Georgia finishes 4th in Greco Duals

Georgia is a really good example of how hard it is to make the All American pool at Junior Duals. How it takes a team to win the close duals … Georgia might have had several undefeated wrestlers if they had dropped to another pool (that’s not a knock on them or the other pools - it is simply a reality). The All American Pool is a grind and it was a battle to get there in the first place. They had 2 fierce battles in Pool A - a 36-33 win over Indiana Gold and a 34-33 win over Iowa before losing to Illinois 59-10. A loss to either Indiana or Iowa could have put them out of the top 6, but the team persevered.

The Indiana match wasn’t actually as close as the final score would lead you to believe - Georgia forfeited the final 2 weights (10 points) after securing the win. Still that wouldn’t have been possible without several hard fought wins earlier (Austin Thiel over Braxton Vest 5-4 at 132 comes to mind). Iowa was a different story - Georgia had to battle until the final match (and get a team point from Dominic DiTomasso in a 22-10 loss to Chad Bellis at 120 to secure the win). Illinois easily handled Georgia 59-10 in the pool A final - and would go on to win the title fairly easily.

Georgia started to Gold/Silver (All American Pool) with a loss to Oklahoma Blue, but rebounded with a 34-31 win over Wisconsin and a 33-32 win over California before losing to Illinois (again) and Minnesota Blue. Fourth overall in some outstanding duals and terrific individual matches. You can expect many of these kids to battle again in Fargo - this time with an individual stopsign on the line.

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Florida and Tennessee just miss on top 6

Tennessee shared Pool A with Georgia, Iowa, Illinois and others. Florida was in Pool C with Oklahoma Blue, California, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas A, and Alabama.

Tennessee wrestled Iowa tough in their opening match - losing 37-24. The boys from the Volunteer state bounced back with wins over Indiana 46-15 and Minnesota Red 39-29 to make the Pool A consi finals where they lost to Iowa (again 37-24). Tennessee lost their opening match in the Bronze/Copper Pool to Florida 39-25 and then beat Michigan Blue and Missouri before losing to Iowa (for the 3rd time) and Colorado. Tennessee finished 4th and was in every dual until the end.

Florida finished 3rd in Pool C - downing Texas A 41-24 before losing to top seed Oklahoma Blue 43-21. Wins over Alabama and Missouri gave them a shot at making the All American pool … but a 40-26 loss to California for true second put them into the Bronze/Copper Pool. Florida finished 3rd in the Bronze pool with wins over Tennessee and Missouri and losses to Colorado, Michigan Blue, and Iowa.

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Alabama finishes 5th in the Red Pool

Alabama lost their opening match to California before getting a bye to a match with Florida (also a loss). Alabama finished Pool C with a loss to Pennsylvania … the Red pool didn’t offer much relief as Team Alabama took losses to Kansas, Minnesota Red, Oklahoma Red, and Pennsylvania (again) before getting their only dual win of the tournament over Texas B.

The team overall might have struggled, but Alabama was competitive in every dual and had some outstanding individual performances.

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Five on the Rise

The Greco portion of the Junior Duals were filled with some outstanding individual performances. We’ve identified 5 below that really stood out (but could have increased that to ten without a problem … as a result - the others to watch section below highlights some of those that you should definitely keep an eye on heading into Fargo).

Another thing to keep in mind … Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee were all close (or in Georgia’s case) in the top pool - meaning that there were no easy matches. If you looked at some of the breakdowns from Cadets or Schoolboys you might have seen many wrestlers going undefeated. That’s just not the reality (for the most part) in Junior duals.

• 138 - David Panone (Georgia) - 5-1 with three really good wins over Moore of Illinois, Rodriguez of California and Miess of Wisconsin. Lost to Stevie Barnes of Iowa.

• 160 - Will Miller (Alabama) - simply outstanding - finishing 7-0 at 160. 5 tech falls, a fall and a 10-6 decision of Collin McCorkle of Pennsylvania. Didn’t get to see Kootnz, Wiley, or Rogge, but was great in the matchups he did get.

