One of the most entertaining days in Fargo begins this morning at 9am. We finish up the 16U’s with Finals and All American matches in the afternoon, but much of the day belongs to the Juniors in Freestyle. Getting to the Round of 16 is a significant accomplishment, but the road only gets tougher from here. The morning session will separate the men from the boys and the evening session (approximately 4-5 pm) will be lights out some of the best matches of the week as we wrestle the quarters and semis with the consolations going on around them.

Don’t be surprised to see some wrestlers that are sitting in the Round of 16 lose their next two matches and get eliminated. You should also not be surprised to see some of those grinding their way back through the consolations right now make their way high on the podium.

Here are the names to watch … but jump to the bottom of the list for some context.

Alabama (1 Championship; 1 Consolations)

• Championship

  • Carson Freeman (170)

• Consolation

  • Yanni Vines (120)

Florida (12 Championship; 6 Consolations)

• Championship

  • Vincent Biondoletti (100)

  • Tyler Washburn (106)

  • Braden Basile (126)

  • Kai Owen (126)

  • Sebastian Melguizo (126)

  • Danny Nini (132)

  • Thomas Crook (138)

  • Myles Griffin (145)

  • Jonathan Ley (152)

  • Sergio Desiante (160)

  • Tyre Smith (220)

  • Ethan Vergara (285)

• Consolation

  • Robert Allcroft (100)

  • Cooper Haase (120)

  • Eligh Rivera (132)

  • Brennan Van Hoecke (138)

  • Daniel Williams (160)

  • Ryan Cody (195)

Georgia (5 Championship; 4 Consolations)

• Championship

  • Cole Hunt (113)

  • Caleb Henson (152)

  • Michael Kilic (152)

  • Noah Pettigrew (220)

  • Chase Horne (285)

• Consolation

  • Robert Austin Westbrook (126)

  • RJ Weston (160)

  • Nolan Pozzobon (182)

  • Logan Webster (220)

North Carolina (0 Championship; 3 Consolations)

• Consolation

  • Joseph Baisley (106)

  • Matthew Vindigni (106)

  • Carson Floyd (195)

Tennessee (4 Championship; 2 Consolations)

• Championship

  • Cooper Flynn (120)

  • Hunter Mason (132)

  • Kodiak Cannedy (160)

  • Ashton Davis (220)

• Consolations

  • Brayden Ivy (138)

  • Ryan Smith (285)

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Every wrestler on the front side has a shot to work their way through the bracket and make the podium, but some look like they are “readier” than others. Cooper Flynn of Tennessee is a proven commodity - a double All American at Junior 120 in 2019. He isn’t unbeatable, but he is 3-0 and has outscored his opponents 31-0 thus far. His Round of 16 matchup is Max Black of Colorado. Others to watch:

Kai Owen of Florida (126). Owen is a double 16U All American from 2019. He has also been on a tear thus far, but gets a familiar foe in Minnesota’s Jore Volk in the next round. We will see if one has jumped more levels in the last 18 months than the other. Owen shares the 126 lb. bracket with fellow Floridians Sebastian Melguizo and Braden Basile. Both should have very tough Round of 16 matches.

Two other Florida wrestlers to watch are Danny Nini (132) and Thomas Crook (138). Nini will face Ohio’s Garrett Lautzenheiser in the Round of 16 and Crook gets Blaine Brenner of Wisconsin.

Georgia has Kilic, Hunt, Henson, Pettigrew, and Horne still alive on the front side. You will hear their names again the future - especially if you watch ACC Wrestling (Hunt and Pettigrew are committed to UNC, Horne to NC State, Henson to Virginia Tech, and Kilic is committed to PAC 12 power Arizona State). I expect all 5 will be on the podium at the end … tomorrow will determine where.

Tennessee’s Hunter Mason, Ashton Davis, and Kodiak Cannedy join Flynn on the front side of the bracket. Mason survived a tough 9-8 battle with Carter McCallister of Missouri. He now draws Emilio Ysaguirre, JR. of Arizona (who downed Jackson Polo of New York. The winner of Mason/Ysaguire will likely get the unenviable task of trying to take out Nic Bouzakis in the quarters. Cannedy is playing with house money after downing Georgia’s Filipowicz in the round of 32 … Filipowicz had beaten him most recently at Junior duals. Next up for Cannedy is Segura of Colorado. Davis needs to focus on his next opponent - Max Ballow of Minnesota - before looking to lay claim to the top 220 spot in the SE (his potential quarterfinal opponent is GA’s Pettigrew).

There are others on the front side (and the backside) of the bracket that will make a run, but looking at each “potential” matchup would take some time. These are the matches I will be watching as the Juniors work their way through Day 3 in Fargo. Expect some more Big Mama foot sweeps in Day 3.

Tough to get a great picture of Georgia’s Gabe Arnold because he has been just a buzzsaw on his way to the 16U 170 lb. Freestyle finals. Arnold is 6-0 and has outscored his opponents 54-2. He gets a tough Cody Merrill of California in the finals tomorrow afternoon. Georgia sits in 13th in the team race and Arnold will be joined in tomorrow’s All American round by Drew Gorman (113), Latrell Schafer (145), Dominic Bambinelli (152), and Tyler Secoy (160). All four of Arnold’s Georgia teammates have yet to determine their place on the podium … each will wrestle in at least one consolation match in the morning.

