FARGO, N.D. – Utah Valley incoming freshman Smokey McClure finished as the runner-up at the 2024 U.S. Marine Corps Freestyle Junior Nationals on Wednesday night.
 
In the finals, he fell short to No. 4 Daniel Zepeda (California) in the final by a 13-4 score. Zepeda took a 5-0 lead after the first period, which was too much for UVU's incoming freshman to overcome.
 
McClure, the No. 11 seed, got on a roll earlier this week that started with a defeat of California's Braden Priest in the round of 128. He tallied up 13 and 18 points in victories in the round of 64 over Colton Hush (Wisconsin) and Nolan Ambrose (Minnesota) to move to the round of 16.
 
In the round of 16, he advanced with a 12-2 dominant win over Ohio's Brodie Dominique to earn a spot in the quarterfinals. The Washington native pulled his first upset of the tournament by jumping out to a 10-3 lead after one period over the third seed Kyrel Leavell (Indiana) to move into the semifinals, where he switched course and used a strong second period to defeat Oklahoma's No. 2 seed Jace Roller.
 
All competitors compete under the home states for the prestigious annual event at the Fargo Dome in Fargo. N.D.
 
The Wolverines had two other incoming freshmen in the event: Idaho's Hudson Rogers (175) finished 4-2, and Jake Castanegeto (132) went 3-2 in the competition.
 
All three will remain at the Junior Nationals in Fargo for the Greco-Roman competition, slated to begin on Friday, July 19. The tournament is available for streaming via FloWrestling with updated brackets on FloArena.