• 170 - Aidan Bowers (Tennessee) - Bowers was simply outstanding - 8-0 (with 8 tech falls). He didn’t look challenged in any match that I watched.

• 195 - Ryan Cody (Florida) - Cody was dominant in his 8 wins (7 techs and a fall) - in fact in each tech fall win he didn’t give up a point. Lost a close one to Voelker of Iowa 8-6 and lost to Kodiak Stephens of California.

• 220 - Ashton Davis (Tennessee) - 8-1 and dominated in all but one match. Only loss came to Kalob Runyan of Iowa by fall (he beat Runyan twice before 10-4 and 10-0. Davis has to be amongst the top contenders in Fargo at 220.

Others to watch:

• 106 - Tyler Washburn (Florida) - 6-4 at 106 with losses to Forbes and Ray Ray Harris. Looked great in his 6 wins - has to think he should have won the match vs. Jackson Blum of Michigan (lost 7-6).

• 113 - Christian Guzman (Florida) - 7-3 but with 2 losses that could have gone his way - a 9-9 loss on criteria to Hendrikson of Texas and a 12-11 loss to Stokes of Oklahoma. Had a nice fall of Nolan Wertanen of Michigan.

• 120/126 - Yanni Vines (Alabama) - 6-2 with one of those losses coming to Anthony Ferraro of Pennsylvania up at 126. Won some tight matches at 120 that helped Alabama stay in the duals. Only match that I’m sure Yanni would want back is the 11-1 loss to Grigor Cholakyan of California … Vines had beaten Grigor earlier this year in folkstyle.

• 120 - Bentley Ellison (Tennessee) - 6-2 and split matches with Garret Rinken of Iowa. Ellison’s only other loss came to Chad Bellis of Iowa (an 11-1 tech fall). Some really good wrestling from Bentley in Greco.

• 126 - Hayden Whidden (Florida) - 7-3 with good wins over Lozado, Dindl, and Caviness. Whidden can make the podium in Fargo, but he will need to figure out how to beat those on that next tier (Porter of Iowa and Moore of Missouri).

• 132 - Sebastian Melguizo (Florida) - 7-3 with tough losses to Jordan Cullors of Oklahoma and Joseph Airola of Colorado. Had an excellent 7-5 win over Keyveon Roller of Tennessee.

• 132 - Keyveon Roller (Tennessee) - 6-2 with two tough losses (to Melguizo 7-5 and to Walker Bents of Minnesota 5-3). Had a very good win over Kade Willis of Missouri.

• 138/145 - Dayne Dalrymple (Tennessee) - 5-4 with 2 losses to a very good Stevie Barnes of Iowa as well as a 1-1 criteria loss to Eli Ashcroft of Missouri. Go watch Dalrymple vs Gust of Minnesota - a 15-8 win but it was fun to watch.

• 145 - Michael Kilic (Georgia) - 5-1 - two outstanding matches to watch if you area fan … a 9-6 win over Nicco Ruiz of California and the 4-1 loss to Tommy Curran of Illinois.

• 182 - Gervacio Gonzalez (Tennessee) - 7-2. 1-2 vs. Ahrendsen of Iowa. Really good wins over Mariacher of Indiana and Nicolosi of Florida.

• 182/195 - Warren Hoyt (Alabama) - went 5-3 overall - 5-2 at 182 with one of his losses coming up at 195 vs. Meissner of Minnesota. Split matches with Richner of Pennsylvania and had a nice tech fall of Nicolosi of Florida.

• 182/195 - Matthew Singleton (Georgia) - 4-2 with a tough 4-3 loss to Deanthony Parker of Illinois. Singelton’s other loss came up at 195 to Stephens of California. Nice win over Ahrendsen of Iowa.

• 220 - Tristan Middlebrook (Florida) - 7-3 with some good wins (Kitchignham of Oklahoma to name one). Still needs to get wins over the likes of Runyon, Ferris, and Ashton Davis if he is going to make a run for the podium in Fargo.

• 285 - Chase Horne (Georgia) - 3-0 and split time with Valle at 285. Didn’t give up a point in his 3 wins … including wins over Fleshman and Beese. Would like to have seen Horne vs. Boersma of Illinois (but I’m sure that’s coming in July).

