Wrestling: Incoming Freshman McDanel Wins Another U20 Pan-Am Gold Medal

With the help of incoming Husker freshman Camden McDanel, Team USA’s U20 freestyle squad did some serious work on Saturday at the Pan-American Championships in Lima, Peru.

Coming in after a gap year training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, McDanel competed for Team USA at 97 kg for the second year in a row. Despite losing the spot on the U20 World Team to Justin Rademacher this year at the World Team Trials, McDanel got the nod to compete in Lima and didn’t disappoint.

Last year, McDanel won gold at U20 Pan-Ams and took bronze at the U20 World Championships. Now, McDanel is a two-time Pan-American champion after going 3-0 today.

In his matches, McDanel didn’t give up a single point while outscoring his opponents 30-0 with all three matches 10-0 wins via technical superiority. In all, McDanel spent just 4:05 on the mat with his longest match lasting 1:52.

Dylan Guenther / Corn Nation

In McDanel’s corner was Husker assistant coach Tervel Dlagnev who doubles as the head coach of the Nebraska Wrestling Training Center. An Olympic bronze-medalist, Dlagnev is an elite freestyle coach, especially for the upper weights. While at Ohio State, he coached Kyle Snyder to World success at 97 kg, including an epic win in the 2017 World final over Abdulrashid Sadulaev of Russia that won Team USA the team title. It seems like Dlagnev and McDanel share a real bond. It seems like a perfect match as Dlagnev has may have found his newest star pupil to mold in Lincoln. See him in this video working out with McDanel alongside another Husker target Bo Bassett, the top-ranked recruit in the 2026 class.

The 10-wrestler squad made up mostly of its U20 World Team reps, Team USA swept the tournament with all ten guys winning gold medals, an incredible feat. We may look back at this U20 team someday and marvel at who was on a single age-level team. Guys like Luke Lilledahl (57 kg), Bo Bassett (65 kg), PJ Duke (70 kg), LaDarion Lockett (74 kg), Zack Ryder (79 kg), Connor Mirasola (92 kg) and McDanel have all shown to be elite at their age levels and even against senior-level competition. This will be the next crop of senior-level stars in the USA, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see half of this team win World or Olympic gold at some point.

As a squad, Team USA went 35-0 and outscored their opponents 352-13 with three pins and 30 wins via tech. Eight of the ten wrestlers went through their brackets without surrendering a single point.

LJ Araujo Earns Bronze for Brazil

Another incoming freshman for Nebraska was in action on Saturday as LJ Araujo was representing Brazil where his dad is from originally.

Wrestling at 79 kg (174 pounds), Araujo started his tournament against Team USA’s Zack Ryder in the quarterfinal round. Facing Team USA’s World Teamer, Araujo held up pretty well but was unable to break through against his American counterpart in an 8-0 loss. A Penn State recruit, Ryder was ranked #5 on the 2024 Big Board, while Araujo, a Super 32 champ, was ranked #26.

With Ryder eventually winning gold, Araujo was pulled back into repechage (consolation bracket) where he downed his first opponent Hector Hernandez Castillo of Ecuador via pinfall in just 10 seconds. In the bronze-medal match, Araujo downed Dario Cubas Castillo of Paraguay 11-0 in just 80 seconds.

A five-time North Dakota state champion in high school, Araujo isn’t really considered elite in freestyle. However, with his dominant top game, his best style is by far folkstyle, something that bodes well for his collegiate prospects in Lincoln. As I’ve said before, he’s like a 174-pound Ridge Lovett.

With him wrestling at 79 kg this weekend, it leads me to believe that Araujo will be a 174-pounder in college, which could mean he’s headed for a redshirt as a freshman while Bubba Wilson finishes his Husker career as a senior at 174. Araujo will then probably be a front-runner to take over at 174 in 2025-26 as a redshirt freshman.

Whichever weight Araujo ends up at, It’ll be fun to watch what he does in college.