Georgia in Fargo

Here is a quick look at how Georgia fared in Fargo last week.

Before we begin …

Onto the tournament …

Levy, An, Askew and Alvarez make the Fargo Finals

Georgia had a set of bookend “doubles” in Fargo - Genevieve An made the first finals of the week in the 16U women and Omaury Alvarez made the last finals of the week in Junior Greco … neither was able to come away with the title, but both had a ton of success during the week as they also made the podium again - making them a “double” Fargo All American.

Genevieve was the only Georgia woman to make the podium this past week in Fargo … taking 2nd in 16U Women at 152 and 5th in Junior Women at 152. An took care of business in 16U’s making the finals with little difficulty before losing a heartbreaker to top seed (and #4 in the country) Mishell Rebisch of Michigan 9-6. Rebisch would end up being a double Champ - winning Junior 152’s as well. Genevieve won 4 in a row to start Juniors, but lost to Rebisch in the semis. Genevieve finished with a win over Aspen Barber and a loss to Johanna Forman to finish 5th.

Junior Freestyle is no joke as Omaury had to grind out some close wins to make the podium. He won 3 in a row to start before losing to eventual runner-up Rocco Welsh (PA) in the Round of 16 … that left him with needing 3 wins to make the podium. The first two Omaury handled with relative ease, but his bloodround match against Chris Moore of Illinois was a battle with Alvarez getting a big 4 point throw that proved the difference in a 5-3 decision. Omaury finished 8th in freestyle and turned his attention to Greco … where he won 6 in a row (5 with ease - outscoring his opponents 42-2) to make the finals (he had to win a wild one over Florida’s Christian Moder 8-7 to make the finals). Alvarez dropped his final match of the week with a 7-5 loss to Bradley Gillum of Illinois.

Georgia had two other finalists in Jacob Levy in 16U Freestyle at 285 and Nate Askew in 16U Greco at 132. Levy spent the first few days throwing around heavyweights on the big stage (there are some nice pics of 5-point throws for Jacob on the big stage). Eventually Jacob drew Aaron Ries of Ohio (a massive 16U heavyweight) and had to settle for second. Nate Askew was methodical in his run to the Greco finals at 132. He had two relatively easy wins early in the tournament before grinding out a 4-1 decision of Tre Haines, a 7-3 decision of Tyson Sherlock, and a 5-1 decision of Draven McCall of Florida to make the finals. A loss to Colorado’s Billy Greenwood finished his tournament.

Georgia also had a pair of hammers that doubled up … making the podium in both styles:

Logan Paradice chose the tough path to the podium in 16U Freestyle at 138. Logan lost his opening match to Landon Desselle of Tennessee and then won 10 in a row to make the consi finals. After taking 4th in Freestyle, Logan returned and made a run to the podium in 16U Greco as well … going 6-2 and taking 7th. Logan finished the week 16-4. Logan was joined as a double AA by Emil Necula. Emil got on a roll early in 16U Freestyle (145) and won 4 in a row before losing in the quarters. He won his bloodround match 10-0 before dropping his final two matches to take 8th. Emil took a similar path in Greco (losing in the quarters and then battling back to take 7th). Five other Georgians made the podium in one of the styles …

  • Christopher Swann was 3rd at 88 in 16U Greco - Swann looked great on his way to the 88 lb. semis before losing to Tennessee’s Tanner Tran. Wins over Carter Kendrick (SD) and James Hemmila (IL) put him 3rd.

  • Drew Gorman was 3rd in Junior Freestyle at 126 - Drew might have had the toughest bracket in the tournament … 126 lb. Junior Freestyle. He won 3 in a row before losing to Stanford commit Aden Valencia in the Round of 16. Gorman then looked determined to destroy the backside … winning 6 in a row and outscoring his opponents 47-8 and that included a win by injury of Valencia and a quick fall of Coleman Nogle of Maryland in the consi finals.

  • Matthew Waddell was 3rd at 182 in Junior Greco - Quite a run for Matthew in Junior Greco 182. He won his first 4 with relative ease before betting a tough Noah Poe-Hatten in the quarters (getting the win 13-5). A loss to New York’s Michael Altomer in the semis put Waddell in the consis where he finished with solid wins over Garrett Wells and Noah Poe-Hatten (again) to take 3rd.

  • Jeremy Paradice was 4th at 160 in Junior Greco - Paradice dominated the early rounds - outscoring his opponents 38-2 over the first four rounds. A loss to eventual runner-up Jadon Skellenger of Idaho in the semis put him on the backside and then a win over Tyler Martinez meant he would get a familiar face in the consi finals … Cody Chittum of Tennessee.

  • Brock Hacker was 8th at 182 in 16U Greco - Hacker won his first three matches with relative ease to put him the best possible position to make the podium (losing early is tough to comeback from - no matter how talented you are). Brock lost his quarterfinal match and fell to the bloodround … Hacker put an exclamation point on his spot on the podium with a dominant 8-0 superior decision over Thomas Bischoff of Oregon. He finished with two losses to take 8th, but a nice way to finish the week.

As a “team” (and don’t get me wrong I understand scoring only the All Americans) - Georgia finished:

  • t21st Junior Men Freestyle

  • 10th Junior Greco

  • t28th Junior Women

  • t15th 16U Freestyle

  • 14th 16U Greco

  • t23rd 16U Women

Bloodrounders

Getting to the bloodround of any major tournament is an accomplishment … getting so close to the podium in Fargo only to fall by one match can be heart-breaking. Here are Georgia’s bloodrounders in 2022:

  • Jordan Epstein (94 - 16U Women) - Jordan got a tough draw - getting eventual champ Katey Valdez of Colorado in her quarter … a close 3-0 loss to Alexandra Sebek (IL) ended her run for a spot on the podium.

  • May Prado (132 - 16U Women) - May, like Jordan, drew the eventual champ in her quarter of the bracket … Carina Giangeruso (NJ) beat her 12-4 in the quarters and a 4-3 loss to Isabella Dias (PA) ended her run for a spot on the podium.

There are many others that wrestled extremely well … Georgia brought a large contingent, but with 6 states to cover - there is now way to highlight everyone that competed. Check out the brackets for yourself at the link above.

Jason FulmoreComment