Minnesota Red - the top overall seed - took care of business in their final vs. California. New Jersey was 3rd with a close 39-38 win over Iowa. Ohio Scarlet, Oklahoma Red, Illinois, and Wisconsin rounded out the top 8.

Florida - who just missed out on a trip to the All American pool - battled hard through day 2. They won close matches vs. Missouri Blue, Minnesota Blue before losing to eventual Bronze Champ Pennsylvania Blue. They finished the tournament with a 45-34 win over Indiana Gold.

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Georgia bounced back from a good 1st day of Freestyle to get 3 wins and take the top spot on the Red Pool. They beat a good Tennessee squad 45-36, Nebraska 54-26, Kansas Red 52-26, and New York 50-32.

Tennessee dropped their opening match of the pool to Georgia, but rebounded with a win over Nebraska and a loss to Kansas Red. It looks as if they didn’t wrestle PA Red for 5th (I don’t know why).

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Alabama dropped to Yellow pool after a tough day one and finished the tournament with 3 losses and a win over Colorado Blue to finish 4th in the pool.

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There were more than 5 wrestlers “on the rise” - that had a superb freestyle tournament. These are the 5 I noticed … the others that made waves are listed below:

• 71 - Noah Watkins (Tennessee) - 6-1 and a buzzsaw at 71 - had 4 tech falls and a fall to go along with a forfeit. Only loss came to a very tough Landon Thoennes of Minnesota.

• 87 - Lincoln Sledzianowski (Florida) - 9-0 with one of the most beautiful 5-point throws you will see. Lincoln was outstanding - only match I wish we could have seen at 87 was him vs. Munaretto of Illinois.

• 114 - Bradley Williams (Alabama) - 7-0 - unbeaten at 114 with big wins over Kohler of Utah and Bedford of Texas. Because Alabama lost several of their duals we didn’t get to see Williams vs. Isaiah Jones or Daniel Heiser … but they should cross paths at Kids Nationals.

• 125 - Micah Wittenberg (Florida) - 9-0 with some big wins including a 13-4 decision of Tyler of Virginia and a 13-2 tech of Gillette of Minnesota.

• 149 - Cy Fowler (Tennessee) - 7-0 with 2 forfeits, 3 tech falls (without giving up a point) and 2 quick falls.

Others:

• 71 - Everett Stephens (Florida) - 7-2 with 2 forfeits … tough loss to Eli Gabrielson on criteria, but got a good win over Collins of Minnesota (also on critera)

• 77 - Jose Cordero (Tennessee) - 5-0 with 2 forfeits … still in his 3 wins he looked very good.

• 87 - Roman Belardo (Georgia) - 7-2 with some good wins and competitive in his loss to Deputy of Pennsylvania.

• 97 - Nathaniel Boger (Tennessee) - 5-2 with 5 techs and a tough loss to Mead of Minnesota (10-8).

• 102 - Chase Walker (Tennessee) - 4-1 with some very good wins - split time with Little

• 102 - Zachary Little (Tennessee) - 3-1 with so good wins splitting time with Walker

• 102 - Jonathan Moder (Florida) - 5-4 but wrestled hard for the team - in two of his losses he scored and in a freestyle dual that is important. Had a nice win over Kaleb Mead of Minnesota as well.

• 106/110 - Kiowa Vines (Alabama) - 4-1 splitting time between 106 and 110. Only loss coming to Austin Ellis of Utah.

• 106/110 - Zac Bosken (Tennessee) - 4-2 with dominant wins and close losses (7-4 to Medlin and 7-5 to Katherman).

• 110 - Trae Peeler (Alabama) - 4-1 at 110 with a very good win over Carter Eisenmann of Nebraska.

• 119 - Ronan An - Georgia - 5-3 with a tough loss to Giancola of Kansas 11-9

• 125/130 - David Jewell (Georgia) - 6-1 with some very good wins sharing time with Paul Lanier at the two weights.

• 130/136 - Connor Stephens (Georgia) - 7-2 after splitting time at both 130 and 136. Was unbeaten at 136 - taking 2 losses at 130 to Shane Wagner of PA and Kaden Wallace of OK.

