It’s funny how quickly different sports are evolving these days. Whether it’s newer technology, access to information or just biological advancement, the fact of the matter is, kids are getting better a lot quicker! Few and far between are the days when experience and maturity can be a deciding factor in a big sporting win, no, this is the age when youth and stamina are taking the forefront, with the young ‘uns learning at lightning speed, the game is changing faster than most can keep up with, and former Penn State wrestler and three-time NCAA champion Bo Nickal, along with former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen, are taking note of this trend in wrestling!

That’s right, the US Men’s Wrestling Team has just had a huge revamp. As the team heads into a new string of events, starting with the Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial Ranking Series Event at the end of this month, it seems that there are not two, but three high schoolers on the team.

Nickal was the first to point this out, posting to his twitter, “We have 2 high schoolers on the senior freestyle world team. That’s crazy.” But Chael Sonnen was quick to correct Nickal, retweeting his statement with the caption, “3- GRECO has HS guy there too.” Pointing out that in addition to the Men’s Freestyle National Team is the Greco Roman National Team that has another high schooler.

Nickal seemed understandably blown away by the entire exchange and the subject at hand, finally responding with a simple ‘Wow!!,’ but it’s true, there are three high schoolers on the two national wrestling teams. PJ Duke and Jax Forrest are on the Freestyle team and Jayden Raney is on the Greco-Roman one. But just who are these young stars?

A deep dive into the youngest members on the US Men’s National Wrestling Team, as pointed out by Bo Nickal and Chael Sonnen

Imagine being barely out of high school and already joining the likes of wrestling heroes like Carter Starocci and Wyatt Hendrickson—what a feeling! Well, these three young stars are going to get a good dose of that real soon.

PJ Duke from Slate Hill, New York, will be wrestling in the 70kg division and has already had experience representing the national team. Early on in June, he wrestled in the Final X tournament in Newark, New Jersey and defeated 2022 World silver medalist Yianni Diakomihalis 2-1 in a best-of-three series. There is a lot to be expected of Duke, who on June 19th was named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare.

Then we have Jax Forrest, who is the youngest wrestler on the team and who defeated 2023 World champion Vito Arujau for the last spot in the 61kg category. Jax Forrest, who turns 19 this October, will be the youngest wrestler to represent the US National team since 1974, when Billy Rosado did, although he was still 18 at the time, he was slightly younger.

Finally, there’s Jayden Raney on the Greco-Roman side of things. Wrestling at 55kg’s, Raney is setting a new precedent for high school wrestler’s who don’t normally take on this style of the sport. Hailing from Kentucky’s Union County, Rainey is ranked sixth in the nation according to High School on SI’s national rankings.

So, yes, they’re young, but they’re ready and both Bo Nickal and Chael Sonnen will be watching closely to see if they can live up to their new status!