Penn State freshman wrestler Jayden James placed second and took home a silver medal for Team USA at the U20 World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Sunday afternoon.

Despite having to wrestle one match more than most in his bracket, the Nittany Lion dominated his way to the final with two wins by technical superiority, a 13-4 win, and a close match against an old high school teammate. He held multiple four-point cushions and was two seconds away from securing gold, but a last-second takedown by Japan’s Ariya Yoshida stole the glory and made it a bittersweet trip for the lone Penn State representative.

How It Happened

James started his journey in the qualification round, being pitted against the hometown representative, Slovakia’s Samuel Vokal. He was quick off the whistle, securing a single-leg takedown and rolling Vokal onto his back, but the Slovakian rolled off to prevent more than the standard two-point move.

The match was pure domination from the start, as even when Vokal got back on his stomach, James executed a gut wrench for another two just 20 seconds in before a whistle brought them back to neutral. A second takedown made it 6-0 just 38 seconds in before a step-out on an attempted throw by James at 1:05, and a takedown/gut wrench four-point maneuver ended the match by technical superiority, 11-0, in just 85 seconds.

The Round of 16 bout took place against James’ old teammate at Delbarton High School, Italy’s Alessio Perentin, a current freshman at Cornell. As two guys who’ve likely wrestled each other countless times, this match would be much more competitive.

The two hand-fought for the first 40 seconds until a single-leg shot by Perentin was warded off by James, and a whistle brought them to neutral. James would be put on the 30-second shot clock halfway through the first period, but he narrowly beat the clock with four seconds to spare with an opening takedown, taking the 2-0 lead into the second period.

James found a single-leg off the restart before switching to a double leg for the takedown with 2:30 to go to make it 4-0, but was quickly reversed and put in a leg lace that put three points on the board for Perentin. A gut wrench by the Italian briefly gave him a 5-4 advantage, but James reversed him to even the match at five with just 1:40 to go.

A failed leg lace attempt initially denied him the lead, but with the criteria on his side, the clock was James’ friend. He countered a late attack from his high school teammate for a go-ahead takedown with 12 seconds left to pull out the match, 7-5.

In the quarterfinals, James was matched up with Artsiom Bolsun of Belarus, which looked a lot more like his first match than his second.

The Nittany Lion got the opening takedown 20 seconds in after a brief scramble before doubling up off the restart on a single leg, going up 6-0 in the opening minute after exposing Bolsun’s back to the mat. Two more restarts and two more takedowns resulted in a 10-0 win via technical superiority in just 1:42.

His semifinal bout would see him square off with Nerdaulet Seilbekov of Kazakhstan, and James went right to work with a single-leg takedown on the edge of the mat 25 seconds in to grab an early lead, but this one would go much longer than his previous two laughers.

Seilbekov did a great job staying on his feet and hand-fighting with James, but ultimately conceded a second takedown at the end of the first period, giving the American a 4-0 lead after three minutes. Early in the second, James overpowered the Kazakh on a scramble and rollthrough to secure a third takedown and additional points after a penalty on Seilbekov, pushing it to 9-0.

Just when it seemed like a third victory by technical superiority was in the cards, Seilbekov executed a brilliant waistlock to score two and briefly put James in danger, but the Nittany Lion slipped out the back and made it 10-2 on a reversal with 90 seconds left. A later scramble and a step-out ended a high-scoring bout 13-4, sending James to the final.

His opponent in the final would be another man who had laid waste to his path, as James met Japan’s Ariya Yoshida, who won two of his three matches by technical superiority.

It wouldn’t take long for James to strike first, scoring a takedown off a single leg just 22 seconds in. Off the restart, Yoshida seemed to be controlling things in neutral, but was snapped down and put on the mat by James for another takedown at the 45-second mark.

Ever the aggressor, the Nittany Lion kept shooting on the boundary off the restart, but put himself in a dangerous position that the Japanese wrestler made him pay for, taking him down and nearly putting him on his back. James got a reversal to go up by four, but was driven out of bounds twice late in the period to close the lead to 6-4 after one period.

James shot a double leg early in the second period, but Yoshida once again fought off it, countering with a go-ahead takedown before a quick James reversal re-tied it at seven. A challenge from the American corner was deemed unsuccessful on the scramble.

Something that’s a much bigger part of folkstyle wrestling than freestyle is scrambling, but the ability to scramble is still important here, as Yoshida once again fought off a shot by James to score a go-ahead takedown, only for James to get a five-point maneuver on the edge of the mat by exposing the Japanese wrestler’s back on the boundary to take a 12-9 lead with 1:35 to go.

In desperation mode, Yoshida pushed James to the boundary and scored a late takedown with 25 seconds left. Despite seemingly doing enough to hold on for dear life at the end, Yoshida found two more points on a last-second turn to score a takedown at the buzzer, sending the Nittany Lion home with a heartbreaking 13-12 defeat.

What’s Next?

The freestyle circuit rolls on in mid-October, as the U23 World Championships will be held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas from October 12-18.

Multiple Penn State wrestlers compete at this event, but the official roster for Team USA has yet to be confirmed. Luke Lilledahl, Marcus Blaze, and Levi Haines, by virtue of their participation in Final X, seem likely to compete.