• 136 - Kalias Nazario (Florida) - 3-0 splitting time with Gavin Isaacs at 136.

• 149/165 - Bryan Picallo (Florida) - 7-2 and bumped up to 165 for the team and got a fall vs. Maryland. Took two losses and one was a barnburner 15-13 decision to Duitsman of Minnesota.

• 165/187 - Kriecg Roe (Georgia) - 7-1 after splitting time between 165 and 187 … which is a tough split - but came up big for Georgia vs. New York up at 187 in getting the fall over Sackett.

• 187/250 - Alexander Smith (Florida) - 8-1 splitting time between 187 and 250.

• 250 - Sebastian Garcia (Georgia) - finished up 2 days of freestyle 7-2 (5-2 with 2 forfeits).

Ohio Red downed New Jersey to claim the Cadet Freestyle Duals title this past Sunday. It was Ohio’s first-ever dual championship and they looked superb on the way to the title. Minnesota Blue finished 3rd, Illinois was 4th and Pennsylvania Blue, Oklahoma Blue, California, and Indiana Gold rounded out the All American group.

The Florida Cadets once again battled to the end … finishing second (and 10th overall) in the Bronze/Copper Pool. Georgia Blue took home the Red Pool title with a 46-30 win over Minnesota Red. Tennessee was 3rd in the Red Pool, Georgia Red was 2nd in the Yellow Pool, and Alabama finished 5th in the Green Pool.

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Day 1

Georgia Blue started things off with a win over Alabama 53-22, but dropped their semifinal vs. Minnesota Blue 51-25. Georgia then lost to Idaho 45-30 before finishing Pool A in 5th with a 48-28 win over Utah. Florida downed Idaho twice 42-35 and 42-34 and added a 40-36 win over Utah to go along with a 44-23 loss to New Jersey to just miss on the All American pool (taking 3rd). Alabama took three consecutive losses - 53-22 to GA Blue, 44-28 to Utah, and 47-32 to PA red to finish 8th. Florida leaned heavily on Sawyer Bartelt and Branden Marrero in each of their three wins … as they either sealed the win or brought Florida back to within reach of getting the wins.

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Illinois took Pool B with a 38-37 win over Colorado. Unfortunately for Colorado they dropped their True second match to Indiana Gold and missed a spot on the podium.

Oklahoma Blue downed PA Blue 38-33 to claim Pool C.

Georgia Red took 3 losses in Pool D and finished 8th. Tennessee finished their Pool D action in 5th and went 2-2 with wins over Kansas Blue 51-20 and Michigan Blue 47-22 (with losses to Oklahoma Red and Iowa).

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Day 2

Florida, as already noted, finished Day 2 in 2nd in the Bronze/Copper Pool. Beating Virginia 42-33, Indiana Blue 50-27, and Iowa 38-37 before losing to Wisconsin 48-27.

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Georgia Blue wrestled lights out on Day 2 - going unbeaten in their 3 matches including a 40-37 win over Tennessee. Tennessee finished 3rd in the Red Pool with their lone loss coming in that close one to Georgia. Georgia started out red hot with 3 tech fall wins and a very important 11-9 win for Cade Parent over Landon Desselle. Kaiden Bates finally got Tennessee on the right track with a thrilling 10-9 win over Georgia’s Tyler Secoy to narrow the Georgia lead to 16-4.

Georgia went back to work with Hoke Poe-Hogan and Omaury Alvarez getting tech falls to push Georgia up 24-5. Tennessee got 15 huge points up top with Workman, Jenkins, and Stutts getting falls (or in Jenkins case a forfeit). Georgia led 24-20 heading into the final 7 matches. Bowman and Murray both took forfeits for Georgia to push the lead back to 34-20 with 5 matches remaining.

