Mar 23-Dec 31 · Resumes Tomorrow at 3:00 PM UTC
FloWrestling Radio Live
May 25-27, 12:00 PM UTC
NHSCA National Duals
May 25-26, 1:00 PM UTC
U16 and Junior FS and GR State 2024
May 25, 3:00 PM UTC
Heroes Conquest
May 25, 3:00 PM UTC
CUSAW 2024 Freestyle and Greco State Cha
May 25-26, 4:00 PM UTC
Canadian U23 Champs & World Team
May 25, 4:00 PM UTC
Mark Halvorson Memorial (2024)
May 26, TBD
U16 and Junior Greco State 2024
May 31-Jun 2 · Resumes Friday at 11:56 AM UTC
CAUSA FS/GR State
May 31-Jun 2, 2:00 PM UTC
U23 Nationals and U20 World Team Trials
May 31-Jun 2, 11:00 PM UTC
Southern Plains Regional Championships
Jun 1-2, 12:00 PM UTC
Spartan Nationals
Jun 1, 12:00 PM UTC
TESTING TOURNAMENT
Jun 6-9, 8:30 AM UTC
Ranking Series #2
Jun 8-9, 12:30 PM UTC
2024 Ultimate Boys Freestyle Duals
Fargo - Junior Freestyle

Fargo: The Finale

Fargo: The Finale

Jul 22, 2012 by Willie Saylor
Fargo: The Finale
Fargo: The Finale
Willie Saylor, Editor
 
Another incredible week at Fargo is in the books, the results of which will go down in history. Undoubtedly, the All Americans here will go a long way in determining champions and placers at the collegiate level, and will populate the list of contenders on future Olympic and World Team ladders.
 
We’ll recap the action, weight-by-weight, from Fargo’s finale: the Junior Freestyle finals.
 
There were five finalists that returned to the big stage after capturing titles in Greco earlier in the week. Double finalists were Nkosi Moody (106, IL), Cory Clark (126, IA), Zane Richards (132, IL), Sam Brooks (195, IL), and Adam Coon (HWT, MI).
 
Clark, Brooks, and Coon did so successfully.
 
Additionally, three wrestlers were looking to defend their titles. Moody, Nathan Tomasello (120, OH), Richards, all won Junior crowns last year.
 
On the team side, Illinois won their 3rd consecutive Junior FS title. They were paced by 12 All Americans, 6 of which were finalists. Bryce Brill (138) and Sam Brooks (195) claimed titles.
 
Illinois 63 team points easily out-distanced Runners-Up Iowa (51). Minnesota (48) and Pennsylvania (40) were 3rd and 4th, while Michigan and New York tied for 5th with 26 team points.
 
Here’s the skinny weight-by-weight:
 
100
Rohweder was a sort of unknown commodity coming into the tournament. Fuentez had placed in FS as a Cadet two years ago. Rohweder’s quickness and movement had him winning in two straight periods.

PreFinals Drama: Rohweder beat returning champ Jabari Moody in his pool.

Surprises: Rohweder over Moody. In the three USAW events (Folk, FS, GR), Moody hasn’t failed to make a final in two years.

 
106
Mascarenas scored three points in the waning moments of the first period to propel him to the title. In doing so, he became the first JR Freestyle Champ from New Mexico. He also prevented Moody from his second straight Triple Crown.

PreFinals Drama: Mascarenas’ biggest scare come from #14 Skyler Petry in the second round. Other than that, he was dominant. Moody dropped the first period to #5 Lizak, but bounced back to win the match and get to the finals.

Surprises: #13 Gannon Volk not placing. He was a returning champ.
 
113
This match pitted the reigning Cadet World Team Member (Thorn) vs. the reigning Junior World Team Member in Cordova. Thorn dominated on his feet, scoring early in both periods and wrestling smart the rest of the way.

PreFinals Drama: Thorn and Oregon’s Ronnie Bresser met in the finals last year. They met again in the Round Robin to decide who had the right to go to the finals.
Cordova didn’t go three periods with anyone on his side of the bracket.

Surprises: Notable non-placers included Jarred Oftedahl (MN), Tommy Pawelski (IL), Jaret Singh (MO), Sebastian Pique (IL), and Johnson Mai (CA).
 
