The Breakdown - Episode 28 - The State of ...
Georgia
A Breakdown of Team Georgia in Fargo 2021
Georgia many handfuls of wrestlers - each had varying degrees of success. On the top end you had Gabe Arnold and Caleb Henson claiming Freestyle National Titles … a feat that is extremely difficult. On the other end you had several wrestlers go 0-2 or 1-2. I think it is important to remind everyone that having the same expectations for every wrestler is ridiculous. Much of the growth of being part of Team Georgia - as they have gone to the duals and to Fargo - is simply being in the room with other athletes you may not normally drill with and to receive guidance from an outstanding coaching staff. No need to “sugar coat” it though - there are wrestlers that didn’t find the podium that have the ability to do so and came up short for any number of reasons. There are also a number of wrestlers that were on the “cusp” of making the podium … and those individuals knocked the door down and decided to bring some hardware back to Georgia.
I am going to go through every wrestler and give their record (and any wins - or losses that really stood out to me). At the bottom of each group - I include a very short summary of who from Georgia stood out to me over the course of the week. The goal of everyone in Fargo is to make the podium … so talking about that in reference to the number of All Americans for the state is important context.
16U Freestyle (5 All Americans)
Antonio Mills (100) - 2-2
Cael Kusky (100) - 0-2 - Lost to Layne Kleimann of Utah (5th)
Braydon Mitchell (106) - 0-2
Kieron McCormack (106) - 0-2
Drew Gorman (113) - 7th - All American - 6-2 - Lost to Brock Mantanona of California (2nd) and Daegen Orine of Missouri (5th); Win over Nick Treaster of Kansas (8th); Very good win over Michigan’s Marcello Milani 10-8 in the Round of 16.
Maddox McArthur (113) - 4-2 - Lost to eventual Champ Leo DeLuca of New Jersey
William Chambers (120) - 0-2
Collin Mullins (126) - 3-2 - Lost to Daniel Aranda of Illinois and had a nice win over Michigan’s Aaron Lucio
Logan Paradice (126) - 0-2 - Lost to Vince Bouzakis of Pennsylvania (6th)
Cade Parent (132) - 4-2 - Lost to Kollin Rath of Pennsylvania 8-4
Ian Stephens (132) - 0-2 - Lost to Smokey McClure of Washington (8th)
Josh Denson (132) - 3-2
Emil Necula (138) - 2-2 - Lost to Renso Montalvo of New York in opening match
Jason Clark (138) - 0-2 - Lost to eventual Champ Joel Adams of Nebraska in his opening match
Terry Moore (138) - 2-2
Latrell Schafer (145) - 8th - All American - 5-3 - Lost to Dylan Evans of Pennsylvania (3rd), Brett Back of Wisconsin (4th), and Isaias Jimenez of Arizona (7th).
Creed Thomas (152) - 2-2
Dominic Bambinelli (152) - 4th - All American - 6-2 - Lost to eventual Champ Zach Ryder of New York in quarters and to Nicholas Fox of Iowa (3rd). Beat Zachary Eliszewski of Wisconsin (8th) and Griffin Lundeen of Minnesota (6th).
Micah Wood (152) - 0-2
Hoke Poe Hogan (160) - 2-2
Kelvin Reyes (160) - 0-2
Tyler Secoy (160) - 8th - All American - 6-3 - Lost first match of the tournament and then won 6 in row. Lost to Peyton Westpfahl of Missouri (7th) and Jed Webster of Minnesota (6th).
Gabe Arnold (170) - National Champ - Wins over Cody Merrill of California (2nd) and Brian Burburija of Florida (5th).
