When the US Wrestling Junior and 16U Nationals begin next Thursday in Fargo, ND, more chapters can be added to the Mocco family’s history.
A rising senior from Florida named Michael Mocco will fight in the country’s most prestigious summer wrestling event for the Junior Freestyle 285-pound title.
One of the nation’s top recruits, Mocco has committed to the University of Iowa. He was an Under-17 world winner last summer and a two-time Florida state champion. In 2023, he won both the Freestyle and Greco-Roman events and will now look to earn his third Fargo title.
Peter, his younger brother, has won a Florida eighth-grade state championship.
If all of that sounds familiar, it’s because Mocco’s father, Steve, was the country’s top recruit and, following a historic four years in New Jersey, continued his career at Iowa.
Before winning two NCAA titles and making it to the NCAA finals four times, twice each at Iowa and Oklahoma State, Steve Mocco, who currently coaches his sons, won four National Prep titles: two at St. Benedict’s Prep and two at Blair.
Four-time Fargo freestyle winner Steve Mocco later represented the United States at the 2008 Olympics.
In 2019, he was admitted to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. His lifetime high school record was 216-1 with 187 pins, according to his Hall of Fame biography.