Mason Jakob got the ball rolling for Tennessee with a tech fall of Antonio Mills at 100 lbs. Kieron McCormack’s 13-8 win over Jack Anderson would end up being the deciding factor as he pushed Georgia to the brink - Georgia led 38-25. With 3 matches remaining Tennessee needed falls to pull it out. Little (TN) downed McArthur 11-1 and Casen Roark (TN) pinned Noah Danforth to narrow the Georgia lead to 39-34. Sturgill would need a fall to send this one to criteria … but that wasn’t going to happen. Logan Paradice wrestled him close - losing 7-3 (taking the individual loss, but securing the dual for Georgia (I don’t know if it would have mattered given criteria - not sure what the first tiebreaker is … I think it is forfeits - so Georgia would have won regardless, but still a very good dual).

I don’t know why Tennessee wrestled for 3rd in the Red Pool after losing to Ohio Blue (and OH Blue finished 2-1 on their side), but that is what was wrestled.

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Georgia Red finished their freestyle with two very nice wins over Michigan Red and Texas Blue to take 2nd in the Yellow Pool.

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Alabama got a win on Day 2 over Kansas Blue, but faded to 5th in the Green Pool - losing to Texas Red, Nebraska, and Kansas Red.

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FIVE ON THE RISE FROM CADET Freestyle

It should be noted that not all results in the duals are created equal. Because who you face on the second day depends entirely on how well your team wrestles in Day 1. So there are wrestlers with losses that make the list and others that went unbeaten that may not make the list. It is the nature of the beast as it relates to duals.

Also the difference between being a first-year or a second-year cadet is huge. I don’t know which “year schoolboy” each of the wrestlers are … but if any of the below are 1st-year cadets - you better lookout for next year.

These are the 5 that jumped off the screen … but the “other” listed below also had an outstanding two days of Freestyle:

• 126 - Hunter Sturgill (Tennessee) - 8-0 over some very good competition. Sturgill seems to always be in the right spot … rarely out of position and capitalizes on others mistakes. We didn’t get to see him vs. Alarcon or Giddens, but beat a good Ashton Homan of Ohio handily.

• 145 - Latrell Schafer (Georgia) - 5-0 after splitting time with Emil Necula at 145. Looked outstanding in his 5 matches especially in a tight one with Hudson Rogers of Idaho. Is Schafer on the path to a spot on the podium in Fargo? I’d say yes, but we missed seeing him go with Logan Shaw, Wynton Denkins, Dylan Evans, and some of the other top 145’s.

• 152 - Dominc Bambinelli (Georgia) - 8-0 in freestyle including a 2-1 win over a tough Bryce Burkett of Minnesota. The only hole is what all the top Georgia wrestlers faced … not seeing some of the top in their weight (because they will need to beat the Strick’s, Ferrari’s, and Fox’s if they are going to claim a stopsign in Fargo). It is just the way the bracket worked … still I know Dominic would want to see where he stands with some of them ahead of a trip to Dakota.

• 170 - Brian Burburija (Florida) - Dominated freestyle - went 8-0 with 5 tech falls, 2 falls, and a good 12-3 win over Ludington of New Jersey. Would have liked to see Burburija vs. Poe-Hogan - maybe we get that matchup in Fargo.

• 195 - Sawyer Bartelt (Florida) - looked like the complete package at 195 - no matter who Florida was wrestling. He finished the two days 8-0 (plus unbeaten in Greco). He had a nice 6-4 win over a tough Connor Mirasola of Wisconsin. Bartelt looks like the SE’s best shot at crowning a Cadet National Champ in Fargo.

Others:

• 88/94 - Wallace Blue (Alabama) - went 5-2 wrestling at both 88 and 94. Blue had a good week of wrestling and should feel confident about getting some wins in Fargo in July.

• 94 - Ty Murray (Georgia) - went 7-1 (3-1 with forfeits). Only loss was a close one of Michael Olson of Minnesota Blue (Olson went on to finish 7-1 with a ton of wins in the gold pool).

• 100 - Mason Jakob (Tennessee) - Jakob should be a force in Fargo. He finished 7-1 with his only loss to Johnston of Ohio. Had a nice win over Graff of Iowa 8-5.

• 106 - Kiernon McCormack (Georgia) - finished 4-4 (3-4 with a forfeit), but came up clutch for his squad vs. Anderson in the Tennessee dual.

