GENEVA, Ohio — Utah Valley's Smokey McClure and Geronimo Rivera both notched third-place finishes while Layne Kleimann took fourth at the U23 Freestyle Nationals on Sunday at the SPIRE Institute.

Kleimann and Rivera faced off in a 61kg quarterfinal to start the day, with Kleimann winning in a 10-0 tech fall in just 18 seconds to advance to the semifinals. In the semis, he fell to eventual champion, Northwestern's Massey Odiotti in a 10-6 decision before securing an 11-10 decision over Illinois wrestler Spencer Moore to advance to the third-place bout against Rivera.

Rivera responded to his only loss of the tournament by rolling off four straight wins, including a 4-2 decision over Kleimann in the third-place match. To get there he a trio of tech falls over Davis Motyka (Penn), Evan Tallmadge (Pittsburgh), and Garrett Rinken (Northern Iowa). He finished 7-1 overall.

McClure also opened the day with a quarterfinal, where he faced Oregon State's Noah Tolentino and suffered his only defeat, a 10-7 decision. Tolentino then went on to win the 65kg bracket. Like Rivera, McClure won four straight to place third. He defeated Tahir Parkins (Rutgers) in a 12-2 tech fall, Eren Sement (Michigan) in a 13-11 decision, and Derrick Cardinal (SDSU) by medical forfeit before the third-place match. McClure secured third with a 5-0 shutout of Drew Gorman (Virginia Tech) and finished 8-1 in the tournament.

Also in action Sunday was Kael Bennie (92kg), who fell 13-12 to Rutgers' PJ Casale to see his tournament come to an end with a 6-2 record in eight matches.

The three place-winners gives the Wolverines six total at U23's in the Adam Hall era. Haiden Drury, who just completed his collegiate career at UVU, placed in both 2024 and 2025 taking third and fourth, respectively. Hudson Rogers also placed sixth in 2025. 

Sunday Results
Layne Kleimann, 61kg
Layne Kleimann over Geronimo Rivera, TF 10-0 (0:18)
Massey Odiotti over Layne Kleimann, Dec. 10-6
Layne Kleimann over Spencer Moore, Dec. 11-10
Geronimo Rivera over Layne Kleimann, Dec. 4-2

Geronimo Rivera, 61kg
Layne Kleimann over Geronimo Rivera, TF 10-0 (0:18)
Geronimo Rivera over Davis Motyka, TF 10-0 (1:40)
Geronimo Rivera over Evan Tallmadge, TF 10-0 (0:54)
Geronimo Rivera over Garrett Rinken, TF 10-0 (1:44)
Geronimo Rivera over Layne Kleimann, Dec. 4-2

Smokey McClure, 65kg
Noah Tolentino over Smokey McClure, Dec. 10-7
Smokey McClure over Tahir Parkins, TF 12-2 (3:34)
Smokey McClure over Eren Sement, Dec. 13-11
Smokey McClure over Derrick Cardinal, MFF
Smokey McClure over Drew Gorman, Dec. 5-0

Kael Bennie, 92kg
PJ Casale over Kael Bennie, Dec. 13-12



Full Tournament Results
Talen Eck, 57kg (3-2, DNP)
James Garcia Jr over Talen Eck, Dec. 4-1
Talen Eck over Teague Strobel, TF 13-3 (3:38)
Talen Eck over Brodie Christmas, TF 10-0 (0:30)
Talen Eck over Braydon Pacheco, TF 10-0 (1:19)
Gavin Jendreas over Talen Eck, Dec. 6-6

Layne Kleimann, 61kg (5-2, 4th)
Layne Kleimann over Hayden Mills, TF 10-0 (2:18)
Layne Kleimann over Drew Davis, TF 10-0 (1:39)
Layne Kleimann over Liam Neitzel, TF 11-0 (3:36)
Layne Kleimann over Geronimo Rivera, TF 10-0 (0:18)
Massey Odiotti over Layne Kleimann, Dec. 10-6
Layne Kleimann over Spencer Moore, Dec. 11-10
Geronimo Rivera over Layne Kleimann, Dec. 4-2