Matthew Waddell (182) - 0-2
Omaury Alvarez (182) - 4-2 - Lost to Dominic Thebeau of Illinois (5th) and De’alcapon Veazy of Indiana (6th)
Albert Butler (220) - 2-2 - Lost to Nicholas Sahakian of California (6th)
16 Greco Roman (3 All Americans)
Antonio Mills (100) - 1-2 - Lost 1-0 to Colin Martin of Virginia (8th)
Cael Kusky (100) - 2-2 - Lost first match to Trey Wagner of Pennsylvania (2nd)
Braydon Mitchell (106) - 2-2 - Lost to Nathan Desmond of Pennsylvania (6th)
Kieron McCormack (106) - 2-2 - Lost to Matthew Martino of Idaho (2nd)
Drew Gorman (113) - 4th - All American - 8-2 - Lost 2nd match to Billy Townson of California (DNP) and then won 7 in a row to make the consolation finals. Lost to Marcello Milani of Michigan (3rd). Beat Treygen Martin of Idaho (7th) and Logan Swenson of Minnesota (5th).
Maddox McArthur (120) - 1-2 - Lost Phoenix Contos of Ohio (7th)
Caden Pollard (120) - 0-2
William Chambers (120) - 2-2
Collin Mullins (126) - 5-2 - Lost to Daniel Zepeda of California (5th) and Aaron Lucio of Michigan (4th). Nice win over Ayson Rice of South Dakota who finished 3rd.
Ian Stephens (126) - 1-2
Sebastian Melendez (126) - 1-2 - Lost Adrian Meza of Arizona (6th)
Josh Denson (132) - 3-2
Cade Parent (138) - 0-2 - Lost to Brandon Cody of Florida (5th)
Emil Necula (138) - 1-2 - Lost to Jude Randall of Oklahoma (4th) and Justin Avila of Iowa (8th) - loss to Avila was 7-6 where Avila scored 6 unanswered in the last 30 seconds of the match.
Jason Clark (138) - 0-2
Terry Moore (138) - 0-2
Crisjaneil Martinez-Antonetty (145) - 2-2
Creed Thomas (152) - 3-2 - Beat Braxton Strick of Missouri who would end up 8th; Lost to Nicholas Fox of Iowa (2nd) and Zachary Eliszewski at Wisconsin (3rd).
Dominic Bambinelli (152) - 6th - All American - 5-3 - Lost to eventual Champ Arvin Khosravy of California in the quarters, KJ Evans of Oklahoma (4th), Lars Michaelson of Washington (5th). Beat Braxton Strick of Missouri (8th) and Gavin Fernandez of California (7th).
Micah Wood (152) - 0-2
Kelvin Reyes (152) - 0-2
Tyler Secoy (160) - 1-2 - Lost to Gavin Ricketts of Kentucky (7th) by Injury default early in the tournament
Adam Gromatzky (160) - 0-2
Hoke Poe Hogan (170) - 4th - All American - 4-2 - Lost to eventual Champ Oscar Williams of Oklahoma in the semis and to Noah Poe-Hatten of Montana (3rd); Win over Harvey Ludington of New Jersey (5th)
Matthew Waddell (182) - 3-2
Albert Butler (220) - 0-2
16U Women Freestyle (1 All Americans)
Jordan Epstein (94) - 0-2 - Lost to eventual Runner-up Gabriella Gomez of Illinois in her first match.
Callie Payton (112) - 3-2 - Lost to Calli Gilchrist of Connecticut (3rd) and Emily Frost of New York (6th).
