West Linn’s Justin Rademacher rules the wrestling world

Published 2:25 pm Wednesday, July 23, 2025

West Linn’s Justin Rademacher is all about the work.

He worked in the wrestling room. He worked in the weight room. And he worked in the classroom.

Rademacher, 20, proved as much during his star-studded high school career when he went 147-13 on the mat, won a Class 6A state championship, earned the No. 7 ranking in the country and was a four-time All-American.

But it was Rademacher’s redshirt year at Oregon State – from the outside, it looked like a year off – that re-shaped his college wrestling career and set the table for what might be even bigger things ahead.

At his best

Indeed, Rademacher may be at his best right now. Let’s take a look at what he’s accomplished during his current freestyle season. He won the U20 Pan-American Championship at 97 kilograms in Lima, Peru, from July 10-12. He won the U20 World Team Trials at 97 kilograms in Geneva, Ohio, from May 30-June 1.

He won the Pan-American Wrestling Championship at 97 kilograms in Monterrey, Mexico, from May 8-11. And he won the U20 US Open Wrestling Championship at 97 kilograms in Las Vegas from April 23-27.

“It’s a super cool thing,” Rademacher said of his U20 Pan-Am Games win in Peru. “It’s awesome. You get to wear the singlet with the ‘USA’ on the front and your name on the back. It’s something I’ve been dreaming of ever since I was a kid, really.”

Why he redshirted

After going 12-7 in his freshman season at Oregon State, finishing second in the Pac-12 at 197 pounds and qualifying for the 2024 NCAA tournament, it looked as if Rademacher was poised for even greater things in the 2024-25 collegiate season.

But OSU head coach Chris Pendleton had other ideas.

Pendleton, himself a two-time national champion and three-time All-American, convinced Rademacher to follow in his footsteps and redshirt his sophomore season.

“Going into college, I wanted to use my redshirt year right away, but I was good enough to start,” Rademacher said. “So my coach actually encouraged (me) to redshirt my sophomore year, because that’s what he did. He said that he wrestled his true freshman year and got to see what sharks were out there in the water and he thought it was super influential for him.

“When he came back, he was just a different animal. He got to take that whole year to get better, (while) a lot of guys redshirted their freshman year, but didn’t really know what was out there (going) into their sophomore year.”

As to the “sharks” in the wrestling waters, Rademacher got to see them up close when he competed in the NCAA tournament as a freshman, going 1-2 and wrestling the fourth, 13th and 14th seeds.

“There’s nothing like the NCAA tournament,” he said. “Everyone in your bracket is either as good as you or better than you. You go in and your first match is against a couple-time All-American, at least it was for me. You don’t see that in other tournaments. … It’s hard right out of the gate and it doesn’t get easier.”

There were a couple of side benefits to Rademacher’s absence from the OSU lineup in 2024-25, too. First, it set the table for Rademacher to get his master’s degree in finance in his fifth year. Second, it opened the door for his roommate and friend Trey Munoz.

With Rademacher redshirting, Munoz (a three-time Pac 12 champ and two-time All-American) stepped into the lineup at 197 for his senior year, placed third in the Pac-12 and qualified for the NCAA tournament.

Doing the work

So while his Oregon State teammates went about the business of winning the Pac-12 title in 2024-25 and sending five wrestlers on to the NCAA tournament, Rademacher went to work.

He hit the weight room hard. He hit the wrestling room hard. He turned his attention to all the little details that sometimes fall by the wayside in weeks otherwise focused on competition.

“I was just enjoying wrestling every day,” Rademacher said. “I didn’t have to compete this year (at OSU), so I came in with a smile on my face every day and just wanted to get better. … The only thing that was on my mind was ‘I just need to improve today.’”

Now, with all that hard work under his belt, Rademacher is beginning to reap the rewards of his efforts, beginning with his incredible success in the 2025 freestyle season.

“I’ve spent this whole year preparing for (the 2025 freestyle season and his upcoming redshirt sophomore year). I’ve had no other distractions,” he said. “I’m pretty excited for (what’s ahead).”

What lies ahead

With all his hard work coming together and his freestyle season proving its worth, Rademacher’s hopes are sky-high for the U20 World Championships in Bulgaria (set for Aug. 17-24) and his upcoming 2025-26 college season.

“My expectation is to go out there and win the world championship this year in August,” he said. “I expect to just keep it rolling, jump right back into it and keep the wins coming. I’m excited. I want to be a national champion. I want to win everything.”