NHSCA High School Nationals - Junior Preview
NHSCA’s kicks off this Friday with Session 1 getting started at 745 am. Over the three days, wrestlers from across the nation will work their way through the brackets and All Americans and NHSCA Champs will be crowned on Sunday. Wrestlers are separated into their year in High School … so Senior 113’s will wrestle other Senior 113’s - no Junior, Sophomores, or Freshmen will be in the bracket.
Below is a look at each weight in the the Junior division. You can catch all of the action this weekend on flowrestling. Keep in mind - this is who was registered as of Monday of this week … names get added, dropped, and weights change - so take what you see with a grain of salt. Because there are so many entrants … I gave a short “who to watch” for each weight. Doesn’t mean each will place or that someone else won’t win it … these are just some of the names I will be watching this weekend (alphabetical order by last name). I chose names out of the SE because they “popped off the page” for me … meaning I have seen them compete at Super 32, Fargo, or somewhere else.
The Junior class in the Southeast is special. There are many ranked wrestlers from the SE and you could get the opportunity to see several do work at NHSCA’s. Who you will not see … Alabama’s Cory Land is scheduled to be in Wisconsin at the Cadet World Team Trails (as are NC’s Joe Sealey and GA’s Gabe Arnold - neither of which are Juniors like Land). Also an update on the SR list … Kentucky’s Spencer Moore is registered for both (as is FL' State Champ Tyler Washburn) - where will they wrestle is anyone’s guess.
106 (27 registered)
Who to Watch:
Brandon Baldonado (CA)
Codie Cuerbo (OH)
Christian Guzman (FL)
Colby McBride (GA)
Isiac Paulino (MA)
Tate Tromble (WY)
113 (49 registered)
Who to Watch:
Justin Bradford (TN)
Sefton Douglas (WY)
Ty Goedert (CO)
Archer Heelan (NE)
Cole Hunt (GA)
Kyle Montaperto (NC)
Adrian Morales (FL)
Ethan Perryman (CA)
Matthew Rowland (NC)
Santino Sanchez (CA)
Adam Schweitzer (PA)
Yanni Vines (AL)
Really good weight class. Nick Corday is also registered, but I have it on good authority that he has not fully recovered and will not make the trip. Hunt vs. Montaperto is worth the price of admission alone, but add in Vines, Rowland, Bradford, Morales from the SE plus a few Fargo AA’s and State Placers and this weight will be one to watch.
120 (89 registered)
Who to Watch:
Evan Binder (MO)
Dominic Ditomasso (GA)
Matthew Ellis (OH)
Zac Flurry (AL)
Dante Frinzi (PA)
Will Korth (UT)
Mason Leiphart (PA)
Angel Lozado (CO)
Andrew Marchase (NY)
Aiden Poe (FL)
Mark Samuel (NC)
Jacob Silka (GA)
Another very good weight class that features 89 wrestlers from a ton of different states. PA brings a pair of state placers, but the wrestler to keep an eye on is 2x Georgia State Champ Jacob Silka who just went 7-0 at Ultimate Duals in PA this past weekend.
126 (86 registered)
Who to Watch:
Andrew Austin (FL)
Braden Basile (FL)
Colton Bishop (GA)
Mark Botello (MA)
Joseph Cangro (NJ)
Jacob Cox (NC)
Reese Jones (GA)
Ryan Luna (CA)
Art Martinez (GA)
Kai O’Dell (CT)
Jacob Seymour (GA)
Jason Shaw (IL)
Nash Singleton (OR)
Cole Thomas (KY)
Another very good weight class that features some really good wrestlers from around in the country - Nash Singleton, Joseph Cangro, Cole Thomas etc. The SE brings a really good group - particularly Georgia and Florida with Austin and Basile as well as Bishop, Jones, Seymour, and Jones. This will be a fun one to watch.
132 (89 registered)
Who to Watch:
Ismael Ayoub (OH)
Dyson Dunham (VA)
Brady Hankin (CO)
Jimmy Harrington (MA)
Bryce Kresho (GA)
Dylan Layton (SC)
Danny Nini (FL)
David Panone (GA)
Melton Powe (AL)
Jordan Soriano (NY)
Brennan Van Hoecke (FL)
Matthew Walsh (MD)
Hayden Zinkin (CA)
Another deep weight class … which isn’t surprising in the JR division. Some really good names from outside the SE, but I will take any of the SE kids in the bracket. Nini, Van Hoecke, Layton, etc. can wrestle with anyone.
138 (98 registered)
Who to Watch:
Billy Brenton (WY)
Hayden Brown (OK)
Anthony Doyle (GA)
Garrett Foreman (TN)
Kelvin Griffin (ME)
Sam Harris (GA)
CJ Heinselman (SC)
Evan Holloway (VA)
Drew Lang (UT)
James Latona (AL)
Connor Powell (GA)
Jack Roszko (NY)
Jakob Smith (TX)
Thomas Snipes (SC)
98 registered at 138. Many other wrestlers that could have been mentioned above (including from the SE). But there is limited space and only so much time to watch. Latona seemed to make a jump this past year … interested to see if it continues here at NHSCA’s. He has the ability to win the whole thing, but he will have to grind through some tough competition to get there.
