USA Wrestling Releases Schedule for Penn State Wrestlers at Final X

USA Wrestling has set the event schedule and match order for Final X, the last stop on the road to the 2026 World Wrestling Championships. Team USA will determine eight men's freestyle weight classes on June 19 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, where Penn State wrestling will stake a big claim to the spotlight.

Four current or former Nittany Lions will compete at Final X to represent the U.S. at Senior Worlds in October in Kazakhstan. In addition, two members of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, including reigning world champion Kyle Snyder, will wrestle in the best-of-three series event. The Final X schedule will feature eight women's freestyle matches as well.

Two of the most intriguing match series involve current Nittany Lions Luke Lilledahl and Marcus Blaze. Lilledahl, the defending NCAA champion at 125 pounds, takes on 2024 Olympic silver medalist Spencer Lee in a Final X rematch at 57 kg. And Penn State freshman Marcus Blaze meets defending 133-pound NCAA champ Jax Forrest at 61 kg.

Match Order is SET for Final X. 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/83hJMniJfH
— Justin Basch (@JustinJBasch) June 17, 2026

The men's freestyle main event will feature NLWC wrestler Kyle Dake, who takes on Zahid Valencia in the best-of-three series at 86 kg. Dake and Valencia are wrestling at Final X for the second consecutive year. Valencia swept Dake 5-3 and 4-1 last year on his way to winning the world title. Dake is a four-time world champ and two-time Olympic bronze medalist.

The Lilledahl-Lee series precedes the main event in the match order and should produce some of the day's most compelling wrestling. Lee swept Lilledahl at Final X in 2025 to earn the world spot, But Lilledahl defeated Lee 5-4 at the U.S. Open with a late takedown to secure his spot in Final X.

Lee set the rematch by winning the Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament. According to FloWrestling, Lilledahl and Lee rank 1-2 in the world at 57 kg.

The Blaze-Forrest series precedes Lilledahl-Lee and sets the stage for a thrilling Final X finish. Blaze and Forrest are two of the most exciting wrestlers in the country. Forrest won the NCAA title after enrolling at Oklahoma State just last winter, while Blaze finished fourth at the same weight class despite fighting the flu at NCAAs.

Blaze went on to win the 61 kg freestyle title at the U.S. Open, a victory he called bittersweet because he was sick at nationals. Blaze and Forrest are wrestling freestyle for the first time since 2024

Penn State wrestling fans will remember watching Blaze defeat Forrest at 57 kg at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Also on the card, former Penn State wrestler Levi Haines meets Chance Marsteller in a compelling Final X series at 79 kg. Haines, the reigning Senior World silver medalist, went undefeated last season to win the NCAA title at 174 pounds.

Zain Retherford, a three-time NCAA champ at Penn State, continues his comeback from the 2024 Olympics with a Final X series vs. Ridge Lovett at 70 kg. And Kyle Snyder, the defending Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champ at 97 kg, will represent the NLWC against 2025 NCAA champion Stephen Buchanan of Iowa.

Friday's Final X schedule begins at 12:30 p.m. ET with the true-third matches. Round 1 of the best-of-three series begins at 2 p.m. Session 2 begins at 5 p,m. and will run through the third-round matches, if necessary. Here's the full Final X match order for the men's freestyle event.

2026 Final X Men's Freestyle Match Order

125 Kg: Wyatt Hendrickson vs. Mason Parris

70 Kg: Zain Retherford vs. Ridge Lovett

79 Kg: Levi Haines vs. Chance Marsteller

74 Kg: James Green vs. David Carr

97 Kg: Kyle Snyder vs. Stephen Buchanan

61 Kg: Marcus Blaze vs. Jax Forrest

57 Kg: Luke Lilledahl vs. Spencer Lee

86 Kg: Kyle Dake vs. Zahid Valencia

Sign up to our free Penn State Nittany Lions newsletter and follow us on social media.

Add us as a preferred source on Google