One of the most coveted awards in high school wrestling is the stop sign, the eight sided plaque that each Fargo champ is awarded. This Tuesday, 15 wrestlers will be crowned Junior national champions on the raised stage.

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July 13-19 | 9AM Central

One of the great thing about Fargo is that graduated seniors get to represent their state and compete in one last tournament. Last year, one third of the champs (5/15) were making their last trip to the event.

Here are four of the best guys in the country who have one shot left to get their first stop sign before moving on to college.

Jace Luchau: 152, CA

Jace Luchau has been taking home a bunch of hardware from Fargo the past two years, the problem is it just hasn’t been the stop sign that Luchau has been chasing. The Fresno State commit was a double All-American in 2017 and made the semis in both styles, but he couldn’t punch his spot to the finals in either.

In 2018 Luchau was able to double up again, but like the year before couldn’t make it to the spotlight match. He has already on a freestyle national title this season when he competed in the first ever Freestyle FloNationals, so that could be a sign that its Luchau’s time to get over the hump in Fargo.

Check out Jace Luchau winning his FloNats title

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Chris Foca: 182, NJ

Chris Foca has pretty much won all he can win as a Folkstyle wrestler in Jersey, but when it comes to Fargo, he hasn’t been as fortunate. In 2016 Foca was able to get on the podium when he took 5th as a Cadet. The future Cornell upperweight was closer to getting his first stop sign last year when he made the finals in Greco, but lost a tough one to Alex Cramer of Illinois.

Then the freestyle 170lb bracket that he wrestled in last year might be one of the most stacked Fargo weights that I’ve ever seen. The bracket had big guns everywhere and Foca made it to the quarters where Carter Starocci got the best of him. I don’t think it’ll be any easier for Foca at Fargo this year, but lets see if the Jersey boy has what it takes to come out on top go a tough bracket and grab himself his first Fargo title.

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Parker Keckeisen: 182, WI

Parker Keckeisen has made a couple trips out to Fargo, getting better each time he competes in the FargoDome. In 2016 he lost to the eventual champion, Aaron Brooks, in the quarters. After that, he dropped another one in the consis before he could make it on the podium.

But last year, Keckiesen was a part of that ridiculous 170lb bracket, and was able to take 3rd. Again losing to the eventual champion in the quarters, the UNI recruit made sure he didn’t let history repeat itself. Keckiesen came back to beat cadet world medalist, Travis Wittlake Jr., to make it to the third place bout. He then beat Fargo champ Carter Starocci in a back and forth match to take home the bronze. While he's clearly shown he has the talent to get on top of the Podium, can he put it all together in his last go around before joining the Panther Train?

Watch Parker Keckeisen take out 2016 Cadet champion, Carter Starocci

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Abe Assad: 182, IL

Out of all the hammers on this list, Abe Assad has to be the most accomplished guy. Although he did win a Fargo national title in Greco in 2017, he hasn’t been able to win it in freestyle. Assad also made the freestyle finals in 2017 but got bested by AJ Ferrari. In Assad’s defense, instead of wrestling in Fago in 2018, he was working on his bronze medal at Worlds. First Assad won his team spot in Akron, in one of the most out of hand brackets in history, before going to Croatia and winning his medal.

Could Assad have won Fargo if he wrestled in it last year? Probably… Maybe… Who knows? But what I do know is, after winning a state title, a Super 32 title, an Akron title, and a World Medal, plus his third place finish at the Open in Juniors, the Fargo title seems to be the one accomplishment that has evaded Assad to this point. Let’s see if he can get it done before becoming a Hawkeye, next fall. By the way, Iowa's had graduated commits win stop signs each of the past two years: Jacob Warner at 195 in 2017 and Anthony Cassioppi at 285 last July.

Watch Assad beat Gavin Hoffman for third in Vegas

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Fargo Rosters

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