Penn State wrestling commit Jayden James wins first U17 Pan-Am championship, goes for second on Saturday
Penn State wrestling will be represented at the U17 Pan-American Championships on Saturday by commit and Team USA member Jayden James. The reigning 150-pound New Jersey state champ will compete in the 71-kilogram (156.5 pounds) men’s freestyle bracket. That tournament will be held through Saturday in Rio de Janeiro. The action begins at 9 a.m. ET with qualification rounds and repechage before the finals and medal matches take place at 4 p.m. ET.
James has already had a strong start to the freestyle season after winning his first state title. He won the Pan-Am 71-kilogram Greco gold medal on Thursday. Two of his wins came by fall and the third was an 11-8 decision.
The former U16 national champ earned his spot on the U.S. U17 men’s freestyle team by winning a title at the U.S. Open back in April.
“James was in command in his two-match sweep over Justus Heeg of Illinois,” Gary Abbott wrote for USA Wrestling at the time. “James scored a quick 10-0 technical fall in the first match in just 1:18. In the second match, James won the key positions in a 3-1 decision.”
With a spot on that team secured, the future Penn State wrestler went to the U20 Team Trials with hopes of claiming a spot on that team. He fell one win short of doing so, losing to Oklahoma State’s Ladarion Lockett in the 74-kilogram finals.
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More on Penn State wrestling Class of 2026 commit Jayden James
James committed to Penn State back in March after flipping from Virginia Tech.
“Jayden, he obviously set the recruiting process early and, you know, I think he only took two visits when he originally committed to Virginia Tech,” Delbarton coach Bryan Stoll told BWI at the time. “And he’s really young. I mean, he’s 16 years old. So, he was young to make a decision like that. And I think as time passed by, not that he was second guessing himself, but he just wanted to make sure that he looked at every place that he would be interested in. And, ultimately, made a decision to switch.”
It’s not yet clear what weight class James will compete in this winter. But, it will be higher than the 150 pounds he just won a state title at, however.
“We project them probably either 165 or 175 next year,” Stoll said. “He’s going to wrestle what he weighs. New Jersey weights are different than the PA weights. So, we project him between 65 and 75 but who knows. If he hits a growth spurt and gets to 190, he may wrestle 190. He’s capable of competing with anybody in any of those weight classes, I think, just looking at a skill set.”
