Willie Saylor, Editor
 
Another season of international style duals is nearly in the books. After Greco-Roman and Freestyle competitions at the Schoolboy, Cadet, and now Junior level, all that remains is the final day for JR Freestyle, which includes the placement duals.

On the team side, it’s been more of the same old story as Illinois racked up serious hardware yet again this season. Teams from the Land of Lincoln brought home gold in both styles in Schoolboy and in both Cadet and Junior Greco. Tomorrow, they’re in the Gold Bracket seeking yet another title and a 5-for-6 international style dual season. Their lone non-gold came in Cadet Freestyle where they took Silver to Pennsylvania.

In the final tune-up before Fargo, Illinois once again leaves little doubt who reigns supreme in the international styles. A tip of the cap to their USAW state chapter, their clubs and technicians, and to their infrastructure.

Here we’ll break down the pools for the final day and highlight some of the premier individual results, which were aplenty.

Gold Bracket, Pool A
Illinois – the top seeded completely obliterated New Jersey in the Bracket A final, 47-12. In their three duals, their win-loss record of bouts was a staggering 37-5.

Wisconsin – With a formidable lineup, the Badger State beat Georgia and New York before falling to Michigan in the bracket final.

Missouri – Lost on criteria to Iowa in the bracket final.

Minnesota – Dispatched Michigan’s second team, 55-9, Colorado, 43-18, and a tough OK squad, 35-28.
 
Gold Bracket, Pool B
Michigan – Michigan blew out the second Oklahoma team, then snuck out a 5pt win over California, before putting the screws to neighboring Wisconsin, 47-19.

New Jersey – Both dual wins were close. The Garden State beat Tennessee 37-23 and Kansas 36-24, before winning just two bouts vs. Illinois in the Bracket A final.

Oklahoma – Posted consecutive 39-20 dual wins over Georgia and Arizona before losing to Minnesota in the bracket final.

Iowa – Won all 14 bouts vs Washington, and 10 of 14 vs PA, before winning in the closest of fashions in the bracket final against Missouri. With the score knotted at 32, the Hawkeye State won on criteria for most bouts won.
 
Notable Individual Results

One of my favorite bouts featured a pair of future teammates. #2-J’Den Cox, a Sr.-to-be that has already verballed to Missouri, downed Willie Miklus, who will be a Tiger this fall, 2-0, 4-1.

 
106:
#3-Ke-Shawn Hayes (Missouri) over #4-Ethan Lizak (Pennsylvania) Dec 6-0, 5-0
#14-Doyle Trout (Nebraska) over #5-Nkosi Moody (Illinois) Dec 3-6, 4-1,7-0
#2-Pup Simmons (Oklahoma Red) over #19-Gannon Volk (Minnesota Black) Pin 8-2,0:48

113:
HM-Adrian Cordova (Colorado) over HM-Skyler Petry (Minnesota Black) Dec 3-3,1-0

120:
#14-Joe Smith (Oklahoma Red) over HM-Tristan Manderfeld (Minnesota Black) Dec 2-1,1-0
HM-Sebastian Pique (Illinois) over HM-Luis Gonzalez (New Jersey) Dec 4-0,5-0
 
126:
#2-Jared Cortez (Illinois) over #1-Joseph McKenna (New Jersey) Dec 2-0,1-0
#2-Jared Cortez (Illinois) over #16-Jacob Rubio (Texas Blue) Dec 6-0,1-0
#5-Dalton Brady (Arizona) over HM-Jordan Shearer (North Dakota) Dec 7-0,1-0
#7-Jacob Schmitt (Michigan Blue) over HM-Andrew Crone (Wisconsin) Dec 8-2,4-0
(GR) Matt Garelli (Illinois) over #12-Colton Adams (Nebraska) Dec 2-1,4-2
 
 
132:
#2-Zain Retherford (Pennsylvania) over (GR) Dakota Bauer (Iowa Blue) Dec 7-2,4-1
#2-Zain Retherford (Pennsylvania) over #12-Tate Robinson (Missouri) 3-1, 7-0
 (GR) Zane Richards (Illinois) over 14-Michael Magaldo (New Jersey) TF 6-0,6-0

138:
#1-Bryce Brill (Illinois) over #3-Anthony Ashnault (New Jersey) Dec 2-1,6-0
#12-Darick Lapaglia (Missouri) over (GR) Kyle Larson (Iowa Blue) Dec 6-0,3-0
HM-Tommy Forte (Indiana) over #10-Anthony Valencia (California) Dec 1-0,3-0
 
145:
15-Fox Baldwin (Florida) over 6-Grant Leeth (Missouri) Dec 1-1,2-1
HM-Troy Heilmann (New Jersey) over (GR) Kevin Moylan (Illinois) Dec 2-0,1-2,1-1
 
152:
#2-Brian Murphy (Illinois) over #2-Oliver Pierce (Texas Blue) Dec 3-0,2-2
#9-Dylan Milonas (New Jersey) over #2-Brian Murphy (Illinois) Dec 3-0,6-2
 
160:
(GR) Nick Becker (Wisconsin) over #13-Jordan Cooks (Michigan Blue) Dec 3-2,6-0
 
170:
#19-Matt Gray (Wisconsin) over #19-Burke Paddock (New York) Dec 6-0,1-0
(GR) Samson Imonode (Arizona) over #8-Jason Grimes (GA Black) Dec 1-0,1-1
 
182:
(GR) Kyle Crutchmer (Oklahoma Red) over #8-Glenn Climmons (GA Black) Dec 1-0,0-6,1-0
#5-Joel Dixon (Oklahoma Blue) over #10-Andrew Garcia (Michigan Blue) Dec 0-4,1-0,1-1
 
195:
(GR) Sam Brooks (Illinois) over #6-Frank Mattiace (New Jersey) TF 6-0,7-1
 
220:
#2-J`Den Cox (Missouri) over (GR) Willie Miklus (Iowa Blue) Dec 2-0,4-1
#8-Jake Hart (Pennsylvania) over #10-Nathan Rotert (South Dakota) Dec 1-2,3-2,1-0
 
HWT:
#1-Brooks Black (Pennsylvania) over (GR) Joe Scanlan (Iowa Blue) Dec 5-1,2-0
#2-Adam Coon (Michigan Blue) over #8-Newton Smerchek (Wisconsin) Pin 1:00
#7-Nathan Butler (Kansas Blue) over #18-Jake Scanlan (Iowa Red) Dec 3-0,1-0
(GR) Evan McGee (Oklahoma Red) over #11-Joe Bexley (GA Black) Dec 3-2,3-0