Team Florida also have 5 16U All Americans in the mix … each in the consolations. Brian Burburija and Roman Garcia join North Carolina’s Jax Forrest in the consi semis (waiting on an opponent in the morning - Burburija, Garcia and Forrest will each place no lower than 6th). Joining Burburija and Garcia on the podium tomorrow are their Team Florida teammates Ethan Mojena (138), Ethan Rivera (106), and Sawyer Bartelt (195). Florida sits in 19th as we head into the final few matches of the 16U freestyle tournament.

FYI … the consolations will be wrestled in the morning starting at 9 am Fargo time and the All American round is scheduled to begin in the early afternoon (but the schedule may change a bit depending on where USA Wrestling takes a break).

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Day 1 in Junior Freestyle and Tons of Fireworks

Tons to go through in Juniors … so we will keep it simple. All of the wrestlers on the championship side are into the round of 16. Consolations are into the Round of 16 #1 (could be less if the weight class is smaller, but I’m fairly certain that most are into the RD 16 #1 - meaning they have to win 4 matches tomorrow to make the podium. Let’s take it by state …

Alabama (1 Championship; 1 Consolations)

• Championship

  • Carson Freeman (170)

• Consolation

  • Yanni Vines (120)

Florida (12 Championship; 6 Consolations)

• Championship

  • Vincent Biondoletti (100)

  • Tyler Washburn (106)

  • Braden Basile (126)

  • Kai Owen (126)

  • Sebastian Melguizo (126)

  • Danny Nini (132)

  • Thomas Crook (138)

  • Myles Griffin (145)

  • Jonathan Ley (152)

  • Sergio Desiante (160)

  • Tyre Smith (220)

  • Ethan Vergara (285)

• Consolation

  • Robert Allcroft (100)

  • Cooper Haase (120)

  • Eligh Rivera (132)

  • Brennan Van Hoecke (138)

  • Daniel Williams (160)

  • Ryan Cody (195)

Georgia (5 Championship; 4 Consolations)

• Championship

  • Cole Hunt (113)

  • Caleb Henson (152)

  • Michael Kilic (152)

  • Noah Pettigrew (220)

  • Chase Horne (285)

• Consolation

  • Robert Austin Westbrook (126)

  • RJ Weston (160)

  • Nolan Pozzobon (182)

  • Logan Webster (220)

North Carolina (0 Championship; 3 Consolations)

• Consolation

  • Joseph Baisley (106)

  • Matthew Vindigni (106)

  • Carson Floyd (195)

Tennessee (4 Championship; 2 Consolations)

• Championship

  • Cooper Flynn (120)

  • Hunter Mason (132)

  • Kodiak Cannedy (160)

  • Ashton Davis (220)

• Consolations

  • Brayden Ivy (138)

  • Ryan Smith (285)

I’m going to start with the 16U women in this post and will follow it up with Episode 20 where we talk about both the 16U and Junior men. There is a ton to get to in this post (and we’ve got 3 interviews plus the All American results) - so I decided to break it into 2 episodes. It is also important to note that when everything is said and done from Fargo, we will do a full recap of the action (including all of the wrestlers that competed). But given how late it is in much of the Southeast and the amount of work still in front of me … this will only focus on the 16U All Americans.

We begin - at the beginning. 94 lbs. - the smallest weight in the field and Florida’s first National Champion since 2013. Valerie Solorio used her underhooks to control the action and really bullied Gabriella Gomez of Illinois around to claim the title. Gomez scored the first points on a takedown in the 1st period, but Solorio took control from there … scoring 2 takedowns plus a step-out point to lead 5-2 at the break. She controlled the action in the 2nd period - giving up just one more point and won 6-3.

Solorio was one of 4 All Americans from Florida. She was joined on the podium by Clare Booe (4th at 100), Alyssa Favara (6th at 200), and Destiny Madison (8th at 180). With 4 All Americans, Florida finished 11th in the team race (which California won with ease - they had 1 champ, 3 other finalists, and another 9 All Americans). I got an opportunity to speak with 3 of the Florida All Americans …

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Estrada and Gillmore come up just short of a National Title

South Carolina’s Zao Estrada wrestled superb to reach the finals at 112, but couldn’t figure out a way to get past Cecilia Williams of Michigan. Williams got a takedown in the 1st period and took a 2-0 lead to the break. Estrada evened the score 2-2 in the 2nd, but Williams was able to get another and seal the 4-2 win. Tennessee’s Genesis Gillmore ran into the an absolute hammer in Jasmine Robinson of Texas in the 152 lb. finals. Robinson earned the fall in just over a minute … she didn’t give up a point in the tournament and was voted the 16U outstanding wrestler. Tennessee had another All American in Maggie Graham at 144. Graham bounced back from her semifinal match to down Lizzie Shunn of Utah 10-4 to finish 3rd. Georgia’s Genevieve An and North Carolina’s Hallie Misplay round out our Southeast All Americans. An finished 5th at 138 and Misplay was 8th at 132. I got the chance to talk with both of them briefly after their tournaments …