145 (87 registered)
Who to Watch:
Michael Bobola (MA)
Payton Brooks (ID)
Anthony Conetta (NY)
Andrew Cory (GA)
Alex Couto (FL)
Garrison Dendy (TN/GA)
Nolan Gessler (OH)
Cole Homet (PA)
Peter Kane (CT)
Michael Kilic (GA)
Kaleb Larkin (AZ)
Raife Manjarrez (CO)
Jaden New (AL)
Jeremy Paradice (GA)
Another deep weight that is headlined by GA’s Michael Kilic, TN’s Garrison Dendy, AZ’s Kaleb Larkin, PA’s Cole Homet and others. Interested to see how the top in the SE (New, Paradice, Couto, etc.) fair with a stacked 145 lb. bracket.
152 (87 registered)
Who to Watch:
Brendon Abdon (FL)
Sam Beckett (PA)
Tim Bova (NY)
Kodiak Cannedy (TN)
Ty Chittum (VA)
Zane Cox (VA)
Colby Dalon (TN)
Davis Deal (FL)
AJ Dickerson (SC)
Nick Fea (PA)
MJ Gaitan (CA)
Will Garrett (AL)
JT Hogan (PA)
David Hunsberger (SC)
Jonathan Ley (FL)
Nolan Santos (RI)
James Scavuzzo (OH)
Nic Vafiadis (VA)
Keenan Wyatt (AL)
Another very deep weight class - the SE will bring some hammers with Cannedy, Abdon, Ley, and others. Keep an eye on the Virginia trio. Watch for Gaitan and Fea - both are fun to watch.
160 (70 registered)
Who to Watch:
Carter Baer (NY)
Domonic Baker (VA)
Aidan Bowers (TN)
Cole Cochran (GA)
Aiden Curry (NC)
Sergio Desiante (FL)
Dillon Dick (UT)
Gunner Filipowicz (GA)
Ceasar Garza (CA)
Luke Geog (OH)
Nicholas Hall (DE)
Nolan Lear (PA)
Garza is a beast and is the first name to jump off the page as one to watch. Keep an eye on Aidan Bowers, Cole Cochran, and Gunner Filipowicz from the SE … each made some serious jumps this season and it will be interesting to see how they do against Garza, Baker, and the like (I have no doubt that any of the 3 can win it all).
170 (57 registered)
Who to Watch:
Joey Bambinelli (GA)
Devon Bell (NC)
Jonathan Conrad (FL)
Noah Duke (KY)
Darion Johnson (WA)
Desmond McLaughlin (MA)
Caleb Roe (AL)
Matthew Singleton (GA)
Orion Thivierge (MT)
Hard to not look ahead to a possible Conrad vs. Singleton matchup. Conrad is a 4x Florida Champ, Singleton is a 3x Georgia Champ … both should add to their titles next season. Neither can look ahead, but it doesn’t look like anyone else in the field is on that level. Keep an eye on Devon Bell and Caleb Roe as well as Darion Johnson from Washington and Noah Duke from Kentucky.
182 (52 registered)
Who to Watch:
Hunter Adams (GA)
Dylan Deal (FL)
Dylan Fishback (OH)
Gunnar Garriques (TN)
Nolan Pozzobon (GA)
Kole Mulhauser (NY)
Nathan Schobel (ME)
Carter Sirois (CT)
Caleb Uhlenhopp (NV)
Jackson Wakeland (GA)
Cody Williams (GA)
Kennedy Wyatt (AL)
Keep an eye on Kole Mulhauser and Dylan Fishback from PA and OH as well as Caleb Uhlenhopp from Nevada. Georgia brings quite a few at 182 including Hunter Adams, Nolan Pozzobon, Jackson Wakeland, and Cody Williams … Garriques had a really good Grappler Fall Classic and shows he can go with anyone.
195 (32 registered)
Who to Watch:
Michael Bartush (CT)
Jesse Boley (CO)
Jack Darrah (MO)
David Harper (TN)
Jacob Meissner (MN)
Kody Rashed (NH)
Owen Warren (SD)
Three names really stood out to me when looking over those registered at 195 - Harper from TN, Jack Darrah from Missouri, and Jacob Meisner of Minnesota. I think Owen Warren might be someone that could really surprise some people. Darrah was great at the Elite 8 in Atlanta in the fall and we in the SE know how good Harper is … this is a smaller weight, but still should have some very good matchups.
220 (32 registered)
Who to Watch:
Jairo Caceres (NY)
Chase Crayton (NC)
Nicholas Feldman (PA)
Carson Floyd (NC)
Dylan Galloway (GA)
KJ Miley (MO)
Levid Rodriguez (KY)
Nic Rodriguez (ID)
Paul Sharp (CA)
Interested to see how the pair from North Carolina - Crayton and Floyd - does against the likes of Feldman, Miley, and Levid Rodriguez.
285 (35 registered)
Who to Watch:
Adolfo Betancur (RI)
Thomas Dossett (GA)
Jamier Ferere (NC)
Matthew Jimenez (FL)
Julian Laventure (PA)
Justin Matson (MN)
Antonio Ramos (MA)
Adrian Sans (FL)
Ethan Vergara (FL)
Interesting weight class that features a couple of New England Championship Placers in Betancur and Ramos, PA Placer in Julian Laventure, and a host of SE heavys including GA State Runner-up Thomas Dossett, Florida Champ Ethan Vergara, and others.