Three Cowboys Wrestling at United States World Team Trials This Weekend

Two former Cowboys and one current Cowboy still have a shot at making the United States World Team this year, but they’ll have to win this weekend to continue the dream.

The United States Senior World Team Trials are Friday and Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky, where Dustin Plott, Dean Hamiti Jr. and Carter Young will all wrestle for a spot in June’s Final X.

The first way to punch your ticket to Final X is at the U.S. Open, where Jax Forrest (2026 commit), Joey McKenna (Cowboy RTC), Zahid Valencia (Cowboy RTC) and Wyatt Hendrickson (Cowboy RTC/former Poke) all won. Then there’s the World Team Trials. A win at this tournament puts that wrestler into Final X for a best-of-three series against the Open winner (aside from at 57 kg and 61 kg, where the matchups are already set).

USA Wrestling released the pre-seeds for the World Team Trials on Wednesday. Here’s a quick breakdown of the Cowboys’ paths to Final X.

65 kg — Carter Young

Young finished sixth at the Open last month but was pre-seeded ninth at Trials. He wasn’t helped by the fact that Seth Gross and Marcus Blaze each jumped up to the 65 kg bracket since there isn’t a spot at Final X available at 61 kg.

If the pre-seeds hold true, Young would get a matchup with Blaze, the top recruit in the 2025 class, before the winner would get top-seeded Jesse Mendez.

Young lost 5-3 to Penn State’s Beau Bartlett in the quarters at the Open before Mendez beat Bartlett 4-2 in the semis. So, though Young is the tournament’s bottom pre-seed, it looks to be a competitive field.

The winner of this bracket will face Cowboy RTC member Joey McKenna at Final X after McKenna beat Mendez 3-2 in the Open final.

79 kg — Dean Hamiti Jr.

Dean Hamiti made it to the Open final last month but fell to Evan Wick 9-1, as Wick secured his spot at Final X.

Hamiti was pre-seeded second in the Trials field. Penn State’s Levi Haines, who didn’t compete in the Open, is the top seed. Hamiti beat Haines in the national semifinal this past college season, but Haines has won the pair’s most recent freestyle bout.

Assuming the pre-seeds hold, Hamiti would get Minnesota’s Ethan Riddle in the first round.

92 kg — Dustin Plott

Plott finished fifth at the Open and was pre-seeded fourth of five at the Trials.

He would match up with Patrick Brophy for a chance to wrestle top-seeded Josh Barr (Penn State). Plott and Brophy wrestled in the Open, where Plott won 10-0.

The winner of this bracket gets Trent Hidlay at Final X.