YOUTH WRESTLING: ATHENS 7TH-GRADER WINS ADIDAS FOLKSTYLE NATIONALS (April 21, 2026)

Valley Sports Report
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Athens 7th-grader Silas Bennett won the 92-pound title here recently at the Adidas Folkstyle Wrestling National Championships.

Adidas Nationals hosted more than 2,500 wrestlers from 38 states over three days of folkstyle wrestling. They offer boys and girls divisions, based on education school year (grade-based). The Top 8 place-winners are presented with Adidas All-American Certificates.

Bennett competed in one of the largest brackets in the event with 26 competitors.

Bennett opened with a 19-3 technical fall of Missouri's Colton Green in the round-of-16. Green was a fourth-place finisher at the 2026 Missouri state championships.

In the quarterfinals, Bennett pinned Missouri's Nolan Earns to finish off a back-and-forth match.

Bennett led 11-7 at the time of the fall, but had to fight off his back and out of a seven-point cradle by Varns in the second period.

In the semifinals, Bennett forged an 11-7 win over Damoni Ford, who was a fourth-place finisher at the 2026 Illinois state championships, and a 2025 Freestyle and Greco state champion.

In the finals, Bennett won a hard-fought, 5-2, decision over Braden Thompson, who finished third at the Adidas Nationals in 2025, and is a two-time Colorado state runner-up.

Bennett used a nifty upper body lock and trip for a takedown late in the first period followed by a reversal from the bottom in the second period to build a 5-0 leading heading into the third period.

Bennett gave up a reversal in the third period, but held on to capture the title and be crowned Adidas Nationals Folkstyle Champion.

The win caps quite a month for Bennett, who also placed third at both the Keystone State and PJW State Wrestling Championships.



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