2025 CLAW U.S. Open: Depths of the Forrest

Photo: Jax Forrest celebrated after winning the U.S. Open in the Senior men’s freestyle division at 61 kg. Photo by Justin Hoch. 

This article, one of four U.S. Open champion features, originally appeared in WIN’s Volume 31 Issue 8, which was printed on May 6, 2025. Subscribe here and purchase a Digital or Combo Subscription to get immediate access.

By Tristan Warner 

Just a matter of days before the 2025 US Open was set to get underway in Las Vegas, 18-year-old Jax Forrest, a junior in high school hailing from Bishop McCort in Johnstown, Pa., was registered and set to compete in the U20 division at 61 kg.

With a last-minute switch to compete exclusively in the Senior division, at the same weight class, Forrest evidently bet on himself, foregoing the shot at claiming a US Open title in his age division and challenging himself to scrap with the big boys.

The future Oklahoma State Cowboy rose to the occasion in Vegas, posting a 5-0 record on his way to the title and not even surrendering a single point until Saturday evening’s final. On the first day of action, Forrest dismantled former NCAA champion Nahshon Garrett, 10-0 (2:32).

“You know, I wasn’t even going to do Seniors,” Forrest reflected in the mixed zone after defeating another former NCAA champion in Seth Gross, 16-5, in the finals. “After talking to Coach David (Taylor), my father, Lee (Roper) and Coach Zo, they supported me, and hey, look where we are now.”

The action was fierce early on in the 61-kg final, as Gross jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead, scoring a takedown and coming out on top of a high-flying four-point sequence, one in which Forrest originally thought would be awarded to him.

The remainder of the bout was all Forrest, however, as the high school phenom scored in bunches both offensively and defensively, overwhelming the 2018 NCAA champ from South Dakota State to solidify his spot in the Final X best-of-three final, set for June 14 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

“It was tiring,” Forrest said. “Seth (Gross) is so tricky. You don’t know when he is going to do something. He caught me off guard in the beginning. Today was my day; God gifted me with this. It is such a blessing.

“We are two funky guys who are hard to wrestle, so today was my day, but yesterday, who knows, he might have teched me. You got to have humility. I know I’m good, but I also know, on any given day, I can get beat.”

Forrest’s high school coach, Bill Bassett, who was out in Vegas to help coach several McCort wrestlers, was far from surprised to see one of his Crusher prodigies making a splash on the Senior level.

“Jax wrestled amazingly, and his consistent hard work allows him to be confident against anyone in the world,” Bassett said. “Jax is an amazing wrestler but honestly an even better person. He has a bright future.”

Turning his attention to Final X, where he will have a shot to try to upset 2023 World champion Vito Arujau, who won two NCAA titles for Cornell in 2023 and 2024, Forrest knows he has his work cut out for him but will never doubt his abilities to do the unthinkable.

“I’m going to have to wrestle a heck of a lot better against Vito,” Forrest explained. “He is really fast, and he is going to finish clean, so I’m going to need to be in better shape, finish quicker, and have better head and hands defense.

“I wrestled good, but I know I didn’t wrestle well enough to beat him, so I am going to do whatever I have to do to give myself the best chance.”

In the 2024 best-of-three World Team Trials finals, it was a different prep standout battling with Arujau for the 61-kg spot, as Arujau outlasted Marcus Blaze of Perrysburg, Ohio, two matches to none.

Blaze, a Penn State commit from the graduating class of 2025, was defeated by Gross in the semis at the US Open and battled back for a third-place finish.

Forrest, who was defeated by Blaze at the Olympic Trials last spring in State College, Pa., who previously acknowledged he can be beat on any given day, also knows he can beat anyone on any given day.

“I see all the time how everybody says Marcus (Blaze) is the best, Marcus is so good; I see it all the time. I’m like, I know he beat me last time, but I know I can score (on him), and I know I can beat him.

“I just want people to know I’m here; God sent me, I’m here to stay, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m 18 years old. I’m a junior in high school, and I’m going to be around the Senior circuit for a long, long time.”