26 16U Women began the day … and 3 SE hammers are in the finals tomorrow afternoon

Florida’s Valarie Solorio, South Carolina’s Zao Estrada, and Tennessee’s Genesis Gilmore will each wrestle for a Fargo 16U National title tomorrow afternoon. Here is a quick recap of their path to the finals, as well as, the other All Americans at their weight.

94 lbs. Valarie Solorio (FL) vs. Gabriella Gomez (IL) for 1st. Solorio had a 12-0 “tech” of Annalise Maralit of South Carolina, a 14-8 win over Gigi Bragg of Michigan, and a 13-0 “tech” of Megan Valdez of California to reach the finals opposite Gomez.

100 lbs. Clare Booe (FL) will wrestle Juliana Alejandro (NV) for 3rd. Booe only loss came to Minnesota’s Aspen Blasko in the 2nd round (Blasko will wrestle for 5th tomorrow). Other than that loss - Booe has been on a tear … with a 30 second fall, a 10-2 win, a 9-0 win over Aubre Krazer of Pennsylvania (who will wrestle for 7th), and a 7-0 win over Angelina Cassioppi of Illinois (Cassioppi will wrestle for 5th tomorrow).

112 lbs. Zao Estrada (SC) vs. Cecelia Williams (MI) for 1st. Estrada is a beast on top and really made quick work of her opponents once she was able to get to that position. She “teched” her way to the finals (11-0, 12-0, 14-2, and 12-1) - 3 of her opponents also made the podium as All Americans.

132 lbs. Hallie Misplay (NC) will wrestle Brenya Crahan (MO) for 7th. Misplay went 4-2 on the day with a pair of losses of Iowa’s Lilly Luft (she lost to her in the opening round and then again in the consi quarters). Hallie had 4 consecutive wins to make the podium.

138 lbs. Genevieve An (GA) will wrestle Taylor Miess (CO) for 5th. An had 2 wins to make the semis, but dropped her semifinal match to Lydia Roope of Michigan and then lost to Attalia Watson of Illinois in the consi semis.

144 lbs. Maggie Graham (TN) will wrestle Lizzie Shunn of Utah for 3rd. Graham finished the day 5-1 with her only loss coming in the quarters to finalist Nebi Tsarni of Maryland.

152 lbs. Genesis Gilmore (TN) vs. Jasmine Robinson (TX) for 1st. Gilmore went 3-0 with 3 falls, but it was far from easy. She was in battles vs. Emily Brown of New York and Abigail Ervasti of Minnesota. She takes on a very tough Jasmine Robinson tomorrow for the title at 152.

180 lbs. Destiny Madison (FL) will wrestle Kiley McClain (CA) for 7th. Madison lost her opening match to eventual finalist Kiara Ganey, but battled back to make the podium at 180.

200 lbs. Alyssa Favara (FL) will wrestle Madisen Pillars (WA) for 5th.

Summary: 3 finalists and 9 total All Americans from the SE. Florida currently sits in 11th in the team race and with a few wins tomorrow has an opportunity to break into the top 10. Florida put 4 of their 5 wrestlers on the podium.

FYI … this was just a quick interview with Valerie after her semifinal win. She is the first 16U finalist for Florida since 2013 when Nadie Fiege won the title at 198 lbs.

Fiege is currently Florida’s only 16U Champ. Valerie will look to change that tomorrow.

---

98 16U Men began their quest for a Fargo stopsign … just 18 are still in the hunt for a spot on the podium.

Tough day for some - while others cruised into the quarters.

Dominic Bambinelli, Gabe Arnold, and Latrell Schafer of Georgia cruised into their quarters. Drew Gorman also made the quarters for Georgia, but had to battle vs. Marcello Milani of Michigan (10-8) in order to get there.

Brian Burburija, Ethan Mojena, and Roman Garcia each took care of business for Florida. Garcia has yet to allow a point to be scored as he finished the day 3-0 at 160. Tennessee’s Casen Roark (120) and North Carolina’s Jax Forrest (113) each looked superb in their brackets and are into the quarters.

Down, but not out … these wrestlers lost on day 1, but are still alive in the consis.

Wallace Blue of Alabama and William Jakeway of South Carolina are the only Cadets from their states in the hunt for a spot on the podium. Savoy New is in the consi’s for North Carolina at 170. Florida has three in the consis in Kendrick Hodge, Ethan Rivera, and Sawyer Bartelt. Bartelt lost to Pennsylvania’s Sonny Sasso in the Round of 32 and has won 3 in a row to get to this point.

Georgia also have 3 in the consolation bracket. Albert Butler at 220, Omaury Alvarez at 182, and Tyler Secoy at 160. Secoy lost his first match to Travis Smith of Minnesota and has won 4 in a row to get to this point in the bracket (including wins over Elijah Penton and Omer Barak of Florida) … Smith (the person Tyler lost to in the opening round) is in the quarters at 160.

Wrestlers in the consis need two more wins to make the podium … our quarterfinalists can get on the podium with a win in their next match.

The 16U have been posted in FloArena.

