By Joe Lacdan, Armed Forces Sports
FORT BLISS, Texas — In the middle of the final 63 kg Greco-Roman match at the 2026 Armed Forces Wrestling Championships, Lance Cpl. Isaiah Serena rolled on the mat in pain clutching his left shoulder.
About two minutes into the match, the Marine suffered a stinging ailment from his abdomen to his arm during his bout with Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Leandro Rodriguez. Team trainers and coaches rushed to Serena’s side.
The medical staff recommended that Serena be removed from the match. Serena, who held a lead over Rodriquez, didn’t want to quit.
He told his coach, that despite the pain, he wanted to finish the match. About 60 seconds later, Serena scored a technical fall win over Rodriguez.
“I would say Isaiah Serena showed exceptional character and showed that warfighter ethos that the Marine Corps has,” said Marine Corps assistant coach and wrestler Jamel Johnson. “He battled through injury.”
Serena’s gutsy performance typified the effort of the All-Marine Corps wrestling team on day 1 of the 2026 All-Armed Forces tournament at Fort Bliss, Texas.
In a day where Army rolled to another team title in Greco-Roman, the Marine Corps managed to share the spotlight.
Despite being outnumbered and facing stacked odds, the All-Marine Corps team finished in second place in Greco-Roman team performance. With only ten available athletes on the roster, the entire team that competed in Greco Roman today will also take the mat for the freestyle championship on Sunday.
“I feel super proud of how they performed,” said Johnson, a captain from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. “A lot of this was short notice; trying to cram in a bunch of technique in literally a week and a half. I’m super proud of what they were given and what they did with what they had.”
Johnson said that four members of the All-Marine Corps team, all infantry Marines, could not participate due to mission requirements. The Marines had less than two weeks to learn and prepare for the tournament during training camp at the U.S. Naval Academy.
The Marines, who finally returned to competition after the program disbanded in 2021, went on to defeat the All-Air Force team 26-18 and then routed Navy 34-12.
Although Army defeated the Marines 31-11 to open the day, the Soldiers suffered some close calls. Members of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program, which allows Soldiers to train full-time to qualify for the Olympics, comprise most of Army’s team.
2024 Army Olympian Spc. Kamal Bey trailed Marine Corps Capt. Terrence Zaleski 5-1 in the closing minutes of their 87 kg match. Then while still trailing 5-2, Bey executed a powerful throw, lifting Zaleski into the mat and igniting cheers from the Army faithful. His throw scored four points, giving Bey a 6-5 lead.
Bey went on to secure the 7-5 win over Zaleski.
“It was just a lapse in judgement at the very end,” Johnson said. “Kamal Bey is known to do those giant throws with seven seconds left. But I think Terrence wrestled fantastic even though we didn’t get the results that we want.”
Army went on to power past Navy, 42-1 and Air Force, 38-6. The All-Air Force wrestling team finished in third place after beating Navy 22-19.
Army Sgt. Alejandro Sancho, a veteran wrestler and member of multiple world teams, narrowly bested Johnson, who doubled as wrestler and coach in a 6-5 triumph. Sancho went on to win his second and third matches decisively; an 8-0 win over Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Yamashita and another 8-0 triumph over Senior Airman Michael Valney.
Sgt. Justus Scott, a tall lanky wrestler from Henderson, Nevada paced Army by winning all three of his matches in 41 seconds or less.
Scott made quick work of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Marco Miller in 41 seconds, then scored another technical fall over Navy Lt. Michael Monson in 39 seconds before beating Air Force Senior Airman Zeus Arriaga in 22 seconds.
Ellis Coleman, a 2014 Olympian, also swept his opponents, first beating Marine Corps Sgt. Alexis Carbajal, 8-0, then scoring another 8-0 win vs. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Sheldon Ealy and finally pinning Airman 1st Class Duncan Nelson.