120
This was a rematch from Fila’s won by Hall. Tomasello won largely because he dominated the center, established good positions, and forced push-out after push-out. Hall continued to try to create space and work from distance, which Tomasello capitalized on.

PreFinals Drama: Tim Lambert (MI) pushed Tomasello to three periods.
Hall won the third period in the Round Robin over UNI recruit, Dylan Peters.

Surprises: Seth Brayfield (MO) had a real nice tournament and placed 7th.
 
126
Clark, who will be an Iowa Hawkeye in a couple of months, was trying for the double after winning Greco earlier in the week. But McKenna looked to put a stop to that, registering a thirty-two second tech in the first period. The last two periods were both decided by long and drawn out scramble situations that put Clark on top.

PreFinals Drama: There was a lot of it at this weight. Clark survived three-period scares from Jared Cortez (IL) and Garrison White (NC).
McKenna also had two full-length bouts. One with Conner Schram (PA), the other with 2011 Runner-Up, Joey Palmer (WA). Palmer had a lead with just :10 remaining when McKenna got the winning score.

Surprises: Godwin Nyama (3rd, PA) had a great tournament, beating both Nathan Kraisser (MD) and Cortez. Mark Duda (IL) went 0-2. Mike Magaldo (NJ), 1-2. This weight featured notable non-placers that approach double digits. By far the biggest surprise was #2 Jared Cortez, who just didn’t look himself. It should be noted that Kevin Norstrem (FL) left in the early rounds due to a separated collarbone.
 
132
Richards came in looking for both double titles and a defense of his crown last year. But Retherford was the hot hand. Richards scored first in both periods. Retherford scored last. And that’s what mattered. Both guys showed unbelievable reshots and counters from front head.

PreFinals Drama: Neither Retherford nor Richards were ever in danger. In fact, both guys yielded points to just two opponents.

Surprises: On the positive side, Robbie Mathers (AZ) had a fantastic showing. 3rd at this weight behind those two studs is outstanding. Same can be said for Nick Kelly (NY), who finished 4th. On the down side, Ben Morgan (MN), went just 2-2. Renaldo Radriguez-Spencer (NY), 1-2. Logan Ryan (IA) and Daniel Lewis (MO), who both had good duals, failed to place.
 
138
With all due respect to Cory Clark and the other champions, Brill deserved the OW award. He torched the field, including Murphy in the finals. He stopped the first period after two 3’s on blast doubles, and gutted his way to tech in the second period. Brill was by far the most impressive wrestler of the weekend.

PreFinals Drama: Murphy took a loss in Round 4 to Sahid Kargbo (VA) in a wild bout. Hayden Tuma (ID) lost in the first round to Oklahoma State Champ, Davey Dolan. But both had a shot to make the finals when they met in the last bout of the Round Robin. Murphy took it in three.

Surprises: Returning AA, Kevin Kinney (MO) went just 2-2. Neal Molloy (5th, IN) and Justin Arthur (6th, WV) had really strong showings. Also of note, Mitch Bengston (MN) withdrew with an injury.  
 
145
Collica dominated. He was up 3-0 in the first and in on a single when Eads hit a cutback for two and held for an addition point. Other than that, it was all Collica.

PreFinals Drama: Collica ran an absolute gauntlet. There were 5 returning finalists in his pool: Short (MN), Murphy (IL), Milonas (NJ), plus Blees (ND) and Lamont (UT) who were GR finalists. And Collica had to face all of them. He lost to Lamont 2-2, 1-8, but beat the other four head-to-head.
Eads had a loss, and Jack Bass looked to be on his way to his second finals of the summer (in addition to Fila’s). But the funky Eads took that Round Robin bout in three periods, 1-2, 1-0, 1-0.

Surprises: Both finalists were surprises for different reasons. Collica, because that side of the bracket was loaded. Eads, because he really wasn’t considered a contender. (He had only ever placed once in a FS major.) Hats off to him. He had a fantastic performance.
 
152
Llopez wrestled a bit cautious in the first period. Mejia had a good scoring opportunity thwarted by Llopez, who won the flip and the period in the clinch. In the second, Llopez showed the movement and slickness we all are used to seeing out of him.