Geronimo Rivera, 61kg (7-1, 3rd)
Geronimo Rivera over Joseph Romano, TF 11-0 (0:46)
Geronimo Rivera over Michael Esteban, TF 11-0 (0:43)
Geronimo Rivera over Ethan Lipsey, TF 10-0 (0:56)
Layne Kleimann over Geronimo Rivera, TF 10-0 (0:18)
Geronimo Rivera over Davis Motyka, TF 10-0 (1:40)
Geronimo Rivera over Evan Tallmadge, TF 10-0 (0:54)
Geronimo Rivera over Garrett Rinken, TF 10-0 (1:44)
Geronimo Rivera over Layne Kleimann, Dec. 4-2

Smokey McClure, 65kg (8-1, 3rd)
Smokey McClure over Stone Farnsworth, TF 12-2 (1:41)
Smokey McClure over Marcus Wright, TF 10-0 (1:06)
Smokey McClure over Caleb Mata, TF 12-2 (1:14)
Smokey McClure over Dalton Perry, Dec. 7-1
Noah Tolentino over Smokey McClure, Dec. 10-7
Smokey McClure over Tahir Parkins, TF 12-2 (3:34)
Smokey McClure over Eren Sement, Dec. 13-11
Smokey McClure over Derrick Cardinal, MFF
Smokey McClure over Drew Gorman, Dec. 5-0

Josh Fish, 70kg (2-2, DNP)
Josh Fish over Charleston Baglio, Dec. 9-6
Easton Doster over Josh Fish, TF 13-3 (4:18)
Josh Fish over Ramil Islamov, TF 16-5 (3:52)
Colin Kacena over Josh Fish, TF 12-2 (5:25)

Ian Fritz, 70kg (3-2, DNP)
Griffin Lundeen over Ian Fritz, Dec. 10-3
Ian Fritz over Paul Sanchez, TF 12-2 (2:09)
Ian Fritz over Tony Wood, TF 10-0 (4:37)
Ian Fritz over Conner Kimbrough, Dec. 7-1
Hayden Whidden over Ian Fritz, Dec. 7-3

Jason Worthley, 70kg (2-2, DNP)
Jason Worthley over Kael Kurtz, TF 12-2 (1:21)
Brandt Harer over Jason Worthley, TF 10-0 (2:16)
Jason Worthley over Joe Sentipal, TF 13-3 (2:01)
Antonio Alvarado over Jason Worthley, Dec. 11-6

Zyon Trujillo, 74kg (2-2, DNP)
Zyon Trujillo over Justin Gjinaj, TF 10-0 (0:33)
Zyon Trujillo over Brady Benham, Dec. 9-7
Nicco Ruiz over Zyon Trujillo, TF 10-0 (1:01)
Joe Antonio over Zyon Trujillo, TF 10-0 (1:14)

Trevor Frank, 79kg (1-2, DNP)
Sean Degl over Trevor Frank, Dec. 12-7
Trevor Frank over Andrew Mardula, TF 10-0 (0:55)
Leonard Tukhylnovych, Dec. 11-3

Christian Smoot, 86kg (0-2, DNP)
Nolan O'Boyle over Christian Smoot, Fall (2:21)
Tyson Clear over Christian Smoot, TF 10-0 (2:20)

Chandler Thompson, 86kg (1-2, DNP)
Chandler Thompson over Zach Huckaby, TF 11-0 (2:09)
Ian Bush over Chandler Thompson, TF 10-0 (1:51)
Marquize Brown over Chandler Thompson, TF 12-1 (2:38)

Kael Bennie, 92kg (6-2, DNP)
Kael Bennie over Kennedy Wyatt, TF 10-0 (1:27)
Harvey Ludington over Kael Bennie, TF 17-6 (5:26)
Kael Bennie over Wyatt Bush, Dec. 6-4
Kael Bennie over Connor Jacobs, TF 10-0 (2:27)
Kael Bennie over Kade Rule, Dec. 6-5
Kael Bennie over Coen Grimm, TF 11-0 (2:24)
Kael Bennie over Devin Wasley, MFF
PJ Casale over Kael Bennie, Dec. 13-12