for Greens Farms Academy, went 5-2 at 175 pounds, wrestling for Team Connecticut. He will be attending Princeton this fall.
Kingston Daniels Silva, another New York City resident who competed for Greens Farms Academy, went 4-2 at 215 pounds, losing both bouts to eventual All-Americans. Eventual national champion Soren Pirhoun of Virginia beat Daniels Silva.
Fairfield Ludlowe’s Donnell Young went 4-2 at 165 pounds with four straight wins to begin the tournament. Both of his losses came to eventual All-Americans, including a quarterfinal loss to Griffen Lundeen of Minnesota, who finished second.
According to USA Wrestling officials, the official number of athletes competing this year was 8,062, breaking the previous record of 7,134 set a year ago, a jump of 12.8 percent. The largest tournament was Junior boys freestyle with 1,817 wrestlers followed by 16U boys freestyle with 1,698. Girls freestyle had a jump of 33.3 percent with 284 more athletes attending this year – 1,137.
It was the first time since 2006 that Connecticut had multiple medalists in the Greco-Roman competition. Mike Powers of Loomis Chaffee (8th, Junior GR) and Domenic Tenan of Bristol Eastern (8th, Cadet GR) won medals.
2024 Junior and 16U national championship results and brackets (FloArena)
