Interested in watching some high quality wrestling? Go back and watch the Junior Freestyle Duals … the SE teams, but in reality any of the teams competing. There were some great matches, some outstanding throws, and the many duals came down to the last match.

Iowa downed Oklahoma Red 40-23 to claim the overall title - their first in 16 years. Minnesota Blue downed Illinois 37-27 for 3rd. Wisconsin, Ohio Red, California, and New Jersey rounded out the top 8.

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Alabama and Tennessee battle with some of the best in Pool A

Both Alabama and Tennessee lost their first round matches in Pool A - Alabama to #2 seed Colorado 47-25 and Tennessee in a heartbreaker 36-34 to Michigan Blue. Tennessee rebounded with wins over Nebraska and Colorado before losing to Michigan Blue again for 3rd. Alabama came back from that opening round loss to down Texas B 38-29 before losing to Michigan Blue and Colorado (again) to finish their action in Pool A.

Tennessee moved onto the Bronze/Copper Pool for Day 2 and Alabama moved into the Red/Blue Pool. Tennessee dropped their opening match to Georgia Blue 51-12, beat Minnesota Red 35-33 and then lost to Kansas and North Dakota Blue to finish 5th in the Bronze Pool. Bentley Ellison’s 10-2 win at the end of the Minnesota Red match sealed the win for Tennessee.

Alabama lost their opening match in the Red/Blue pool to Florida 43-21 and then dropped a tough one to Texas A 34-32 in a dual where their 2 forfeits really hurt them. Alabama rebounded with a win over George Red 41-22 before dropping a close one to Indiana 32-31 to finish the tournament.

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Georgia Blue just misses the All American Pool; Georgia Red battles into the Red/Blue Pool

Georgia Blue won their opening match vs. North Dakota Red before losing the pool B semifinal to New Jersey 41-25 (the match that would keep them from making the All American Pool and their only loss in Freestyle). Georgia Blue rebounded by downing California Blue and Oklahoma Blue to finish Pool B. Georgia Blue finished up their tournament with wins over Tennessee, Kansas, Minnesota Red, and Oklahoma Blue to take 9th.

Georgia Red lost a close one to North Dakota Blue 38-30 before downing South Carolina. They finished their action in Pool D with losses to Kansas and Pennsylvania. Georgia Red lost to Texas A, Florida, and Alabama before downing California Blue to take 7th in the Red/Blue Pool. Georgia Red was very competitive despite giving up 4 forfeits.

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Florida and South Carolina

Florida finished 5th in Pool B after going 2-2 with a bye in the opening round. They lost to Illinois 56-9 in the semis and lost to Oklahoma Blue 39-30 in the consi semis before getting on board with a dual win for 5th over California Blue. Florida then turned it on for day 2 - going unbeaten to claim the top spot in the Red/Blue Pool. They downed Alabama, Georgia Red, Texas A, and finally Colorado in a 36-31 match that came down to an 11-9 win by Hayden Whidden at 126 and a fall by Sebastian Melguizo at 132.

South Carolina brought 11 to Tulsa - and in this field that was going to be a real challenge (in getting dual wins). They went 0-2 in Pool D, but were significantly more competitive in the Green/Yellow Pool on Day 2. Still forfeiting 5 is always going to put a team behind … and South Carolina could never find a way to recover those 25 points. They finished the tournament losing to Texas B, Nebraska, Arkansas, and North Dakota Red.

Team Florida

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Five on the Rise

The Freestyle portion of the Junior Duals were filled with some outstanding individual performances. We’ve identified 5 below that really stood out plus an “others to watch” section that highlights some of those that you should definitely keep an eye on heading into Fargo

Another thing to keep in mind … going unbeaten is always the best measure of how well someone wrestled. It is important to note that some below (with losses) had tougher matches than others that might have finished with better records.

• 120 - Cole Hunt (Georgia) - 8-0 with 2 close wins over Potts of Oklahoma (8-7) and Collins of New Jersey (13-10) plus 6 tech falls.

