Marines Cadet & Junior National Championships

Fargo 2018: Dark Horses In Junior Men's Freestyle

Fargo 2018: Dark Horses In Junior Men's Freestyle

The Fargo Dark Horses: nine names you don't want to see in the first couple rounds of the 2018 tournament.

Jul 12, 2018 by Wrestling Nomad
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Fargo week is great for many reasons, one of which is going through the archives. On Wednesday, I was looking at the 2015 Junior men's freestyle preview and comparing it with the actual results, searching for the bracket buster at each weight.

Hindsight is always 20/20, it's easy to pick out the bracket buster once the tournament is over. But it takes a keen, discerning eye to identify the dark horses before an event begins. So let's take a stab at it, shall we?

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This predictions list went through several iterations. At first, I only wanted to include guys who were not included in Willie's preview, but he's pretty adept at finding the diamonds in the rough. Then, I tried to exclude graduated seniors, but that limited the list quite a bit.

What I settled on were guys who have not placed in Fargo and were not ranked. Here are the nine names that no one wants to see in the early rounds of the tournament.

106: Alex Cottey, IN

He's yet to place in two trips to Fargo, mainly because he gives up points by the dozen. In 2016, he lost to the guys who placed third and fifth in his weight and then last year fell to the fourth- and sixth-placers. He was a runner-up to #6 Jacob Moran in single class Indiana this past season. There are two world team members, a returning champ, another returning placer, and a regional champ in this bracket, so Cottey will have his work cut out for him. 

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126: Marcus Castllo, AZ

Castillo is making his Fargo freestyle debut (he placed eighth in Cadet Greco back in 2016). He has done very well at Folkstyle Nationals the past three years and has wins in the scholastic style over Ryan Franco and Aidan Medora, both of whom made Fargo finals a year ago.


132: Terrell Barraclough, UT

I'm still kicking myself for not even mentioning him in my preview last year. That was only compounded when he beat Cael Happel, a kid I picked to finish fourth in their weight, in the round of 32. I mentioned Barraclough in the lead up to Ironman and he didn't place. Byt I'm still going to say he is not someone to be taken lightly this weekend in the FargoDome.


138: Danny Fongaro, NJ

From Willie's preview: "Need a dark horse? How about Danny Fongaro? He beat Mosha Schwartz, Josh Jones, and Connor McGonagle to win NE Regionals. All three are ranked now." The Columbia commit was just overseas training with the Georgian national team and may be throwing out some different European feels that guys may not be used to.


138: Riley Gurr, MT

Originally from Washington, Gurr is one of several guys in this article who lost in the round of 12 a year ago. He won one title in Washington before moving to Montana and closing out his career with another two titles. 

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160: Austin Brenner, MN

A pair of Minnesotans come next. Brenner was instrumental in helping Minnesota reach the finals of Junior Duals last month and fell in the bloodround of Fargo. A big school state champ as a junior, Brenner is committed to wrestle for North Dakota State and may be ready to show out for his future hometown crowd.


160: Kenny O'Neil, MN

O'Neil is now in his third go-round of Junior freestyle. I put value in that kind of experience and also generally trust the graduated seniors from power states to be the ones to bust brackets. O'Neil's best freestyle win was a 10-0 tech over DJ Shannon just a few months before he made the Super 32 finals.


182: Noah Cressell, IN

Cressell tried to go ultimate road warrior status last year when he lost his first match and then reeled off six wins in a row before losing in the bloodround. A 2017 FloNationals placer, Cressell is now making his fifth trip to North Dakota. Seems like it's time for a breakthrough.

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285: Jorden Pryor, MD

Heading into his senior year, Pryor remains a high upside heavyweight. After winning his first state title in 2017, the Maryland native made the NHSCA sophomore finals. Then, at one point after Super 32, Pryor hovered around the bottom of the rankings. After knocking off Keaton Kluever and Louden Haga back-to-back, he was a rideout short of making the finals opposite Anthony Cassioppi before hitting a hard semi slide. 

An undefeated state champ for Dunbar this past season, Pryor's freestyle experience is limited. As a Cadet, he went 1-2 in Fargo all the way back in 2015, as well as a rough Cadet duals experience. He did pick up a win over Isaac Righter this year; Righter beat Akron finalist Huter Catka at the Pan Am Trials.