Vines and Frost each claim titles at the National Recruiting Showcase
Quite a few current SE hammers traveled to Iowa this past weekend for USA Wrestling’s National Recruiting Showcase. The SE was well represented at nearly every weight - particularly by wrestlers from Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana. North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia did not send many athletes, but the other states carried the flag for the SE - putting many on the podium and two - Yanni Vines of Alabama and Evan Forst of Louisiana on the top step. Below are the wrestlers that made the podium in the boys division … for more info on Zao Estrada’s run to a title and all of the SE girls.
National Champs
Yanni Vines - Alabama (Champ at 113)
Vines was very workmanlike in his approach this weekend (much like he is always - whether wrestling at the Warrior Invitational with local teams or on a national stage). Vines downed Landon Smith 8-3, Tyler Evans 8-0, and Dawson Johnson 3-0 to reach the finals opposite California’s Ethan Perryman. Vines had a nice takedown to start the action and then gave up a grandby that resulted in a reversal before getting an escape to lead 3-2 after the 1st period. Vines chose bottom and got an escape in the 2nd to push his lead to 4-2 entering the 3rd. Perryman chose bottom and Vines turned his for 2 before got the escape making it 6-3. A takedown with 23 seconds remaining for Perryman closed the gap to 6-5, but a let up by Perryman and then some attacking by Vines with little time remaining sealed the win for Vines 7-5.
Photo Credit: Illinois Wrestle
Evan Frost - Louisiana (Champ at 120)
Frost continues to dominate. He finished his weekend with 3 major decisions and a 15-0 tech fall. He wasn’t challenged in any of his matches - downing Alabama’s Powe 15-6 (Powe finished 3rd), IL’s Markel Baker 17-4 (Baker finished 2nd), and Nicholas Gonzalez of IL 12-2 (Gonzalez finished 6th after medically forfeiting his placement match). We could give you a recap of his finals match, but it was pretty much a domination on his feet … Frost was even letting Baker up in the last 30 seconds as he pushed for the tech fall. A dominating performance over a solid field.
All Americans
Ethan Boudreaux - Louisiana (7th at 113)
Louisiana has some outstanding talent and Boudreaux continues to make a name for himself in the Pelican state. Boudreaux had a fall and a 17-7 major before falling to eventual runner-up Perryman 12-6 in the quarters. An 11-1 major of Ivan Bourge of Illinois put him on the podium. He finished with a loss to Luke Dux of Wisconsin before downing Tyler Evans 6-5 to take 7th.
Isaiah Powe - Alabama (3rd at 120)
Powe had some great matches to finish 3rd in a tough weight. He beat Davin Avedissian of California 6-2 before downing Georgia’s Dominic Ditomasso 8-6 and majoring PA’s Kade Davidheiser 16-8. He lost to Frost 15-6 and then bounced back to beat Joe Fernau of IL 11-3 and CA’s Grigor Cholakyan 9-7 for 3rd.
Jacob Frost - Louisiana (4th at 126)
Frost, like his twin Evan, dismantled his bracket early with a 7-2 win, a 16-1 tech fall, and an 18-3 tech fall to make the quarters. Frost scored a tough takedown in overtime over Maryland’s Gage Owen 6-4 SV1 to advance to the semis where he fell to Sam Cartella of Ohio 10-1. Frost rebounded with a nice 3-2 decision over Easton Hilton of Missouri to advance to the consi finals (Frost beat Hilton twice - once 7-2 and then the second time 3-2). Frost fell to CA’s Carter Bailey 7-3 and finished 4th in a stacked weight.
Brayden Ivy - Tennessee (2nd at 138)
Tennessee D2 State Champ Ivy showed a lot of grit as he made his way to the 138 lb. finals. He beat Alex Peralta of California 7-1 and MD’s Antonio Rodrigues 4-3 before going to overtime in both his quarters and semi matches. He beat Hoyt Blaskowski 3-2 TB1 and Matthew Rodriguez 3-1 SV1 to make the finals. Ivy pulled Texas hammer Tagen Jamison in another match that would end up in extra time. Ivy hit a beautiful blast double that prolonged the match significantly as the trainers worked to stop the bleeding from Jamison’s nose and mouth. The two battled back and forth before Jamison got the deciding takedown in sudden victory for the win.
