The trip to Fargo, North Dakota was not only a chance to win a national title.
It was another chance for Daniel Acosta to audition for a college.
The product of Randall High School in Amarillo, part of Canyon ISD, he took home fourth place in Greco-Roman at the U.S. Marine Corps Junior National.
“It definitely means a lot to be All-American, especially how big of a tournament it is,” said Acosta, whose hometown is listed as Dumas on the USA Wrestling site. “Being from Texas, in a little town, it definitely means a lot. Not being able to show out at (UIL) state, falling a little short there, it’s good to be able to go out on that big stage and show out when not everyone can do that.”
The 2026 graduate hopes the success this summer will help land him a spot in college to continue to do what he loves.
He said he’s still talking to a few schools, but as of the penultimate week of July, he still didn’t have a home to wrestle for the 2026-27 season.
Acosta started his trip at the Fargodome with three straight wins in freestyle, before two straight losses ended his run.
He bounced back in Greco-Roman, securing his third All-American honor in that style, moving up from eighth in 2024 and sixth last year.
Acosta went 6-2 in the Greco-Roman 157-pound bracket, reaching the semifinals, before falling to Wyatt Medlin from Illinois, who also beat him in the freestyle bracket, by a 5-3 decision.
“It was a great match, obviously it didn’t go the way I wanted,” Acosta said. “I was upset and I was mad about it, but in the end, that’s how wrestling is. You got one winner and I made one mistake and against good kids, that is all it takes. That was the difference in that match. I let up for one second, and he got behind me and that decided the match. It’s a great learning experience, and I’m ready to wrestle that kid again.”
Medlin finished as the runner-up in the bracket.
Acosta had three straight tech falls before an 11-8 decision over Louden McDoulett from Oklahoma allowed him to survive and get to the quarterfinals. Acosta led 5-0 after the first period. The Rose State College and state champion from Harrah, Oklahoma, rallied to pull within 5-4.
Six straight points with about a minute left gave Acosta a comfortable margin, up 11-4. A four-point swing with 38 seconds left allowed McDoulett to cut the deficit.
In the quarterfinals, Acosta picked up a win by fall in 4:42 against Jayden de la Rosa from California. Acosta led 17-6 at the time of the fall.
After the loss, Acosta got a 10-0 tech fall against Donald Jackson from Kansas — who eliminated him in the freestyle bracket. In the third-place match, Gregory Torosian from California got an 8-0 tech fall against Acosta.
He was one of four All-Americans from Texas in Greco-Roman, tying the state record for the most in any year in the junior division, matching marks set in 2016, 2017 and 2025.
“It’s good to be with Team Texas, especially as the underdog team,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to do good being an underdog team. We have a good little group of us in Greco and no one really respects Texas as a whole in wrestling. So it’s nice being able to get some of us up on the podium.”
This summer, Acosta won his fifth Texas USA Wrestling Greco-Roman title. He said he has always been good at it, starting in sixth grade. He said his success in Greco-Roman peaked this summer, which included a camp before Fargo learning from two-time Olympic gold medalist Sergei Berloglazov.
He went 6-2 at the Junior National Duals in Greco-Roman, suffering losses for the first time this summer against Jerin Coles from Pennsylvania and Chris Anguiano, a CIF state champion from California.
Acosta went 7-1 in freestyle.
“I didn’t really wrestle how I do,” he said. “It was a real good wake-up call to see what I needed to fix. I think that helped me out. I flipped the switch when we went to freestyle and I los one match. I didn’t wrestle my best, but honestly, I did way better in freestyle than Greco. That’s not usually the case.”
The success in the summer came after an up-and-down senior season for the Randall Raiders.
At one point during the 2025-26 season, Acosta was riding high after taking second at the KC Stampede in December. He then went to the Don Buchanan Invitational in California.
The high school season ended before state and he was unable to compete at the state meet. He mentioned the issues on an Instagram post, which showed he was 124-16 in high school.
He earned UIL all-state medals at two schools. He was fourth in 2023 for Dumas in Class 5A. In 2025, at Randall, he took third place.
