Four top athletes who know what it is like to compete on the highest level were joined by two young, gifted prospects whose futures have now been accelerated.
The finals for Group A at the 2026 US World Team Trials began at 10:00am local time from Las Vegas, Nevada (1:00pm ET) on Friday and streamed live on FLOWrestling.
Max Nowry (55 kg, NYAC/IRTC) — who this week was wrestling in an American selection event for the first time in four years — along with Dalton Roberts (60 kg, Army/WCAP), Xavier Johnson (63 kg, Army/WCAP), and Benji Peak (72 kg, NYAC/Position) have each appeared in at least one World Championships previously in their careers and will be doing so again this coming fall after emerging victorious Friday night. ’22 U17 World Champion Joel Adams (77 kg, Beaver Dam RTC) earned his first shot at a Senior medal by getting past elder statesman, and ’09 World bronze, Aliaksandr Kikiniou (NYAC), and reigning U23 World bronze Otto Black (67 kg, NYAC) actually clinched before wrestling even started this morning.
Nowry faced off with the man who had been his main domestic rival at 55 kilograms, Brady Koontz (TMWC/Position). The pair had met in three prior Trials finals (’19 Final X, ’21 WTT, and ’22 Final X, respectively) with Nowry prevailing each time. But with Nowry out of the picture the past four years, Koontz surged and earned spots on the ’23 and ’24 World rosters. The thinking was because he had never stopped competing that Koontz might have closed the gap, if not potentially enjoyed an outright advantage — this despite how crisp Nowry looked on Thursday.
Instead, it was Nowry who claimed every advantage worth having as he was the victor via VSU in Match 1 thanks in large part to a booming reverse lift. The second round of the series saw Nowry capitalize on the first passivity call and twice execute a trapped-arm gut, which resulted in a 5-0 lead. Koontz received the bout’s second passivity/PT call, but Nowry defended and eventually collected the 5-1 decision to sweep the series and earn his fourth placement on a Senior World Team. Afterwards, the now-four-time World Team member explained how he was able to remain sharp and engaged in the absence of top-level competition over the past few years.
“I never walked away from it, I kind of did the Homer Simpson thing and walked back into the bush for a little while,” Nowry told the media pool following Match 2. “I finally got some peace in my life, took a break, took a step back, and kind of found my way back into it. I didn’t think too much into it. I was helping Zane Richards and coaching full-time, and then I was more or less talked into coming back.”
Nowry posing with son Uriah after clinching the 55 kg spot on the 2026 US World Team. (Photo: Larry Slater)
Roberts, Johnson, & Peak
Roberts and the aforementioned Richards were the last two standing at 60 kilograms, a familiar setting for both. Roberts has now appeared in five World or Olympic Team Trials best-of-three series while Richards — who first ventured into Senior Greco a season ago — was suiting up for his second-straight final. Par terre is how Roberts garnered momentum. For Match 1, a high lock for the Army athlete provided the means for a crash gut and follow-up turn. By then, his lead had ballooned to 7-0 and Richards could not make up the difference. Match 2 was a slightly different story. Richards broke the ice with a step-out but Roberts responded with a cascading correct throw off the edge to go up 2-1. Later in the opening period, Roberts used an arm drag to off-balance Richards and score a takedown, equating to a 4-1 cushion. Two points went to Richards from his own nifty takedown in the second period but Roberts’ lead held up until the whistle.
In the aftermath, Roberts poignantly alluded to a pair of noteworthy items. The first was that he derived additional motivation entering this World Team selection season following what was for him a down performance last year. The second was where he was located in the bracket. Although a multi-time World Team member and National champ still in the prime of his career, Roberts was seeded 4th at 60 kg in ’26, a development that apparently irked him just a touch. “I had a fire under me this last year. I didn’t get what I wanted,” Roberts said. “Seeds, they don’t really mean a whole lot, but I felt like there might have been an injustice there and I was like, I’m going to run through this tournament regardless. You can put me unseeded, and that is kind of my whole mentality behind this — and moving forward, Pan-Ams, Worlds… I don’t care who you put in front of me, I’m going for it.”
