# Marcus Blaze

Marcus Glenn Blaze (born November 23, 2006) is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 61 kilograms. In freestyle, he is a US National Team Member, and was a U20 World medalist in 2024 and the U17 World champion in 2023.

## Career
### High school
#### 2022–2023

Originally from Michigan, Blaze started wrestling at an early age alongside his brother Joseph, before moving to Perrysburg, Ohio. A three-time OHSAA state champion out of Perrysburg High School, Blaze is one of the top-ranked high school wrestlers in his weight class. In 2023, he notably defeated top-ranked in NCAA Division I Matt Ramos during a college open while a high school junior. In the U17 freestyle age-group, Blaze claimed a US National championship before a World championship at 55 kilograms in 2023.

#### 2024

Making his senior level debut, Blaze competed at the US Olympic Team Trials at 57 kilograms in April 2024, as a high school junior. After a first-round loss to two-time NCAA champion Nick Suriano, he came back to defeat NCAA champion Nico Megaludis and U20 World finalist Luke Lilledahl before receiving a forfeit to make the third-place match, where he defeated U17 World finalist Jax Forrest to make the US National team.
Back to the age-group, now in his first year of U20, Blaze made the US World Team up at 61 kilograms in August, and earned a bronze medal from the U20 World Championships in September, only losing to eventual 2024 World champion Masanosuke Ono from Japan.
A week after his bronze-medal performance, Blaze went back to the senior level to compete at the US World Team Trials. Storming to the finals, he took out 2018 NCAA champion Seth Gross, 2016 NCAA champion Nahshon Garrett and 2021 World silver medalist Daton Fix to make the best-of-three. In the finals, he was defeated back-to-back by reigning World champion Vito Arujau, earning second.

## Freestyle record

Senior Freestyle Matches :
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Score | Date | Event | Location |
| 2024 US World Team Trials at 61 kg |||||||
| Loss | 7–3 | Vito Arujau | 1–3 | September 14–15, 2024 | 2024 US World Team Trials | Omaha, Nebraska |
| Loss | 7–2 | Vito Arujau | 1–2 | September 14–15, 2024 | 2024 US World Team Trials | Omaha, Nebraska |
| Win | 7–1 | Daton Fix | 2—2 | September 14–15, 2024 | 2024 US World Team Trials | Omaha, Nebraska |
| Win | 6–1 | Nahshon Garrett | 5–0 | September 14–15, 2024 | 2024 US World Team Trials | Omaha, Nebraska |
| Win | 5–1 | Seth Gross | 7–5 | September 14–15, 2024 | 2024 US World Team Trials | Omaha, Nebraska |
| Win | 4–1 | Kyle Burwick | 6–2 | September 14–15, 2024 | 2024 US World Team Trials | Omaha, Nebraska |
| 2024 US Olympic Team Trials at 57 kg |||||||
| Win | 3–1 | Jax Forrest | 8–1 | April 19–20, 2024 | 2024 US Olympic Team Trials | State College, Pennsylvania |
| Win | | Daton Fix | FF | April 19–20, 2024 | 2024 US Olympic Team Trials | State College, Pennsylvania |
| Win | 2–1 | Luke Lilledahl | 5–1 | April 19–20, 2024 | 2024 US Olympic Team Trials | State College, Pennsylvania |
| Win | 1–1 | Nico Megaludis | 2–2 | April 19–20, 2024 | 2024 US Olympic Team Trials | State College, Pennsylvania |
| Loss | 0–1 | Nick Suriano | 2–4 | April 19–20, 2024 | 2024 US Olympic Team Trials | State College, Pennsylvania |