money Fort Dodge's Dreshaun Ross earns USA Wrestling Cadet Greco world team roster spot
There’s a more-than-very-real possibility that Dreshaun Ross, the insanely-talented freshman from Fort Dodge, is already Iowa’s top pound-for-pound high school wrestler.
This only makes sense, of course, if you remove the outgoing senior class, like Ben Kueter, Ryder Block, Tate Naaktgeboren, Gabe Arnold, Gable Porter, on and on. Even then, others still have arguments, like Max Magayna, Carter Freeman, on and on again.
But Ross may very well be Iowa’s standard for the next three years, and the 15-year-old phenom bolstered his case on Thursday by earning a spot on the U.S. Cadet Greco-Roman world team.
Yes, Ross is taking his preternatural wrestling talents global this summer after winning the Cadet greco world team trials, part of USA Wrestling’s U.S. Open events this week in Las Vegas. He went 5-0 to earn the world team spot at 92 kilograms (202 pounds). He swept Texas native Aiden Cooley in the best-of-three finals series Thursday night.
Ross was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler after outscoring his five opponents by a combined 50-2. He is only the fifth Iowa high-schooler to make USA Wrestling's Cadet world team since United World Wrestling, the sport's international governing body, reinstated the Cadet world championships in 2011.
Southeast Polk’s Nate Jesuroga made the Cadet freestyle world team in 2021 and won bronze at the world championships that summer. The others all made the team in 2014, Lisbon's Carter Happel in freestyle and both Solon's Drew West and Southeast Polk's Ethan Andersen in greco.
Ross has provided hints that he’d be capable of creating opportunities like this over the last year.
At this same competition last year, Ross won both the freestyle and greco national titles at the 15U level. Last summer, before he enrolled at Fort Dodge for his freshman year, he stormed to first at the 16U freestyle national championships. Last October, he won gold in both freestyle and greco at the 15U Pan-American Championships.
The state of Iowa got to see him up close last winter. He went 44-2, which included 40 consecutive wins after two losses in early December, and won a Class 3A state title at 195 pounds. He is believed to be the biggest freshman large-class state champ in state history.
Ross probably would’ve gotten more love inside Wells Fargo Arena on that Saturday night in February, but in literally the very next match, Ben Kueter, Iowa City High’s all-world athlete, won his fourth state title, capping an undefeated, all-time high school career.
In more ways than one, Ross took the torch from Kueter that night. His wrestling talent is obvious, of course. Also, they’ve grown up as teammates at Sebolt Wrestling Academy. And Ross picked up three Division I football offers — Iowa, Purdue, Iowa State — in the 12 days after winning a state wrestling title.
There’s a chance Ross becomes Iowa’s next two-sport superstar. He excelled in the fall, with 46 tackles as a freshman on varsity. He is rangy and lean at 6-foot-3, the kind of frame college football coaches would love to stack muscle on, but he wrestles like a lightweight, with heavy hands and quick feet, a no-doubt blue-chip mat talent.
To that end, his weekend could still get better. Come Saturday and Sunday, Ross will try to make the Cadet freestyle world team, too, which would solidify his standing as not only Iowa’s top high school wrestler, but arguably as one of the best pound-for-pound high-schoolers in America.
The potential here seems infinite right now, is the point. He has only just started down the runway of his athletic career. Up until now, wrestling has dominated his time and energy. Maybe it stays that way, or maybe football will offer more opportunity. Did we mention he’s just 15 years old?
One thing’s for sure: the Cadet world championships are set for July 31-August 6 in Istanbul, Turkey, and Dreshaun Ross will be there, ready to announce himself to the rest of the planet.
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Iowa high school wrestlers shine at Cadet greco world team trials
The ultimate goal of these world team trials tournaments is to make the world team, of course. But it still very much operates like any other national tournament, where the top eight wrestlers in each weight earn All-American honors.
Ross was one of four Iowa high-schoolers to earn that distinction at the Cadet greco world team trials. In all, eight Iowa high-schoolers reached the Round-of-16, but only four advanced to the quarterfinals — Ross, Bettendorf’s TJ Koester, Don Bosco’s Kyler Knaack, Southeast Polk’s Mike Slade — and only Ross made it further than that.
Slade rallied from his quarterfinal loss to take fifth at 80 kilos (176). He went 5-2 overall, which included going 1-1 against Minnesota Bryce Burkett, a top-100 prospect in the 2025 class nationally, according to MatScouts. Slade lost to Burkett 8-3 in the quarters but beat him 4-0 for fifth.
In that same weight, Fort Dodge’s Damarion Ross went 4-3 overall and finished eighth. He won three straight matches in the wrestlebacks after losing in the Round-of-16. Last summer, he won nine straight matches to take third at the 16U greco national championships.
Bettendorf’s TJ Koester was the fourth All-American, posting a 4-3 record and taking eighth at 55 kilos (121). After dropping his quarterfinal bout, Koester rebounded with a 6-6 criteria win in the bloodround over Pennsylvania prep Gauge Botero, a returning All-American and top-30 recruit in the 2025 class.
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Dubuque's Brady Koontz wins Senior national title, qualifies for Final X
The Senior greco national championship wrapped up Thursday, too. The results carry a lot of significance, as all U.S. Open champs qualify for Final X, which is the final step in USA Wrestling’s Senior world team process.
Brady Koontz, who transferred from Ohio State to the University of Dubuque and became a Division III All-American this past season, won the Senior greco national title at 55 kilos (121). He went 3-0, all technical fall victories, and outscored his opponents by a combined 27-0 en route to his first U.S. Open title.
Ben Provisor, a two-time Olympian who now wrestles at Grand View — which is still hilarious to type out — finished second at 82 kilos (180), dropping a 4-3 barnburner to Spencer Woods of the Army World Class Athlete Program in Thursday’s finals.
As a result, Koontz secured a spot at Final X, set for June 10 in New Jersey. Provisor, and every other greco wrestler who didn’t win the U.S. Open, must now win the world team trials challenge tournament next month in Colorado to qualify for Final X.
Those that do will face the U.S. Open champs in a best-of-three series, and the winners will earn spots on the U.S. Senior world team and compete at the Senior world championships, set for September 16-24 in Belgrade, Serbia.
Here are some other Iowa-related notes and observations from the Senior greco competition of the U.S. Open:
Koontz was one of four University of Dubuque wrestlers to earn Senior greco All-American honors. He was joined by his twin brother Dylan Koontz, who took fourth at 60 kilos; Tyler Thurston, eighth at 97 kilos; and Darryl Aiello, seventh at 130 kilos.
Provisor was one of two Grand View wrestlers to finish on the podium. He was joined by Jack Ervien Jr., a past age-level greco world-teamer. Ervien Jr. pulled a couple of upsets to reach the semifinals at 72 kilos and nearly pulled off a third against top-seeded Pat Smith, but Ervien lost 9-7 and ultimately finished fifth.
Former Iowa wrestler Burke Paddock went 4-2 and finished fourth at 77 kilos. He won his first three matches to reach the semifinals, where he lost to eventual champ Kamal Bey, a past Junior world champion.
Brandon Marshall, a current coach at Big Game Wrestling Club in Eastern Iowa, went 4-2 and took fourth at 97 kilos. His run included three straight wrestleback wins after a quarterfinal loss. Drew West, formerly of Riverside and Solon, went 2-2 for fifth at 55 kilos behind Brady Koontz.
Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Fort Dodge wrestler Dreshaun Ross earns spot on Cadet Greco world team
