I’ve been saying for a while that UWW Junior and U23 registration will start to pick up and today was the day. Both tournaments got some major boosts from high profile Div I wrestlers. You can see the full list of entries HERE.

Watch UWW Jr and U23 Nationals LIVE on FloWrestling

Friday, November 13 - Sunday, November 15

The Iowa Hawkeyes and Oklahoma State Cowboys announced they will each be sending several wrestlers. Two names stand out: Austin Desanto and AJ Ferrari.

Austin Desanto

This is quite interesting as we have only seen Austin Desanto wrestle freestyle once in his career and it was two weeks ago at the Hawkeye Showdown Open. He was defeated by Bryce Meredith 11-3, and largely out freestyled with chest wraps and other exposures. Is Desanto just trying to get matches or is he specifically trying to improve his freestyle game?

Also at 61 kg is Micky Phillippi, Ian Parker, Michael Colaiocco, Josh Kramer, Taylor LaMont, and many other solid wrestlers. These five specifically are all very experienced in freestyle. If Desanto didn’t learn anything from his match with Meredith, they could make him pay.

AJ Ferrari

AJ Ferrari will once again be getting the wrestling world talking for something other than his social media antics. We haven’t seen Ferrari wrestle a serious high level national match since he was at Bergen Catholic in early 2019. However, as a top 10 recruit from the class of 2020 and a Cadet World medalist and Ironman champion, there’s a lot of hype around this young man. OSU head coach John Smith even recently stated that he is the probable starter at 197 for the Cowboys this season.

This sets up a potential great match between Missouri’s Rocky Elam, who was #14 on the Class of 2020 Big Board, and just took 5th at Senior Nationals.

Other Notable Entries

Juniors

57 kg: Pat Glory

57 kg: Jesse Ybarra

61 kg: Sammy Alvarez

61 kg: Ryan Jack

61 kg: Ridge Lovett

65 kg: Cody Chittum

65 kg: Joshua Saunders

65 kg: Victor Voinovich

65 kg: Anthony Ferrari

65 kg: Joseph Zargo

70 kg: Keegan O’Toole

74 kg: Alex Facundo

74 kg: Cael Valencia

74 kg: Clayton Ulrey

79 kg: Patrick Kennedy

79 kg: Gerrit Nijenhuis

92 kg: Rocky Elam

125 kg: Hunter Catka

U23s

57 kg: Brandon Courtney

57 kg: Devin Schroder

57 kg: Rayvon Foley

65 kg: Max Murin

65 kg: Brock Mauller

65 kg: Dom Demas

70 kg: Kaleb Young

70 kg: Michael Blockhus

74 kg: Evan Wick

74 kg: Jacori Teemer

79 kg: David McFadden

79 kg: Demetrius Romero

79 kg: Nelson Brands

79 kg: Clay Lautt

86 kg: Taylor Lujan

86 kg: Cameron Caffey

92 kg: Jacob Warner

92 kg: Jakob Woodley

92 kg: Nathan Traxler

92 kg: Nino Bonaccorsi

92 kg: Kordell Norfleet

97 kg: Noah Adams

97 kg: Tanner Sloan

125 kg: Demertius Thomas

125 kg: Jordan Wood

125 kg: Gannon Gremmel

125 kg: Zach Elam

125: Anthony Cassioppi

Once again, you can see the full list of entries HERE.