PreFinals Drama: The most critical bout in determining the champ came from Llopez’s pool when he beat Oliver Pierce (TX) in three periods. Llopez won the second on the clinch and scored from front head in the third.
Brian Realbuto (NY) looked to be on the path to reaching the finals for the second straight year. He beat Mejia 4-0 in the first period of their RR match. But Mejia stormed back, closing it out 5-0, 6-0.

Surprises: Forget surprise of the weight, and forget this year; Mejia might have been the Fargo surprise of the decade. With no national accolades coming in, few had ever heard of him, far less considered him a contender. But he was the real deal. Another surprise in this weight was #5 Keilen Torres (OK) not placing and Toby Hague (NJ) going 0-2. On the positive side, Seth Liegel (5th, WI) was a pleasant surprise.
 
160
As one of the premier wrestlers in all the country, Martinez was a heavy favorite. He basically ran through the field, having only a relatively close match with Palacio (NY) in the pool stage. It looked to be more of the same in the early going of the finals. But in the second, Wanzek racked up points from par terre. And in the waning moments, he just might have had the go-ahead score. Why the Minnesota coaches didn’t challenge is kinda strange. Watch the ending and you make the call.

PreFinals Drama: There really wasn’t a whole lot of drama here. Martinez and Wanzek never experienced any danger.

Surprises: Austin Dewey (ID) and Tyler Grimaldi (NY) both had great tournaments, finishing 5th and 6th, respectively. And although Palacio (4th, NY) was a known commodity, his ability was certainly confirmed here.
 
170
Crutchmer showed impeccable understanding of positioning all tournament. In the finals, he was able to get a single with good head position and force push outs to start both periods. Later, he countered a Barnes double with an underhook and threw him to his back.

PreFinals Drama: In Pool A, Barnes was pushed to three periods twice. Alex Meyer (IA) looked to have the first period won over Virginia’s Zach Epperly before Epperly hit a turn from front head. Epperly then won the second, ending Meyer’s tournament. In Pool B, Crutchmer ended all his bouts in two periods.

Surprises: Meyer and Grimes (GA) not placing. Although both comes with asterisks as that top pool was brutal.
 
182
Rogers wasn’t going to be denied two years in a row. He lost in the finals to Pat Downey last year, but got it done on Saturday. Although it was a two-set bout, Climmons wrestled extremely well. Watch the match.

PreFinals Drama: You wanna see drama? Check out the Round Robin bout between Dwight Howes (CO) and Climmons. Fist-a-cuffs!

Surprises: With a 3rd place showing, Garrett Krohn’s stock continues to soar. Climmons is another one of those guys that we all knew was good, just not quite this good. The kid is legit, and along with Bryce Brill, had the whole Fargodome buzzing throughout the tournament.
 
195
Other than a nice double by Berge, Brooks dominated. He used a body lock and inside trip to get the fall early in the second.

PreFinals Drama: Mitch Sliga (IN) hadn’t lost a match in Fargo in two years. It didn’t take long for that to change as Tim Dudley (SC) beat him in two straight in the first round.
The road to the big stage for Pool A was determined in Round 4 in a nip-and-tuck affair between Berge and Ryan Solomon (PA). Each of the periods were one-point decisions.

Surprises: Berge and Solomon both beating Iowa’s Willie Miklus. Brad Johnson (IL), Frank Mattiace (NJ), and Sliga not placing.
 
220
Cox used superior size, quickness and athleticism to dominate Swider in two periods.

PreFinals Drama: The big match of course, occurred between Cox and Kyle Snyder (MD). Cox scored a push out from a whizzer off a Snyder shot in the first to win 1-0. He won by the same score in the second by limp arming out of a Snyder whizzer. This should have been the final.

Surprises: Danny Chaid (CA) was 2nd in GR, 4th in FS. He also had a really good showing at JR Duals. The graduated Chaid continues to impress.
Brian Moran (MI) not placing.
 
HWT
Coon’s superior size had him dominate the center of the mat.

PreFinals Drama: Like 220, the big match happened in the pool, and should have been the final. In a match with Brooks Black (PA), it went to the clinch both periods, with Coon getting the flip in both.

Surprises: Winfield. I had him ranked a little generously based, frankly, more on ability than on accolades. He performed well here, including a win over Dapper Dan participant, Josh Marchok.


Related Content