Brooke French (117) - 1-2 - Lost to Valerie Hamilton of Illinois (2nd)
Jasmine Jenkins-Bey (127) - 1-2 - Lost to Julia Fongaro of New Jersey (8th)
May Prado (132) - 2-2 - Lost 6-2 to eventual runner-up Sydney Perry of Illinois and Hallie Misplay of North Carolina (8th)
Genevieve An (138) - 5th - All American - 3-2 - Lost to Lydia Roope of Michigan (2nd) in the semis, Attalia Watson of Illinois (4th); Beat Taylor Miess of Colorado (6th)
Arieana Bacon (152) - 1-2 - Lost to Alison Evans of Colorado (4th) and Abbigail Smith of Colorado (3rd)
Jayde Massa (164) - 1-2 - Lost to Archer Jones of Arkansas (8th)
16U Breakdown
Nine All Americans including the 170 lb. Freestyle National Champ in Gabe Arnold. Two double All Americans in Drew Gorman and Dominic Bambinelli … Gorman finished the week 14-4 and Bambinelli was 11-5. Outstanding run in both styles by Gorman and Bambinelli - two rising freshmen in Georgia that will look to add a state title in 2022 to their collection from Fargo. Tyler Secoy put on a show in Freestyle … losing his first match and then winning 6 in a row to make the podium. The backside of the bracket is no joke and the ability to go on a run like that isn’t see often (although we will see that Secoy was topped by his teammate in Junior Greco, but that’s for later). Latrell Schafer finished freestyle 5-3 and all 3 losses came to wrestlers on the podium (3rd, 4th, and 7th) … in a very deep 145 lb. bracket. Jefferson’s Hoke Poe Hogan bounced back from a frustrating 2-2 in freestyle to make a run in Greco - making the semis at 170 before losing to the eventual Champ Oscar Williams and finishing 4th. The final 16U All American is Genevieve An. An won two in a row to make the semis before dropping her next two matches … she finished off her tournament with a win to take 5th.
So who … didn’t make the podium, but still stood out:
Cade Parent was 4-2 in freestyle, but went 0-2 in Greco. Nice run in Freestyle with a tough 8-4 loss to a very tough Kollin Rath of PA.
Creed Thomas was 2-2 in freestyle and 3-2 in Greco … in fact Thomas was one of the few to not place, but to have a wins over someone that did - beating Braxton Strick and Gavin Fernandez.
Josh Denson was 3-2 in both styles.
Collin Mullins was 3-2 in freestyle and 5-2 in Greco … beating Ayson Rice of South Dakota who finished 3rd.
Callie Payton’s two losses came to wrestlers that made the podium at 112.
Maddox McArthur was tough in freestyle - going 4-2 with one of those losses to the eventual National Champ in Leo DeLuca.
Omaury Alvarez was 4-2 in freestyle (didn’t wrestle Greco). His losses came to wrestlers that finished 5th and 6th. If you watch the matches - you know that Alvarez is as good or better than each (he was beating Thebeau 9-0 when he gave up 4 and then the fall). But wins didn’t happen this past week and that’s the way things go sometimes.
Junior Freestyle (4 All Americans)
Cole Hunt (113) - 6th - All American - 7-3 - Lost to Alan Koehler of Minnesota (3rd) twice - the last match was 16-16 on criteria and Codie Cuerbo of Ohio (5th). Beat Drew Heethuis of Michigan (7th).
Hunter McCullough (113) - 2-2 - Lost to Drew Heethuis of Michigan (7th)
Dominic Ditomasso (120) - 1-2
Ethan McCullough (120) - 1-2
Jacob Galindez (120) - 0-2
Mac Bowen (120) - 0-2
Carson Chalk (126) - 0-2
Robert Austin Westbrook (126) - 4-2
Art Martinez (132) - 0-2
David Panone (132) - 2-2
Reese Jones (132) - 1-2 - Lost opening match to Koy Buesgens of Minnesota
Connor Powell (138) - 0-2
Dakota Williamson (138) - 0-2
Hunter Price (138) - 0-2
Sam Harris (145) - 0-2 - injury defaulted after first round match
Caleb Henson (152) - National Champ - 7-0 - Beat Dylan Elmore of Kansas (8th), Luka Wick of California (4th), Cael Swenson of Minnesota (5th), and Daniel Wask of New Jersey (2nd).