• 160 - Gunner Filipowicz (Georgia) - 8-0 (6-0 with 2 forfeits). 6 tech falls with very good wins over Braden Anderson of Oklahoma, Kodiak Cannedy of Tennessee, and others.

• 160 - Will Miller (Alabama) - few walked away from the four days of wrestling with an unblemished record (in both Greco and Freestyle), but Miller was one of them. He was 8-0 with 5 tech falls and 3 falls. App State got a good one … and several SE programs will be sorry they didn’t pursue Miller more diligently.

• 170 - Gabe Arnold (Georgia) - 8-0 (7-0 with a forfeit). Really nice win over Michael Dellagatta of New Jersey 8-4.

• 220 - Noah Pettigrew (Georgia) - 8-0 (6-0 with 2 forfeits) - very good win over Ashton Davis of Tennessee (10-0 tech fall) - had 5 tech falls and a fall.

Others to watch:

• 120 - Yanni Vines (Alabama) - 6-2 with good wins over Milani of Michigan and Ditomasso of Georgia. Vines is on the cusp of pushing for a spot on the podium in Fargo, but will need to find a way to beat the likes of Strickenberger and Black (who he lost to this past week).

• 120 - Dominic Ditomasso (Georgia) - 5-3 with a fantastic win over Cadet Greco Fargo Champ Christian Tanefeu of North Dakota.

• 126 - Hayden Whidden (Florida) - 6-1 with 2 forfeits. Only loss to Baysinger of Illinois. Really good win over Angelo Lozado of Colorado - who was a Cadet All American 2 years ago.

• 126 - Amantee Mills (Georgia) - 5-3 with a forfeit win. Split matches with Oklahoma’s Rhett Peak and lost a close match to Totten of New Jersey 6-5. Really good win over Parker Janssen of Minnesota.

• 132 - Sebastian Melguizo (Florida) - 5-2 … good wins and two tough losses.

• 138/145 - Yannis Charles (South Carolina) - 4-2 splitting time between 138 and 145. Took one of his 2 losses at 145 vs. Connor Powell of Georgia. Had a wild 20-17 win over Brexton Beach of Arkansas.

• 138/145 - Brayden Ivy (Tennessee) - Unbeaten at 138 (6-0) - only loss came in bumping up to face Kilic of Georgia.

• 145 - Michael Kilic (Georgia) - 7-1 with a good 6-6 criteria win over 2019 Cadet All American Kyle Boeke and a tough 6-5 loss to Whalen of New Jersey.

• 145 - James Latona (Alabama) - 4-2 and split time with Logan Reaves at 145. Some good wins, but it was his loss to Ivan Morris that was the most telling - Morris was a Fargo All American 2 years ago as a Cadet. He lost 21-11 in a match that was all over the place (was 4-4 at the break). On his feet … Latona dominated, but couldn’t allow Morris on top.

• 145/152 - Luke Belcher (Tennessee) - Unbeaten at 145 (6-0) … only loss came to Jake Piccirilli of Georgia at 152.

• 152 - Jake Piccirilli (Georgia) - 6-2 with a pair of wins over Daegab Griffin of Oklahoma. Lost a close 6-5 decision to Elmore of Kansas.

• 160 - Zyan Hall (Georgia) - 6-1 (5-1 with a forfeit). Only loss came to Alabama’s Will Miller. Beat Couto of Florida as well Renner of North Dakota.

• 160/170 - Kodiak Cannedy (Tennessee) - 6-1 splitting time between 160/170 - only loss coming to Filipowicz of Georgia. Won a wild 21-18 decision over Kaden Renner of North Dakota.

• 182 - Warren Hoyt (Alabama) - 7-1 and wrestled outstanding. Gave up a quick fall to Robinson of Texas, but otherwise wrestled extremely well.