• 113 - Jarvis Little (Tennessee) - After going 7-1 and losing 6-5 to Gioimo of Iowa - was certainly considered for 5 on the rise. Little wrestled superb in wins over Hermes of Ohio and Segorski of Michigan. Little has big upside and the next 4 weeks of preparation could be huge as he readys for Fargo.

• 120 - Anderson Heap (Florida) - 6-2. Lost two matches he can win and will need to win to make the podium in Fargo. Lost 8-4 to Peters of Wisconsin and 7-0 to Stanich of New Jersey. Didn’t get to see how Heap matches up with the top 120’s - like Ayoub of Ohio or Braun of Minnesota.

• 120 - Casen Roark (Tennessee) - Roark has all the ability to claim a freestyle title in Fargo. He finished 7-1 with a tough 16-15 loss to Phoenix Contos of Ohio. A match he certainly believes he should win.

• 126 - Collin Mullins (Georgia) - 5-1 with a good win over Lucio of Michigan 13-8. For comparison purposes (and this isn’t a great comparison, but it does give context) - Lucio’s only other loss was to Sturgill 6-3 in another good match.

• 132 - Cade Parent (Georgia) - 5-2 including a 9-9 criteria win over Alli of Ohio, a 10-8 win over Wells of Delaware, and a 11-9 win over Desselle of Tennessee. #Clutch

• 138 - Josh Denson (Georgia) - 6-2 with a forfeit. Had a few really good wins over solid competition including 5-2 over Schrandt of Minnesota and 10-6 over Hancey of Utah.

• 145 - Clay Johnston (Alabama) - 4-3 and wrestled tough in both wins and losses. Lost to Edwards of PA 14-13 and Manibog of Texas. Schafer was the only one to handle Johnston easily and Clay could have finished 6-1 … still need to find a way to keep a lead and finish out matches (like he did in his match vs. Brandt of Nebraska).

• 152 - Kendrick Hodge (Florida) - 6-2 with a tough 14-9 loss to Fox of Iowa. Dominated several matches and got a a good 8-4 win over Dailey of Wisconsin.

• 160 - Creed Thomas (Georgia) - 3-0 and split matches at 160 with Tyler Secoy. Three easy wins … outscored his opponents 32-1.

• 160 - Cordell White (Florida) - Whether White wins or losses - it is always fun to watch. He won some thrilling matches … 20-16 over Slade of Iowa and 14-10 over Cericho. Probably needs another win or two over that level of competition in order to make the podium in Fargo.

• 160 - Kaiden Bates (Tennessee) - Really good wins over Secoy and Tyrel Miller of Ohio. Bates should do well in Fargo … how far he goes will interesting to watch.

• 170 - Hoke Poe-Hogan (Georgia) - Dominant 8-0 in freestyle. 5 tech falls and 3 falls. Still waiting to see Hogan vs. Burburija in freestyle.

• 182 - Omaury Alvarez (Georgia) - Alvarez was outstanding all week - whether that was Greco or Freestyle. He dominated for the most part … had two wins over some tough competition in Smith of Utah and Mathiowetz of Minnesota.

• 195/220 - Will Caneer (Alabama) - Caneer followed up a great Greco tournament by finishing 6-1 in freestyle wrestling at both 195 and 220. After watching Will wrestle many matches over 4 days - he might be Alabama’s best shot at having a Cadet All American in 2021.

• 195/220 - Mason Ellis (Alabama) - Ellis also finished 6-1 (same as his teammate Caneer) - the two bumped around as the coaches needed and each came up with big wins. Ellis downed Forsyth of Kansas 13-11 and Montoya of Texas 9-6.

• 285 - Caleb Rodriguez (Florida) - 7-1 to compliment a very good Greco tournament. Rodriguez looks like someone you need to keep an eye on as we head to Fargo next.

• 285 - Willie Cox (Alabama) - 6-1 with a nice 5-4 win over Jayce Chew of Texas and a 21-13 barnburner for heavy’s over Tre Butler of Georgia.

• 285 - Dion Stutts (Tennessee) - 6-2 with a forfeit. Lost to Hitt and Smith, but looked really good in his 5 wins.