Jarrod Pominville (152) - 2-2
Michael Kilic (152) - 3-2
Canyon Hebb (160) - 1-2 - Lost to Adam Thebeau of Illinois (8th)
Gunner Filipowicz (160) - 3-2
Miles Watts (160) - 1-2
RJ Weston (160) - 5-2
Zyan Hall (160) - 1-2 - Lost to Rocco Welsh of Pennsylvania (3rd)
Grady Tisdale (170) - 1-2
Hunter Adams (182) - 2-2
Kian Hauser (182) - 0-2
Nolan Pozzobon (182) - 2-2
Soren Dresch (182) - 0-2
Logan Webster (220) - 1-2 - Lost to Logan Shepard of Ohio (6th)
Noah Pettigrew (220) - 3rd - All American - 7-1 - only loss to eventual Champ Christian Carroll of Indiana; Wins over Logan Shepard of Ohio (6th), Martin Cosgrove of New Jersey (4th), Ben Vanadia of Ohio (8th)
Chase Horne (285) - 2nd - All American - 5-1 lost in the finals to Ben Kawczynski of Wisconsin; Beat Harley Andrew of Oklahoma (8th), Charles Crews III of Pennsylvania (4th)
Daniel Nunez (285) - 0-2 - Lost to Ryan Boersma of Illinois (3rd)
Junior Greco Roman (2 All Americans)
Conner Marsh (113) - 1-2
Hunter McCullough (113) - 0-2 - Lost first match to Nolan Wertanen of Michigan (7th)
Jacob Galindez (113) - 1-2
Dominic Ditomasso (120) - 2-2 - Lost to Christian Tanefau of North Dakota (5th)
Carson Chalk (120) - 3-2
Ethan McCullough (120) - 1-2 - Lost to eventual Runner-up Jett Strickenberger of Colorado
Tyson McCullough (126) - 2-2
Robert Austin Westbrook (126) - 1-2
Art Martinez (132) - 3-2 - Lost to Elijah Paulson of Minnesota (7th)
Christian Gordon (132) - 1-2
David Panone (132) - 3-2 - Lost to eventual Champ Dayne Dalrymple of Tennessee in Round fo 16.
Reese Jones (132) - 0-2
Tyler Barb (132) - 1-2
William Thigpen (132) - 0-2 - Lost to Nash Singleton of Oregon (5th)
Connor Powell (138) - 2-2
Dakota Williamson (138) - 0-2
Hunter Price (138) - 1-2 - Lost to Alex Peralta of California (8th)
Jarrod Pominville (152) - 1-2
Jeremy Paradice (152) - 4-2 - Excellent win over Paniro Johnson Pennsylvania (3rd); Lost to eventual Champ Nick Hamilton of Nebraska and Derek Raike of West Virginia (4th)
Michael Kilic (152) - 8th - All American - 6-3 - Lost to Paniro Johnson of Pennsylvania (3rd) and Daniel Wask of New Jersey (7th)
Canyon Hebb (160) - 2-2 - Lost to Alaa Elkerm of New Jersey (4th)
Miles Watts (160) - 1-2
RJ Weston (160) - 3rd - All American - Lost first match to eventual Champ and then won 10 in a row to take 3rd. Wins over Alaa Elkerm of New Jersey (4th), Aaron Dobbs of Wisconsin (5th), and Matthew Rogge of Wisconsin (7th).
