Joseph Christopher McKenna (born August 3, 1995 in Towaco, New Jersey) is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes internationally at 65 kilograms and competed collegiately at 141 pounds. In freestyle, he is a two-time and reigning Pan American Continental champion, claimed a bronze medal from the 2017 U23 World Championships, and was the 2018 US Open National Champion (medalist at '20 and '19 US Senior Nationals), the runner–up at the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials, 2021 US World Team Trials, and 2014 Junior World Championship. As a folkstyle wrestler, he was a three-time NCAA Division I All-American (runner-up in 2019), two-time Big Ten Conference champion and two-time Pac-12 Conference champion for the Ohio State Buckeyes (two-time AA and two–time B1G champion) and the Stanford Cardinal (AA and two-time Pac-12 champion).
Folkstyle career
High school
McKenna attended Blair Academy, noted for its wrestling program, in his native New Jersey. During his time as a high schooler, he went on to rack up three Prep National titles while claiming multiple titles from prestigious tournaments such as the Beast of the East and Ironman. McKenna was the team captain during his last two years. He also competed at Who's Number One in 2013, falling to eventual Penn State great Jason Nolf. Going into his junior year (November 2013), McKenna committed to the Stanford Cardinal.
College
Stanford University
After redshirting during the 2014–15 season, McKenna posted big success during his freshman year, going 19–2 during regular season with top–ranked Dean Heil being the only to beat him during this period of time. The second–ranked wrestler in the country, McKenna claimed the Pac-12 Conference title and placed third at the NCAAs, only losing to Bryce Meredith in the latter and bouncing back to beat Anthony Ashnault in his last match of the season. After the season, McKenna was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.
As a sophomore (2016–17), McKenna posted an outstanding 26–1 record during regular season, and after claiming his second straight conference title, he was upset and failed to place at the NCAAs.
The Ohio State University
After the previous season, McKenna transferred from the Stanford University to the Ohio State University. During his first season as a Buckeye (2016–17), he went 12–1 during regular season, claimed the prestigious Big Ten Conference title and placed third at the NCAAs, notably defeating MAC Conference champion from Missouri Jaydin Eierman in the third–place match. In his senior year, McKenna had yet another successful regular season, claiming the Cliff Keen title and racking up a 16–2 record, before claiming his second straight B1G title and placing as the runner–up at the NCAA tournament, in his best season during college. Overall, McKenna racked up a 105–11 record in two seasons for the Buckeyes and two seasons for the Cardinal.
Freestyle career
2014–2016
After a second–place finish at the Junior World Championships, McKenna made his senior freestyle debut in November 2014 at the age of 19, placing fourth at the Bill Farrell Memorial International. Afterwards, he placed third at the Brazil Cup, notably defeating future U23 World Champion from Russia Nachyn Kuular in the first round. McKenna competed in multiple tournaments throughout 2015, but only placed at the 2015 Granma y Cerro Pelado, claiming the gold medal. In 2016, he only competed at the Polish Open, placing third.
2017–2019
After placing third at the 2017 Ion Cornianu & Ladislau Simon tournament in Romania, he made the US U23 World Team and went on to claim a bronze medal from the U23 World Championships. In 2018, he started off by claiming the US Open National Championship, defeating Jaydin Eierman after tech'ing his way to the finals. Due to his last result, McKenna sat out in the finals of the US World Team Trials, in where he was defeated twice in a row by '16 World Champion (61kg) and four–time NCAA champion for the Buckeyes Logan Stieber. To finish the year, he was defeated by three–time World Champion (61kg) from Azerbaijan Haji Aliyev at the prestigious Alexandr Medved Memorial International. In 2019, McKenna failed to qualify for the US World Team Trials, but qualified for the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials after a second–place finish at the US Senior Nationals.