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