Zyan Hall (160) - 2-2 - Lost to Erik Gibson of Pennsylvania (6th)
Grady Tisdale (170) - 2-2
Kian Hauser (182) - 1-2
Junior Women Freestyle (1 All Americans)
Jordan Epstein (100) - 0-2
Callie Payton (112) - 0-2
Sierra Williamson (112) - 0-2 - ran into eventual National Champ Sage Mortimer of Utah in the first round
Brooke French (117) - 0-2
Amani Jones (122) - 5th - All American - Split with California’s Adrienna Turner (6th); Lost to Montana DeLawder of Pennsylvania (3rd); Beat Ally Fitzgerald of New York (7th) and Sara Sterner of California (4th)
Jasmine Jenkins-Bey (127) - 1-2
May Prado (132) - 1-2
Genevieve An (138) - 1-2
Mia Buckner (138) - 1-2 - Lost in first round to eventual National Champ Savannah Gomez of California
Arieana Bacon (152) - 1-2 - Lost to Amarisa Manuel of Michigan (3rd)
Cecily Livingston (152) - 2-2
Jayde Massa (164) - 0-2
Junior Breakdown
Some interesting stories in Juniors … but in order to not “bury the lead” - let’s focus on the run that Caleb Henson put together at 152. Henson became the first Georgia wrestler to claim a Junior Freestyle title in more than 20 years (last time was Chris Rodrigues in 1999). Henson had some tough battles throughout, but seemed to hot the gas when necessary and always seemed to be in control of where the match was headed. Wins over Swenson, Wick, Wask, and Elmore - each made the podium is outstanding. Few wrestlers beat 4 All Americans in a single tournament. In addition to Henson, Georgia had 6 other All Americans.
Chase Horne looked superb at heavyweight on his way to the finals … he was close with Ben Kawczynski of Wisconsin in the firts period, but struggled to stop Kawczynski’s double legs in the second period and came up just short in his bid for a national title. Noah Pettigrew ran through everyone at 220 - until he ran into eventual Champ Christian Carroll of Indiana in the semifinals. A takedown and a few guts later and Pettigrew would have to rebound on the backside. He did just that in taking 3rd - beating Logan Shepard and Martin Cosgrove. The final freestyle All American was Cole Hunt of Cass. Hunt won 3 in a row to get to the Round of 16 where he lost to Alan Koehler of Minnesota … 4 wins in a row in the backside put him on the podium in the consi quarters and in a rematch with Koehler. Same result, but a wild match that eventually went to Koehler on criteria 16-16. Hunt finished his tournament with a tough 11-10 loss to Cuerbo of Ohio to take 8th.
RJ Weston and Michael Kilic both found the podium in Greco. Weston dropped his opening match to eventual Champ MJ Gaitan of California before reelign off 10 in a row to finish 3rd. Weston rolled through his first 6 wins on the backside before grinding wins over Graham Gambrall of Iowa (5-1), Matthew Rogge of Wisconsin (5-3), Aaron Dobbs of Wisconsin (7-0), and Alaa Elkerm of New Jersey (5-5 criteria). Kilic won 3 in a row before losing to Jacob Gonzales of Michigan 3-1 in the Round of 16. Kilic rebounded with wins over Penchi and New before getting Illinois hammer Vinny Zerban in the bloodround. A nice 8-1 win over Zerban and losses to Paniro Johnson and Danny Wask put Kilic on the podium in 8th.
Amani Jones came in with high expectations after claiming a Pan Am Gold a little more than a month earlier. Jones rolled through he first 3 matches - giving up just 1 point to eventual All American Sara Sterner of California in an 11-1 tech fall. Jones then dropped her quarterfinal match to Turner of California 7-5. Wins over Redwine and Ally Fitzgerald of New York (who ended up 7th) put Jones in the consi semis. She dropped that match to Montana DeLawder, but rebounded to avenge her earlier loss to Turner to take 5th.
Juniors were deep in 2021 - many weight had matches in the round of 256 - meaning some weight classes had more than 128 wrestlers in the bracket. So who else stood out to me …
Robert Austin Westbrook had a nice run in Freestyle
Jeremy Paradice should have made the podium in Greco - beat Paniro Johnson who ended up 3rd and lost to eventual Champ Nick Hamilton who put him into the consis and then to Derek Raike who finished 4th. Would have been interesting to see where he would have ended up with Kilic and the others that finished 5th through 7th.
I spoke about Weston in Greco, but he was also 5-2 in freestyle in what might have been the toughest brackets in the tournament. Horne, Pettigrew, Hunt, Henson didn’t wrestle Greco.
Gunner Filipowicz was 3-2 in freestyle (didn’t wrestle Greco) and lost a 1 point match to Kodiak Cannedy of Tennessee.