Nearly 90 state wrestlers will be competing in Fargo beginning Friday

The Junior and 16U nationals begin in Fargo on Friday. (Tony Rotondo photo courtesy USA Wrestling)

More than 90 wrestlers from Connecticut will be competing at USA Wrestling’s Junior National and 16 and under national championship tournament in Fargo, North Dakota.

The tournament, which calls itself the largest wrestling competition in the world, will be held on 30 mats in the Fargodome on the campus of North Dakota State beginning on Friday.

The Junior division features high school wrestlers in grades 9-12. The 16U division features athletes who turned 15 or 16 years old in 2026 and is a tournament where athletes can begin to make a name for themselves on the national level.

The Junior Nationals enters its 55th year and has been held annually since the inaugural event held in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1971, except for 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 16U (formerly Cadet) Nationals was merged with the Junior Nationals in 1996.

Click on the following link for the 2026 Connecticut roster.

Eight state wrestlers have won national championships at this tournament. The most recent girl to win a national title was Milford’s Kayla Batres at 110 pounds in the Junior National tournament last year while the most recent boy to win was Southbury’s William Henckel in 2021 in 16U freestyle. Batres was named OW of the tournament a year ago.

Junior and 16U boys freestyle competition begins on Friday and will conclude on Sunday. The Junior and 16U Greco Roman tournament will be on Tuesday, July 14 and Wednesday, July 15. The girls Junior and 16U freestyle tournaments will begin Thursday, July 16 and conclude on Saturday, July 18.

Thirty boys from the state will be wrestling in 16U freestyle and 20 in 16U Greco Roman. Seven girls are representing Connecticut in 16U girls freestyle and 10 in Junior girls freestyle. Thirty-five state boys are registered for Junior freestyle and 22 are set to compete in Junior Greco Roman.