James Latona - Alabama (3rd at 138)
We nearly had an all-SE final at 138. Latona won with a 15-0 tech fall and a 1-0 decision over Eli Rocha of Missouri before falling to eventual Champ Jamison 6-4 in sudden victory. Latona then proceeded to win 4 straight to finish 3rd including a 4-2 over Cash Stewart of Wisconsin in the consi finals.
Jacob Ramirez - Louisiana (7th at 145)
Ramirez went 1-1 on the championship side with a quick fall before losing to Missouri’s Logan Rathjen 3-2 in the 3rd round. Ramirez then pout together 3 wins to make the podium … a quick fall, a 9-5 decision of Ayden Dolt of Missouri, and a 10-1 major of Elijah Lucio of Wisconsin. He lost a 2-1 SV3 to Chris Moore of Illinois before downing Powe of Alabama to finish 7th.
Melton Powe III - Alabama (8th at 145)
Powe went 1-1 on the championship side with a tough 15-0 loss to eventual Runner-up Daschle Lamer of Oregon in the 3rd round. Powe rebounded with 3 solid wins to make the podium. He beat Ethan Birch of California 5-4 TB1, Lorenzo Luis of Idaho 10-5 TB1 and Nikolas Slatoff of Nevada 6-4 SV1 before falling to Dillon Carlson of Illinois 5-1. Powe then lost to LA’s Ramirez to finish 8th.
Will Miller - Alabama (3rd at 152)
Miller, a multiple time Alabama State Champ, took care of business on the championship side with an 11-1 major, a 9-3 decision, and a 15-3 major before falling to MJ Gaitan of California in the semisfinals. Miller rebounded with a nice 11-4 win over Michael Bobola of Massachusetts and then beat California’s Tim Cowan 6-4 to finish 3rd.
Kendrick Hodge - Florida (8th at 152)
Hodge went 1-1 on the championship side - with a fall of Valdez of Montana before losing to Jackson Morgan of California. But Hodge put in the work on the backside - getting a 9-2 win, an injury default and a 5-2 decision over Sergio Montoya of California to make the podium. He lost his last two matches, but finished 8th in a deep bracket at 152.
Caleb Roe - Alabama (6th at 170)
Arab’s Roe did some outstanding work in Iowa this past weekend. He had 2 falls and a 6-4 decision over Rylin Burns of Montana to make the semis at 170. A loss to eventual runner-up Lowell Arnold put him in the consis where he dropped his next two matches to finish 6th. This is a weight that saw Pennsylvania hammer Carson Manville finish 7th. Roe lost in the consi semis to Caden Ernd 5-0 - Ernd will be headed to Illinois this coming fall.
Gunnar Garriques - Tennessee/Illinois (6th at 182)
Garriques is listed as from Illinois, but he spends his time at Baylor in Tennessee - so we claim him as a member of the #dirtysouth. Garriques had a 2-0 win over fellow Tennessee D2 hammer Gervacio Gonzalez and a 6-2 win over Utah’s Christian Smoot before falling to Kansas’s Jared Simma 9-2 in the semis. A pair of tough losses (a 4-3 decision to Kingsley Menifee of Virginia and a fall to Smoot) put him on the podium in 6th.
Ryan Cody - Florida (2nd at 195)
Cody looked outstanding on the bottom side of the bracket - he had a 48 second fall, a 15-5 major decision of Garavous Kouekabakilaho of California and a 3rd period fall of Caden Weber of Wisconsin to make the finals. Cody got an early takedown on Evan Anderson of Ohio in the finals, but Anderson took the lead with an escape and a late takedown in the 1st period (3-2). Cody chose bottom and got a reversal to go up 4-3 and Anderson got the escape 20 seconds later to tie things up 4-4 heading into the 3rd period. Anderson got a quick escape and sealed it with a takedown at the end to claim the title with a 7-4 decision.