• 182 - Matthew Singleton (Georgia) - 7-1 and probably still a bit upset with his loss to Soldano of New Jersey (they got in a 50/50 situation in which Soldano came out on top and got the fall). Others Singleton ran through the 182’s - only giving up points to Cadet All American Jared Simma of Kansas in a 12-2 tech fall win.

• 182 - Gervacio Gonzalez (Tennessee) - only loss came to 2019 Cadet All American Jared Simma of Kansas.

• 195 - Ryan Cody (Florida) - 6-1 with a loss to Sheeren of Texas. Good win over Chesbro of Oklahoma and Adams of Georgia.

• 195 - Hunter Adams (Georgia) - 7-1 with only loss coming to Ryan Cody of Florida. Nice win over Sheeren of Texas 10-8

• 195 - Thomas Godbee (Georgia) - wrestled extremely well with his only loss coming to Ayzerov of New Jersey.

• 220 - Tristan Middlebrook (Florida) - 5-2 with a win over Webster of Georgia. Lost to Culp of Illinois and Newlin of Oklahoma.

• 220/285 - Logan Webster (Georgia) - 7-1 (5-1 with 2 forfeits). Stepped up and got 2 wins at 285 for Georgia Red. Only loss came to Tristan Middlebrook of Florida.

• 220 - Ashton Davis (Tennessee) - 6-2 with a loss to Pettigrew of Georgia and Caiden Casella (Kansas). Dominated in his 6 wins.

• 285 - Chase Horne (Georgia) - unbeaten and easily handled the competition … 5 tech falls (only giving up a point to McDaniel of Tennessee) plus a fall and a 9-0 decision of Novak of Minnesota.

• 285 - Abe Preston (Alabama) - Unbeaten at 8-0 (with 4 forfeits) Won 3 close matches - 9-8 over Vergara of Florida, 7-5 over Boggan of Michigan, and 8-4 over Valle of Georgia.

Florida Girls Earn All American

The Florida girls stepped up and claimed an All American finish at the Junior Duals in Tulsa, Oklahoma this past week. Florida won a hard fought 36-27 dual vs. Colorado to make the finals in Pool A - losing to eventual overall Champ California 52-12.

Florida then jumped into the deep end with some outstanding teams in the Gold/Silver (All American pool). They lost a close one to Pennsylvania Blue 35-32 as well as Texas Black 36-29 before losing again to California. Florida finished with losses to Missouri 34-24 and Illinois 35-32 to finish 6th.

Florida was in every dual (except their losses to California) and could have finished higher than 6th … still it was a very good effort with some outstanding individual performances.

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South Carolina and Georgia

Both South Carolina and Georgia brought significantly fewer than a full squad and that showed in the overall duals. South Carolina finished 3-4 despite forfeiting 5 of the 14 weights … they benefited from some other squads missing a few as well, but it was mainly because the 9 they brought all came to compete. Two finished 8-0 (Zao Estrada and Emma Burk) and three others finished 7-1. We will get to individual accomplishments below, but that is how South Carolina was able to stay competitive.

Georgia finished 0-4 while forfeiting 3 weight classes. They fought hard vs. Texas White (33-23 loss), Texas Blue (28-23), and Arkansas (39-29) and were only really overwhelmed as a team vs. Missouri (42-26). Georgia also had some outstanding individual performances … May Prade, Genevieve An, and Dianna Holmes each were unbeaten.

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Five on the Rise

Several outstanding individual accomplishments … tough to pick just 5 to highlight. These girls look ready to make a run in Fargo. Because it was so difficult to narrow to 5 - I’ve included an others to watch section below that includes a few others that wrestled well and could make waves in Fargo in July.

Also it should be noted … the path for the Florida girls was more difficult (because the team made the All American pool) - so not all records are “equal”, but everyone below wrestled well in their matches. Also it was fairly clear that if South Carolina hadn’t had to give up 5 forfeits they would have been hard for anyone to beat.

