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 …

We get 3 groups today for some Freestyle action and the day begins with the Junior Men.

You can find all of the brackets in FloArena. Just be sure to select the drop down box for the group you want (16U’s Freestyle, Junior Freestyle, etc.).

Things get started with the Junior Men at 8 am (Central) and they are scheduled to go until 1:30 pm

We then head over to the 16U Women for the Finals and All American matches.

The SE has 3 finalists and 9 total All Americans. The 16U Women are scheduled to go from 1:30 - 4:00.

We finish up Day 2 with the 16U quarters, semis, and consolations as well as continuation of the Junior Men from earlier in the day. The action begins at 4:30 and is scheduled to run until 9:00 pm.

Here are your 16U matchups:

Quarters:

• 113 - Jax Forrest (NC) vs. Jack Consiglio (PA)

• 113 - Drew Gorman (GA) vs. Beau Mantanona (CA)

• 120 - Casen Roark (TN) vs. Jacob Myers (CO)

• 138 - Ethan Mojena (FL) vs. Jaydon Robinson (IL)

• 145 - Latrell Schafer (GA) vs. Brett Back (WI)

• 152 - Dominick Bambinelli (GA) vs. Zack Ryder (NY)

• 160 - Roman Garcia (FL) vs. Zeke Dubler (PA)

• 170 - Brian Burburija (FL) vs. Dalton Loyden (AZ)

• 170 - Gabe Arnold (GA) vs. Oscar Williams (OK)

Consis:

• 88 - Wallace Blue (AL) vs. Nathan Rioux (IN)

• 88 - William Jakeway (SC) vs. Rocco Hayes (IL)

• 106 - Ethan Rivera (FL) vs. Gabriel Ramirez (AZ)

• 152 - Kendrick Hodge (FL) vs. Wynton Denkins (OH)

• 160 - Tyler Secoy (GA) vs. Hunter Andel (OH)

• 170 - Savoy New (NC) vs. Abraham Wojcikiewicz (IL)

• 182 - Omaury Alvarez (GA) vs. Ben DiMarco (OH)

• 195 - Sawyer Bartelt (FL) vs. Diego Costa (CA)

• 220 - Albert Butler (GA) vs. Davian Greenlee (OH)