Roberts celebrates after defeating Zane Richards 4-3 in Match 2 of the 60 kg finals at the 2026 World Team Trials. (Photo: Larry Slater)
Johnson took on two-time U20 World Team member Landon Drury (NYAC/NTS) in the 63 kg series and enjoyed a big first period en-route to a 5-3 decision win in Match 1. But Drury answered the bell in the middle contest by engineering a comeback in the second period, thus knotting the series. The third and decisive match involved some drama. Johnson stepped over a Drury gutwrench attempt and nearly had himself a win by way of fall, inciting Drury to have to fight off of his back in order to survive. That made the score 2-1 but NMU challenged the sequence and lost, updating Johnson’s margin to 3-1. Another point in the second period delivered to Johnson a little more breathing room and, before long, he had made the second World Team of his career after first doing so in ’23.
“First I want to say that I give all the glory to God, my family, my teammates, my coaching staff,” Johnson declared when meeting the media. “I knew that coming back down to this weight from 67 to 63 was going to be tough, but I stuck to my diet thanks to my nutritionist.” After being asked what his preparation might entail in the months ahead, Johnson answered, “Greco is missing a few medals and I’m planning to bring one of those back home.”
Peak became the fourth wrestler from the tournament’s Group A (55, 60, 63, 67, 72, and 77 kg) contingent to make the ’26 World Team after having won this tournament previously. And it was quite a comeback for him, as well, just not in terms of the scoreboard. Last year, Peak suffered a broken neck while training and therefore had to miss the entirety of the ’25 selection season. Once healed, he moved to Oklahoma to join Sam Hazewinkel’s new Position Wrestling team, participated in two overseas tour over the winter, and between Thursday and Friday won five individual matches to include his series sweep in the finals against Peyton Robb (NYAC/Nebraska Wrestling TC). Robb — who has most assuredly elevated his game this season, and obviously did in this tournament — had his moments against Peak but was decisioned in two straight by identical 6-3 scores.
“One year and three months ago I broke my neck at the Olympic Training Center training,” Peak said afterwards. “I had a lot of doctors, a lot of people unsure of how I was going to heal, what I was going to be able to do. Seven months later my neck healed. Doctors said that it was incredible, that it healed the best they have ever seen. I went to three different neurosurgeons to really trust what was happening. They all said the same thing, and I got back to training. I ended up in Edmond, Oklahoma, with Hazewinkel. I felt like when you break your neck, everybody kind of writes you off, You’re done! You’re finished! Over there at the position wrestling in Edmond, Oklahoma, they brought me in like a family. We got a group of guys. I don’t know if you saw what we did this week, but Brett Back, Jace Koelzer, Rhett Peak, Aiden Thomas… Our whole team we went unbelievably crazy this weekend and for the people that didn’t know who we are, every single person knows who we are now, so it feels great.”
Black & Adams
Black raced through his side of the bracket on Thursday to set up a three-match series against Peyton Omania at 67 kg but their hotly-anticipated showdown did not come to fruition. Word had circulated early on Friday morning that Omania had weighed-in past the deadline, which therefore disqualified him from competing as well as resulting in Black automatically receiving the World Team bid. “It’s not how I wanted to make the Team,” Black said when speaking to reporters. “I know that I’m better than that guy, I wanted to show out and perform in front of a crowd, but it’s good. I get to compete at the Pan-Ams in two weeks and perform on the Senior level and show that I’m one of the best.”
As for Adams, who has been a talented Greco-Roman athlete since his youth but is also a successful folkstyle wrestler, there was nothing easy about the best-of-three slugfest he endured against Kikiniou. In Match 1, Adams wrestled with a clean yet dynamic approach and managed to hold Kikiniou at bay by a score of 5-1. But Round 2 is when Kikiniou would be heard, as the former Belarusian National Team member knocked Adams off the line early and eventually tacked on par terre points for an eventual 6-1 decision to keep his hopes alive. Match 3 ultimately went to Adams 6-3, which cemented his place on a Senior World roster for the first time.
“There’s a reason why he’s over 40 and still at the top of the food chain, because he’s a gangster,” Adams said of Kikiniou upon the conclusion of their series. “He’s tough, and he’s super wise. He knows all the tricks for how to win. He’s a gangster, and so I give my utmost respect to him as a competitor and as an athlete.”