• 112 - Hannah Hall (Florida) - Hannah wrestled extremely well finishing 6-1 and her only loss coming to Avery Ashley of Texas Black. Hall should be in the hunt for a spot on the podium in Fargo.

• 117 - Zao Estrada (South Carolina) - Few wrestlers were as dominant this weekend as Estrada. She had 4 tech falls and 3 falls. We didn’t get to see Estrada vs. Taylinn Long or Diaz, but those matches should happen in another month.

• 117/122 - Juliana Diaz (Florida) - Diaz was 6-1 with her only loss coming to Taylin Long of Illinois. She looked good in bumping up to 122 to take out Alexis Segura of Colorado.

• 132/138 - May Prado (Georgia) - 4-0 with 3 tech falls and a 31 second fall. Did what was necessary - win the matches in front of you. Would like to have seen her matchup with Sarah Savidge, Mayson Gray, and others, but wrestled well in the matches she had.

• 152 - Emma Burk (South Carolina) - Unbeaten at 8-0 with 4 falls, 3 tech falls, and a forfeit. Only match that was close was a 15-5 tech fall of Shean Miller of Minnesota.

Others to watch:

• 100/106 - Kealonie Vega (Florida) - split time with Clare Booe at 100/106 and finished the tournament 5-2 with losses to Eliana Martinez of Texas Black and Madison Avila of California. Kealonie had a nice hard fought win over Jayleah Pletz of Pennsylvania 7-6.

• 100/106 - Clare Booe (Florida) - split time at 100/106 with Vega. Finished 3-4, but was an important part of Florida making the All American pool.

• 112 - Dianna Holmes (Georgia) - 4-0 with 3 falls and a 10-0 tech fall. Same as Prado - won every match she had and that is all she could control. It will be interesting to see how that translates into how well she does in Fargo in July.

• 122 - Isabella Hoffman (South Carolina) - Hoffman finished 5-3 and split matches with Patron Plummer of Pennsylvania (getting a 20-19 decision and losing by fall). She ran into a very tough Ngao Shoua Whitethorn of Minnesota, but otherwise was in her match vs. Herrick (losing 9-6) before getting pinned.

• 127 - Genevieve An (Georgia) - 4-0 (with 2 forfeits). Two falls and missed opportunity to see the top 127’s that included Savannah Cosme of Colorado and Alex Janiak of Illinois. Still nice to get W’s vs. the competition you did get a chance to wrestle.

• 132 - April Kelly (South Carolina) - 7-1 and dominant in her wins. Competitive in her lone loss to Madyson Gray of Kansas (19-8 tech fall). Still if she wants to claim a stopsign in Fargo … she will have to figure out how to beat the likes of Gray (Gray was unbeaten at 9-0 and only gave up points to Kelly).

• 138 - Carolina Gilstrap (South Carolina) - 5-3 in a very competitive 138 weight class. Nice win over Yatcilla of PA 10-8 (also had a fall of Yatcilla). Got an opportunity to see what the top of the 138 weight class looks like in a loss to Marissa Porsch of Kansas.

• 144 - Caitlyn Davis (South Carolina) - 7-1 with her only loss coming to Maddie Kubicki of Missouri. Won a wild 14-11 decision over Allyssa Johnson of North Dakota.

• 180 - Dasia Yearby (South Carolina) - 7-1 with her only loss coming to Jaycee Foeller of Missouri. Had 4 forfeits, but was dominant in her other 3 matches.

• 180/200 - Sierra Chavez (Florida) - 5-2 with a match at 200 vs. Missouri (where she got the fall). Sierra was in every match - losing to Brittyn Corbishley of Texas 10-4 and split decisions with Maliya Castillo of California.

• 225 - Andrea Smith (Florida) - 3-1 and split time at 225 with Kiara Brin. Smith’s only loss came to Hannah Francis of Texas Black. She had falls over DeHerrera, Benjamin, and Sepeda.

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).