2016 USAW Cadet and Junior National Championships

Teshya Alo: The Best Wrestler In Fargo

What if I told you the best wrestler in Fargo this year will be a 139-pound girl from Hawaii? Not just the best in her bracket, or even the best woman in th

Jul 13, 2016 by Wrestling Nomad

What if I told you the best wrestler in Fargo this year will be a 139-pound girl from Hawaii? Not just the best in her bracket, or even the best woman in the gym. Teshya Alo will be the best, most dominant and most accomplished wrestler in the FargoDome, period.

Does anyone else competing in Fargo have a world title on their resume? Did anyone else place top-three on Team USA's senior-level ladder in 2015? Alo did it twice, making the team at both 58kg and 60kg a year ago—as a high school junior.

She won the Senior Nationals/Olympic Trials qualifier in December, and was the second seed at Olympic Team Trials as an 18-year-old. She also won a bronze medal at her first Cadet World Championships in 2013 before taking the 56kg crown in 2014.

Dominance

Alo already has five Fargo freestyle stop signs to her name—the most in women's history. Over the past three years, she has only given up five points in 23 matches—that includes a scoreless run in 2013, when she wrestled in both age groups.

In that same time span, she wrestled only one age-level match that did not end in either a technical superiority or fall. Essentially, when her opponents walk onto the mat, they lose by 10 or get pinned.

Ahead of the Curve

A four-time Hawaii state champ, Alo is also a decorated Judoka. Just like in wrestling, she has won multiple age-level titles on the national level.

But she can be just as dominant on the senior level. More than half of her matches at the Trials or Senior Nationals ended in bonus points. She was still in high school for all of those matches.

Alo has four pins and four wins by technical superiority in her short, 15-match senior level career. If she's doing that to adults, the main question this weekend is, will any of her matches even make it to the second period?

Unscored Upon

There was only one girl who scored on Alo last year in Fargo, and she still ended losing 12-1 in just over a minute and a half. She also gave up a single point in December at U.S. Nationals.

Few girls in the field will be able to handle the kind of calm, but firm pressure the 18-year-old Hawaiian will put on them. Not since the 2014 semifinals has Alo been taken down.

Given how dominant she's been, it's quite possible any girls who could challenge her will drop down to 130 or bump up to 148. This likely means she'll cruise to a record sixth title without anyone coming close to scoring on her.

Undefeated in Fargo

Alo has never lost a match in the FargoDome, and has gone 31-0 over her illustrious career. She picked up 10 pins during that time, with another 14 by technical superiority.

It's easy to see why. She has a variety of leg attacks, and can finish from both a single leg and a double leg. We've seen her score on arm spins and lat drops. If someone tries to shoot on her, the judo comes out and she usually puts her foe on their back for four. When they do land on their stomach, she can turn with a lace or a gut wrench series.

Oftentimes, a match with Alo ends before she even takes the mat because her reputation precedes her. The opponent may feel they are beat just by being on Alo's side of the bracket. And if anyone does want to challenge her this week, just remember, she beat the girl who won our Olympic Trials.