Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama battle it out in Junior Men's Freestyle Duals
Each of the Southeast States brought a team to Junior Men’s Duals for Freestyle this past weekend (minus South Carolina who competed in Greco, but did not compete in Freestyle) …. when the dust had settled after Day 1 - Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama had finished top 6 in their pool and would spend Day 2 battling it out in the Red/Blue Pool with Minnesota Red, Kansas Blue, Oregon, Virginia Blue, and Louisiana Red. Georgia finished 8th in Pool C and wrestled Day 2 in the Green/Yellow Pool and North Carolina finished their tournament in the Purple Pool.
Red/Blue Pool Action featured two pools (A and B with a crossover match to determine final placing). On the A side of the Pool - Alabama beat Oregon and Tennessee (48-20) before losing a close one to Minnesota Red … they lost to Kansas Blue to finish 4th in the Red/Blue Pool. Tennessee lost all 3 duals on the A side of the pool and then dropped their final match to Louisiana Red 36-31. On the B side of the pool, Florida downed Lousiana Red 37-28, Kansas Blue 36-30, and Virginia Blue 43-25 before losing in a rematch from Day 1 to Minnesota Red in the Pool Final. Georgia began Day 2 with a win over Louisiana Blue before taking losses to New Jersey, North Dakota, and Oklahoma Red. North Carolina had a few forfeits to contend with, but so did many of the teams in the Purple pool. NC lost to Arkansas Red 31-29 in a dual that came down to the final match with Daxton Kline downing Ayden Arrington at 120 to advance Arkansas. North Carolina bounced back with a 29-28 win ove Kentucky and a 33-32 win over Virginia Red before losing their final match of the tournament to Texas Blue 31-20.
Finishing Junior Duals unbeaten (regardless of which pool you wrestle in Day 2) is an outstanding accomplishment. Just 4 from the Southeast were able to manage it … Daishun Powe was 8-0 for Alabama at 150 with 7 wins by superior decision (technical falls for those of you still thinking high school terminology) and an outstanding 6-5 decision over Idaho’s Matthew Martino 6-5. Cade Parent split time with JT Bowers at 165 and finished 3-0 in Freestyle with wins of 12-1, 10-0, and 10-0. Georgia’s Conor McCloskey was 8-0 at 215 with 7 wins by superior decision and a forfeit. North Carolina’s Sebastian Rivera was 6-0 at 285 with 4 superior decisions, 1 fall, and a frofeit.
Several others from the SE had outstanding Freestyle Tournaments including …
Alabama
100 - Jameson Thomas (6-2)
106 - Coreu Powe (6-2)
138 - Bradley Williams (6-2)
157 - Christion Griggs (7-1)
175 - Oliver Howard (7-1)
Florida
106 - Roderick Brown (7-2)
157 - Anderson Heap (8-1) - only loss coming to Jacob Herm of Wisconsin
165 - Willie White (7-2)
175 - Gunner Holland (8-1)
215 - Michael Mocco (8-1) - only loss coming to Cole Mirasola of Wisconsin
Georgia
100 - Eli Bowman (7-1)
144/150 - Marley Washington (7-1)
North Carolina
150 - Ian Fritz (5-1)
Tennessee
106 - Jose Cordero (8-1) with his only loss coming to Kole Davidheiser of PA