Click the bracket tab and the drop down menu (16U Greco, 16U Women, etc.) to find the bracket and weight you are interested in. Below are a list of SE wrestlers and their weights as well as some short videos of the coaches talking about their teams.

16U Women

26 16U Women begin their quest for a Fargo stopsign.

• Alabama (1)

• Florida (5)

• Georgia (8)

• North Carolina (2)

• South Carolina (3)

• Tennessee (7)

16U Men Freestyle

98 16U Men begin their quest for a Fargo stopsign.

• Alabama (19)

• Florida (30)

• Georgia (26)

• North Carolina (4)

• South Carolina (6)

• Tennessee (13)

TEAM GEORGIA has dropped their Fargo roster and the Juniors include many of the names that did big things in Fargo 2 years ago as 16U’s - minus Matt Singleton who is training for the Junior World Championships in Russia in August. “Fargo” 2021 is the 50th edition of the prestigious Junior Nationals event. The first event, held in the summer of 1971, in Iowa City was Freestyle only … so we have progressed significantly since those early days - adding Greco and then 16U’s (Cadets) and the Girls (at both the Junior and 16U levels). For a fantastic breakdown of the history of “Fargo” (in reality, Junior Nationals and the other national-level USA Wrestling “high school aged” events) you should check out the Fargo Almanac produced by Jason Bryant. It is 187 pages of pure “Fargo” gold (even though the event wasn’t held in Fargo for the first 20+ years).

The 2019 edition of the event had 5,000+ entries (yes many wrestled more than one style) and, given that we missed 2020, 2021 could feature an even larger number. Georgia will bring 35 in JR Freestyle (up 7 from 2019), 28 in JR Greco (up 5 from 2019), 13 in Junior Women’s Freestyle (up 4 from 2019), 26 in 16U Freestyle (9 fewer than 2019), 28 in 16U Greco (4 fewer than 2019), and 8 in 16U Women’s Freestyle (up 6 from 2019). Overall, Georgia will have 9 more entries in 2021 than they did in 2019 – but many fewer 16U boys as compared to 2019.

Georgia has a rich “Fargo” history - ranking in the top 25 in nearly every category from JR Champions to 16U All Americans and so on. But it was their success in 2019 that most remember. The 16U crew (now much of this JR team) had 9 Freestyle All Americans and 8 Greco All Americans (including Champions RJ Weston and Michael Kilic). Those totals put the team in 4th in Freestyle and 3rd in Greco (something the Georgia Junior team has only done one other time in their history).

Recent success: The 2019 JR team had 4 All Americans in each style to go along with those 17 All Americans from the 16U group. RJ Weston and Michael Kilic (as mentioned above) each have 16U Greco titles from 2019 and Noah Pettigrew has a 16U Freestyle title from 2018. Vincent Baker claimed a Junior Greco title in 2019 at 195, but it has been 22 years since Georgia had a Junior Freestyle Champ (Chris Rodrigues in 1999). This is Georgia’s best shot in many years to put an end to the Freestyle Champion drought … who is the most likely to claim a Freestyle Junior title in 2021?

Who to Watch: The list of Juniors is quite long and all we have to do is look to 16U success 2 years ago to pick out those “most likely” to make a run for the podium again in 2021. So Michael Kilic, RJ Weston, David Panone, Noah Pettigrew, and Chase Horne are those that standout at first glance. Kilic and Weston each won Greco titles at 16U (they both also placed top 4 in freestyle), Panone placed in Greco and Pettigrew placed in freestyle at 16U. Horne was 3rd in both styles and comes in as the #1 285 in the country according to Flo. So those 5 should be in the hunt again in 2021, but they are not the only ones we should be watching.

Cole Hunt, Caleb Henson, and Gunner Filipowicz are three names that should also be on the list. Hunt has recently committed to wrestle at North Carolina, Henson at Virginia Tech, and Filipowicz for West Point. Each will be in the hunt for a spot on (or on top of) the podium. So that gives you 8 JRs to watch and I don’t want to focus solely on the JRs, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a few more. Dominic Ditomasso, Robert Austin Westbrook, Art Martinez, Sam Harris, Jeremy Paradice, Jake Swink, and Jarrod Pominville … each have 2019 Fargo experience and that experience cannot be overstated. The Junior girls bring a solid group that is headlined by current #1 (at 122) and more recently Pan Am Champ Amani Jones. Jones is among the favorites to claim a title. Genevieve An is ranked #18 at 127, but probably stands a better shot at making a run in 16U than in Juniors. May Prado is another name to watch. Prado will wrestle both JRs and 16U, but figures to be a real threat in the 16U 132 lb. bracket.

