The Year of Jax: Forrest’s Sunday Tech Fall the Latest Triumph in What Has Been a Crazy 12-Month Run
By Marshall Scott | Pistols Firing Blog
STILLWATER — Last March, Jax Forrest won his second Pennsylvania state title.
That’s a big feat for most high school wrestlers, but that might not be within the five coolest things Forrest has done on a wrestling mat over the past 12 months.
After starting this wrestling season in high school, Forrest enrolled at Oklahoma State at the start of this semester. It was unknown whether Forrest was in Stillwater to redshirt or if he’d be the Cowboys’ guy at 133 pounds.
That decision was finally made public on Sunday night when Forrest took to the mat to wrestle in OSU’s dual against Iowa, exceeding his available dates to redshirt. And then less than 10 minutes later, it was evident that was the correct choice as Forrest teched two-time national finalist Drake Ayala, sending Gallagher-Iba Arena into a frenzy.
These past 12 months have also seen Forrest become the youngest American Senior World Team member of all time, a Senior Pan-American gold medalist, a Senior U.S. Open champ, a U23 World Champ and just the seventh four-time Powerade champion in the event’s history.
The Chinese New Year was last week, marking the Year of the Fire Horse, but you could argue it’s the Year of Jax.
“I get moments where I’m like, ‘This is pretty crazy,’” Forrest said. “But I think just trying to stay present. Obviously tonight (after the Iowa dual), I’ll be with my family, and I’ll be like, ‘That was awesome. If I wrestle like that, there’s no one who can stop me.’ But then it’s just getting back to work tomorrow, focusing, not letting my head get too big, not letting the moment get to me too much.
“That was awesome. That’s a great feeling. (Ayala) is someone I can see in March again, so it’s like I’m not gonna let him gain any ground on me. I’m gonna get back to work, and then Big 12 champs is the only thing I’m thinking about right now, going in there, dominating, winning the team title, getting all 10 guys through, winning it, winning the team title, and then NCAAs is gonna come. And that’s my big thing.”
Forrest is now 10-0 in a college career that started a little over a month ago. If some of those accolades listed above didn’t already make it evident, Forrest’s past two matches have shown just how ready he was to make this jump up to college wrestling.
Forrest took on Aaron Seidel in OSU’s dual at Virginia Tech last weekend. Forrest and Seidel had last met in that state title match Forrest won last March, with Forrest denying Seidel a fourth Pennsylvania state title.
Up to last weekend’s match, Seidel had beaten everyone he faced via bonus points to start his college career — one major decision, 12 technical falls and two pins. Seidel wrestled well against Forrest, taking him down twice in the opening period, but Forrest clawed his way to a 10-9 win thanks in large part to some back points following his second-period takedown.
Then to Sunday’s match — Ayala lost in the national final last season in tiebreakers. Ayala has had an off year by his standards this season, entering Sunday’s match at 9-6, but he traveled to Gallagher on a three-match win streak, all of which were technical falls.
Forrest thrashed Ayala 19-3. To that point, Ayala had never even been majored in a college match, much less teched, although he had been pinned twice. The first came while he was redshirting and got stuck by teammate Spencer Lee at a tournament. Lee finished his career as a three-time NCAA champ and won silver at the Olympics in 2024. The other time Ayala was pinned came at the Big Ten Championships last year when Lucas Byrd stuck him in the second period. Byrd would go on to win NCAAs in that tiebreaker match with Ayala.
All that is to say, Ayala getting beaten via bonus points is a big deal.
“It was surreal wrestling somebody who’s that high caliber and just feeling in that flow state, where everything I’m doing is perfect timing, perfect amount of strength, just everything,” Forrest said. “That was the best version of myself, which is what I strive for, and last week (wrestling Seidel), I wasn’t where I wanted to be. And then this week just that happening, leading up to Big 12s and then NCAAs, it’s surreal. It’s awesome.”
The most fun part about it is the 133-pound weight class is stacked with young talent heading into March.
Forrest is one of four freshmen in the Top 7 of the weight class along with No. 2 Marcus Blaze (Penn State), No. 3 Ben Davino (Ohio State), No. 5 Kyler Larkin (Arizona State) and No. 7 Seidel.
On top of that, Byrd is back and is unbeaten this year while somewhat sliding under the radar because of all the young guns capturing the headlines.
Because of Forrest’s limited match count, given he started this semester, he could have a funky seed relative to his talent, but it doesn’t sound like something Forrest is too caught up on. He told Flo after Sunday’s dual that he was the bad draw, not the other way around.
Forrest is soft-spoken and polite, but he doesn’t (and shouldn’t) lack in confidence.
“National champ — that’s all I’m gonna say,” Forrest told ESPN’s Quint Kessenich on his way off the mat Sunday. “That’s what I’m looking for now. I don’t care who’s in my way, no one in the country, no one in the world can tech him like that. My offense, my defense, I’m gonna keep getting better and be unstoppable.”