FARGO, N.D. — Incoming University of Oklahoma wrestler Koufax Christensen competed for a national title at the Junior Nationals Freestyle Championships on Wednesday at the FargoDome. The Sooners had a total of six incoming wrestlers earn All-America honors. 

Oklahoma’s nine wrestlers in attendance posted a 50-17 record during the tournament. 

Christensen (126) led the way with a title run that consisted of a 6-1 record. The Waukee, Iowa native finished as a runner-up and sprung a pair of upsets – including toppling world champ and No. 1 seed Christian Castillo (Arizona) in the quarterfinal match – which helped him easily outperform his No. 8 seed. 

Alex Braun (138) won four straight matches on his way to the quarterfinals before dropping his first bout of the day. All four of his victories en route to the quarterfinals were by superiority. The Woodbury, Minn., native dropped his semifinal match to eventual champion Sergio Vega (Arizona) to move to the consolation bracket.  

Braun rattled off two more wins before defeating Hunter Hollingsworth, 6-4, in a matchup of future Sooners to take home third place.  

Hollingsworth (138) placed fourth, going 6-2 in the tournament as the No. 13 seed. After being edged by Vega in the semifinals, Hollingsworth added an impressive 4-1 win over No. 3 Sam Herring (Pennsylvania) before falling to Braun. The Edmond, Okla., native outscored his opponents, 62-16. 

Clay Giddens (165) won his first six matches to earn All-America status. The Bixby, Okla., native surrendered just three points to opponents before falling in the semifinal round, 11-1, to Alessio Perentin (New Jersey). Giddens finished his tournament with a 7-2 record, becoming the second Sooner to take home fourth place.  

Anders Thompson (190) continued the trend of dominant starts for future OU wrestlers, reeling off five straight wins before falling in the semifinal round, 10-0 to Harvey Ludington (New Jersey). The Kalispell, MT., native then lost his bout in the consolation semis before finishing with a 15-2 win in the fifth-place match over Elijah Diakomihalis (New York). 

Ricky Thomas (285) represented the Sooners on the podium in the heavyweight division. Thomas won his first three matches before losing to No. 3 Rylan Kuhn (Missouri). The Edmond, Okla., native rallied for three more wins in consolations before shutting out Jackson Barnhart (Illinois), 6-0, to end his tournament in seventh place.  

Owen Eck (157), Jude Randall (157) and Jacob Henry (285) also competed in the tournament but did not place.  

Head coach Roger Kish‘s first full recruiting class since being hired as Oklahoma head coach boasts numerous all-area, all-state and All-America honors, as well as state championships. The 2024 class is rated No. 3 overall in the country, according to Intermat’s final rankings released earlier this summer. OU also leads the country with 11 wrestlers from the class featured in MatScout’s final 2024 Big Board rankings.  

Fargo All-Americans 
Koufax Christensen – 2nd place – 126 pounds 
Alex Braun – 3rd place – 138 pounds 
Hunter Hollingsworth – 4th place – 138 pounds 
Clay Giddens – 4th place – 165 pounds 
Anders Thompson – 5th place – 190 pounds 
Ricky Thomas – 7th place – 285 pounds 

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