As for the 16U’s. It will be a tall task to think that they will be able to match the success of the 2019 16U group that had 17 All Americans over both styles and 2 Champs. But that doesn’t mean the 16U’s won’t have many on the podium and perhaps several on the top step. The first name that pops off the list is Gabe Arnold. Arnold, who wrestles for Wyoming Seminary in PA during the season, is among the top 170’s in the country as a JR or 16U and has to be among the favorites to claim a title. One name that is no longer flying “under the radar” after a superb Cadet Duals is Omaury Alvarez. Alvarez, and Matthew Waddell, should be in the mix at 182 for a spot on the podium. A pair of Jefferson hammers in Creed Thomas and Hoke Poe-Hogan have also had good summers and figure to be in the mix at 160 (with Thomas listed to wrestle 152 in Greco). Latrell Schafer, Emil Necula, and Tyler Secoy are some of the other names to keep an eye on. Georgia also has a few 8th graders (rising freshmen) that have a real shot to make some noise - they include Dominic Bambinelli, Drew Gorman, Logan Paradice and Cade Parent … it will be interesting to see how this group fairs in their first trip to Fargo.

As a whole, Georgia should be in the mix for a ton of “coasters” (the small stopsigns), medals or whatever you care to call them. I’d expect they will also have several in the finals and taking home “stopsigns”. Fargo is tough and past accolades doesn’t guarantee future success, but having that experience and having been on the podium before cannot be underestimated. The thing I am most interested in is whether the team can finish in the top 5 in Juniors … something that the GA Juniors have only done once before in Greco (and that was in 2014).

---

Georgia Entries:

Men's - USA Junior Freestyle
113 Hunter McCullough
120 Cole Hunt, Dominic Ditomasso, Ethan McCullough , Jacob Galindez, Mac Bowen
126 Carson Chalk, Robert Austin Westbrook, Tyson McCullough
132 Art Martinez, David Panone, Reese Jones
138 Dakota Williamson, Hunter Price, Tyler Barb
145 Connor Powell, Samuel Harris
152 Jeremy Paradice, Caleb Henson, Jake Swink, Jarrod Pominville, Michael Kilic
160 Canyon Hebb, Gunner Filipowicz, Miles Watts, Robert Weston, Zyan Hall
170 Grady Tisdale
182 Kian Hauser, Nolan Pozzobon
182 Soren Dresch
220 Logan Webster, Noah Pettigrew
285 Chase Horne, Daniel Nunez

Men's - USA Junior Greco-Roman
113 Hunter McCullough
120 Cole Hunt, Conner Marsh, Dominic Ditomasso, Ethan McCullough , Jacob Galindez
126 Robert Austin Westbrook, Tyson McCullough
132 Art Martinez, Christian Gordon, David Panone, Reese Jones
138 Dakota Williamson, Hunter Price, Tyler Barb
145 Connor Powell, Samuel Harris, William Thigpen
152 Jeremy Paradice, Jarrod Pominville, Michael Kilic
160 Canyon Hebb, Miles Watts, Robert Weston, Zyan Hall
170 Grady Tisdale
182 Kian Hauser
285 Chase Horne

Women's - USA Junior Freestyle
100 Jordan Epstein
106 Sierra Williamson
112 Callie Payton
117 Brooke French
122 Amani Jones
127 Jasmine Jenkins-Bey
132 May Prado
138 Cecily Livingston, Genevieve An
138 Maddie Steiner, Mia Buckner
152 Arieana Bacon
164 Jayde Massa

Men's - 16U Freestyle
100 Cael Kusky, Antonio Mills
106 Braydon Mitchell, Kieron McCormack
113 Drew Gorman
120 Maddox Mcarthur, William Chambers
126 Collin Mullins, Logan W. Paradice
132 Cade Parent, Ian Stephens, Joshua Denson
138 Emil Necula, Jason Clark
145 Latrell Schafer, Terry Moore
152 Creed Thomas, Dominic Bambinelli, Micah Wood
160 Hoke Poe Hogan, Kelvin Reyes, Tyler Secoy
170 Gabriel Arnold
182 Matthew Waddell, Omaury Alvarez
220 Albert Butler

Men's - 16U Greco-Roman
100 Cael Kusky
106 Braydon Mitchell, Kieron McCormack
113 Drew Gorman
120 Maddox Mcarthur, William Chambers, Caden Pollard
126 Collin Mullins, Logan W. Paradice, Antonio Mills, Sebastian Melendez
132 Ian Stephens, Joshua Denson
138 Cade Parent, Emil Necula
145 Jason Clark, Terry Moore, Crisjaniel Martinez-Antonetty
152 Dominic Bambinelli, Micah Wood
160 Creed Thomas, Hoke Poe Hogan, Kelvin Reyes, Tyler Secoy, Adam Gromatzky
182 Matthew Waddell, Omaury Alvarez
220 Albert Butler

Women's - 16U Freestyle
94 Jordan Epstein
112 Callie Payton
117 Brooke French
127 Jasmine Jenkins-Bey
132 Genevieve An, May Prado
152 Arieana Bacon
164 Jayde Massa

FloWrestling nationally ranked boys: Chase Horne (No. 1 at 285, No. 13 P-4-P), Michael Kilic (No. 13 at 145), Caleb Henson (No. 3 at 152), Robert Weston (No. 13 at 152), Noah Pettigrew (No. 4 at 220)
Nationally ranked girls: Amani Jones (No. 1 at 122, No. 19 P-4-P), Genevieve An (No. 18 at 127)