North Carolina in Fargo

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

Before we begin …

Onto the tournament …

Stinson and Price climb onto the Podium

North Carolina entered with a very strong group - especially Junior Men (but that is also the deepest and most talented division in Fargo). As a result, North Carolina emerged with just 2 All Americans (but as I said in the South Carolina Round up - there are multiple ways to measure success). We will get to the outstanding wrestling by Cameron Stinson, Jr. and Jeremiah Price in a moment, but I think it is important to focus on the positives of Team North Carolina as a whole. First, the number of athletes that North Carolina brought was up significantly as compared to last year (we won’t go back to before Covid) … that’s huge. Second, several wrestlers (Savoy New, Tyler Tracy, and others) had good tournaments - but in brackets as deep as 128 - going 4-2 isn’t going to get you on the podium. Third, Carson Floyd and Trinity Howard came within a match of joining Stinson and Price on the podium. Ultimately the measure is the number of Champs and All Americans, but there are other measures of success and if North Carolina can continue to develop the talent they will add to those All Americans in the future.

When rosters were announced about a month ago - all eyes in North Carolina were on the addition of Jeremiah Price and Cam Stinson to those heading to Fargo. Neither had been to the dome before, but had plenty of North Carolina titles and tons of other accolades on their resumes … it is always interesting to see how top-level in-state talent does when they hit Fargo, Super 32, World Team Trials and other tournaments of that caliber (and that’s not just North Carolina - that’s any state).

Stinson and Price did not disappoint.

Cam Stinson won 3 in a row as we kicked things off in the 16U Freestyle bracket … he actually trailed Logan Brzozowski of New Jersey 8-4 before dominating the 2nd period and getting a 13-8 win in the Round of 64. Stinson then won two very close matches (both 4-3) over Devon Miller of Oklahoma and Elijah Cortez of California to make the 113 lb. semifinals. Stinson fell to Kellen Wolbert of Wisconsin 7-5 (tied 5-5 but losing on criteria - Stinson pushed for the takedown, but ended up giving up 2 at the end). A loss to Nathan Carrillo (CA) before beating Sierra (CA) again to wrap up his trip to Fargo with a 5th place finish.

Jeremiah Price came in with a ton of hype and has competed everywhere (Super 32, WTT, etc.), but had yet to take the mat in Fargo (mainly because he doesn’t wrestle much freestyle … you can find my conversation with both Jeremiah and Cam at the bottom of this post). Jeremiah started things off with 2 relatively easy wins before getting Carter Martinson of Iowa in the Round of 32 - a 5-4 win put him into the Round of 16 opposite William Henckel (CT). A tough loss to Henckel dropped Jeremiah to the consis where he had to battle to beat Hunter May (IN) 6-2, Paul Ognissanti (MD) 10-8, and Zane Licht (WI) 4-4 before getting the fall early (this one had two 4 pointers in the span of 20 seconds before Price got the fall) in the bloodround. Losses to Greenley and Millard put Jeremiah 8th at 152 and 6-3 for his trip to Fargo.

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

  • t29th Junior Men Freestyle

  • 24th 16U Freestyle

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 North Carolina’s bloodrounders in 2022:

  • Trinity Howard (122 - Junior Women) - Trinity had 2 falls and a 10-0 technical superiority to advance to the quarters … she then lost to Alejandra Valdivienzo of California to fall into the bloodround. A loss to Pennsylvania’s Savannah Witt would end her run to the podium.

  • Carson Floyd (220 - Junior Freestyle) - Carson rolled early with solid wins over Trent Sibble and William Clark before getting into a wild one with Luke Rasmussen of South Dakota - an 18-17 win on a takedown in the final seconds to advance to the quarters. A loss to eventual Champ Bradley Hill put him into the bloodround … and a loss to eventual 5th place finisher Dylan Russo of Ohio would end his run in Freestyle.

There are many others that wrestled extremely well, 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