A recent trip to Japan prior to this week in Vegas had Adams questioning his chances. But, according to him, the steam he gained on Thursday helped put into perspective what he might be able to accomplish. “I came back fat and happy from being in Japan and trained my my butt off for two weeks, so I was very unsure about how I was going to do. But once I beat a really talented athlete in the semis (Britton Holmes), I was like, This is tangible. This is tangible now. So, that helped boost my confidence. I felt way more confident than I’d ever been, to be honest, in any competition.”
The Tournament Continues
The finals for Group B are set and the first round of those series is scheduled to begin on Saturday morning at 10:00am local time (1:00pm ET). Among the participants will be multi-time World Team member/’24 Olympian Kamal Bey (82 kg, Army/WCAP), ’24 Olympian/’25 U23 World bronze Payton Jacobson (87 kg, NYAC/NTS), ’24 U23 World silver Beka Melelashvili (87 kg, NYAC), and four-time World rep Cohlton Schultz (130 kg, Atreus WC). FLOWrestling is carrying the broadcast (subscription required).
2026 World Team Trials
Group A Finals Results
55 kg: Max Nowry (NYAC/IRTC) def. Brady Koontz (TMWC/Position) 2 matches to 0
Match 1: Nowry def. Koontz 8-0, TF
Match 2: Nowry def. Koontz 5-1
60 kg: Dalton Roberts (Army/WCAP) def. Zane Richards (TMWC/IRTC) 2 matches to 0
Match 1: Roberts def. Richards 7-1
Match 2: Roberts def. Richards 4-3
63 kg: Xavier Johnson (Army/WCAP) def. Landon Drury (NMU/NTS) 2 matches to 1
Match 1: Johnson def. Drury 5-3
Match 2: Drury def. Johnson 5-5 (criteria)
Match 3: Johnson def. Drury 4-1
67 kg: Otto Black (NYAC) def. Peyton Omania (Orange County RTC) via DQ
*Omania was disqualified from the finals this morning after reportedly weighing-in past the allotted time.
72 kg: Benji Peak (NYAC/Position) def. Peyton Robb (NYAC/Nebraska Wrestling TC)
Match 1: Peak def. Robb 6-3
Match 2: Peak def. Robb 6-3
77 kg: Joel Adams (Beaver Dam RTC) def. Aliaksandr Kikiniou (NYAC) 2 matches to 1
Match 1: Adams def. Kikiniou 3-2
Match 2: Kikiniou def. Adams 6-1
Match 3: Adams def. Kikiniou 6-3
Group B Semifinal Results
82 kg
Kamal Bey (Army/WCAP) def. Adrian Artsisheuskiy (NYAC) 5-0
Fritz Schierl (NYAC/Minnesota Storm) def. James Foy (Minnesota Storm) 2-1
87 kg
Payton Jacobson (NYAC/NTS) def. Ty Cunningham (NYAC) 8-0, TF
Beka Melelashvili (NYAC) def. Zac Braunagel (NYAC/Navy WC) 5-3
97 kg
Arian Khosravy (CA) def. Ryder Rogotzke (TMWC/Ohio RTC) 9-1, TF
Timothy Young (Army/WCAP) def. Quinlan Morgan (Jackrabbit RTC) 8-2
130 kg
Cohlton Schultz (Atreus WC) def. Courtney Denzel Freeman (Marines) 8-0, TF
Adam Coon (NYAC/Cliff Keen) def. Aden Attao (NYAC) 3-3 (criteria)
Group A — 3rd Place/National Team Results
55 kg: Billy Sullivan (Army/WCAP) def. Kenny Crosby (NYAC/NTS) via forfeit
60 kg: Jace Koelzer (Position) def. Paxton Creese (NYAC/Minnesota Storm) 3-3 (criteria)
63 kg: Carter Nogle (Air Force RTC) def. Pierson Manville (Southwest WC) via fall
67 kg: Duncan Nelson (Air Force/WCAP) def. Dylan Gregerson (NYAC/UVRTC) 7-5
72 kg: Brett Back (Position) def. Aliaksandr Kikiniou Jr. (NYAC) 6-2
77 kg: Britton Holmes (Army/WCAP) def. RaVaughn Perkins (NYAC) 9-0, TF
