Florida’s 16U’s had a great tournament … Valerie Solorio and Sawyer Bartelt each claimed National Titles - the first in 16U women since 2013 and the first for 16U men in Greco since 2015. The Florida 16U men had 5 Freestyle All Americans (good for 10th) and 4 All Americans in Greco (also good for 10th). The 16U women also cleaned up with 4 All Americans and a 11th place finish. Bartelt, Roman Garcia, and Ethan Mojena earned All American status in both styles.
The Junior Freestyle finished 17th and took turns eliminating their teammates - at least at 126 where Melguizo eliminated Kai Owen and then Basile beat Melguizo to finish higher on the podium. Florida’s Junior Greco group finished 18th as a team and was led by National Runner-up Ryan Cody at 195. Florida’s Junior women brought 6 “stopsigns” back home as Hannah Hall, Clare Booe, Juliana Diaz, Andrea Smith, Kealonie Vega, and Sierra Chavez each found the podium. Overall it was a successful trip for the kids from the Sunshine State. Like every team - there were highs and lows … wrestlers that made the goal and those that didn’t. I am going to go through every wrestler and give their record (and any wins - or losses that really stood out to me). At the bottom of each group - I include a very short summary of who stood out to me over the course of the week.
16U Freestyle (5 All Americans)
David DeArmas (106) - 0-2
Ethan Rivera (106) - All American - 8th - 6-3 - Lost to eventual Champ Anthony Knox of New Jersey and Nathan Desmond of Pennsylvania (7th).
Gabriel Jones (106) - 1-2
Luke Williams (106) - 1-2
Sebastian Degennaro (106) - 2-2 - Lost to Nathan Desmond of Pennsylvania (7th).
Ethan Vugman (113) - 0-2
Anderson Heap (120) - 1-2
Evan Pena (120) - 0-2
Ryan Phillips (120) - 1-2
Titus Herron (120) - 0-2
Daniel Echeverria (126) - 0-2
Frankie Florio (126) - 0-2
Jonathan Hudson (126) - 1-2
Samuel Marvel (126) - 1-2
Reid Noble (132) - 0-2
Brandon Cody (138) - 0-2
Ethan Mojena (138) - All American - 3rd - 8-1 Split with Jaydon Robinson of Illinois (4th); Beat Nicholas Kunstek of Pennsylvania (6th) and Alessio Perentin of New Jersey (7th)
Joshua Boykin (138) - 3-2
Austin Williams (145) - 1-2
Brandon Lehrman (145) - 1-2
Giovanni DeAngeles (145) - 2-2
Dylan Quiroga (152) - 0-2
Kendrick Hodge (152) - 5-2 - Lost to Dominic Bambinelli of Georgia (4th) and KJ Evans of Oklahoma (2nd)
Elijah Penton (160) - 2-2 - Lost to Tyler Secoy of Georgia (8th) and Talon McCollom of Oklahoma (5th)
Omer Barak (160) - 1-2 - Lost to Tyler Secoy of Georgia (8th)
Roman Garcia (160) - All American - 4th - Lost to eventual Champ Louie Cericho of New Jersey and Aeoden Sinclair of Wisconsin (3rd); Beat Talon McCollom of Oklahoma (5th) and Jed Webster of Minnesota (6th)
Brian Burburija (170) - All American - 5th - Lost to eventual Champ Gabe Arnold of Georgia and Jared Schoppe of New Jersey (3rd); Beat Keegan Sell of Ohio (6th)
Rhyley Smith (182) - 0-2 - Lost to eventual Champ Camden McDaniel of Ohio
Sawyer Bartelt (195 - All American - 5th - 8-2 - Lost to eventual Runner-up Sonny Sasso of Pennsylvania early and then won 6 in a row. Wins over William Clark of Indiana (8th) and Adam Haselius of Michigan (6th). Lost to Carter Neves of Ohio (4th).
Cane Fernandez (285) - 1-2
16U Greco Roman (4 All Americans)
Luke Williams (100) - 0-2 - Lost to eventual Champion Layne Kleimann of Utah
David DeArmas (106) - 0-2
Gabriel Jones (106) - 0-2 - Lost to Nathan Desmond of Pennsylvania (6th)
Christian Fretwell (113) - 3-2
Ethan Vugman (113) - 3-2
Evan Pena (113) - 0-2 - Lost to Logan Swenson of Minnesota (5th)
Anderson Heap (120) - 4-2 - Lost to Garrett Reece of Colorado (4th) and Ruben Lorenzana of Ohio (5th)
Titus Herron (120) - 0-2
Daniel Echeverria (126) - 0-2
Frankie Florio (126) - 2-2
Jonathan Hudson (126) - 2-2
Samuel Marvel (126) - 0-2
Ryan Phillips (126) - 2-2
Brandon Cody (138) - All American - 5th - 8-2 - Lost to eventual Runner-up Brady Collins of Colorado on criteria and to Jude Randall of Oklahoma (4th); Beat Yannis Charles of South Carolina (8th) and Cade White of Idaho (6th)
Ethan Mojena (145) - All American - 4th - 5-2 - Lost to eventual Champion Pierson Manville of Pennsylvania and Dylan Evans of Pennsylvania (3rd); Beat Mike Baker of Iows (7th) and Layton Schneider of Oklahoma (6th)
Austin Williams (145) - 2-2
Brandon Lehrman (145) - 2-2
Giovanni DeAngeles (145) - 2-2 - Lost to Mike Baker of Iowa (7th)
Dylan Quiroga (152) - 0-2
Kendrick Hodge (152) - 3-2 - Lost to KJ Evans of Oklahoma (4th) and Gavin Fernandez of California (7th)
Elijah Penton (160) - 0-2 - Lost to Talon McCollom of Oklahoma (5th)
Roman Garcia (160) - All American - 3rd - 6-1 - Only loss to eventual Champion Liam Scrivanich of Pennsylvania; Beat Luis Mendoza of Washington (6th) twice and Travis Smith of Minnesota (4th)
Rhyley Smith (182) - 0-2
Sawyer Bartelt (195) - National Champion - 6-0 - Outscored his opponents 55-4 - only match that was not a fall or superior decision was the final vs. William McCleary of Utah; Also beat Dai’Mont Mucker of Missouri (6th) and Hunter Thibodeau of Washington (7th)
Cane Fernandez (285) - 1-2
16U Women (4 All Americans)
Valarie Solorio (94) - National Champion - 4-0 - Beat Megan Valdez of California (5th), Gigi Bragg of Michigan (6th), and Gabriella Gomez of Illinois (2nd).
Clare Booe (100) - All American - 4th - 4-2 - Lost to Aspen Blasko of Minnesota (5th) and Juliana Alejandro of Nevada (3rd); Beat Angelina Cassioppi of Illinois (6th) and Aubra Krazer of Pennsylvania (8th)
Helena Alcantar (106) - 1-2 - Lost to Rianne Murphy of Indiana (4th)
Destiny Madison (180) - All American - 8th - 1-3 - Lost to eventual Runner-up Kiara Ganey of Illinois, Blthye Cayko of Colorado (4th), and Kiley McClain of California (7th)
Alyssa Favara (200) - All American - 6th - 0-3 - Lost to Taylor Knox of Colorado (3rd), Genesis Carillo of Puerto Rico (4th), and Madisen Pillers of Washington (5th).
16U Breakdown
Crowning 2 National Champs and 2 others that were double All Americans is quite a good showing for the 16U’s from Florida. Solorio became the first 16U Women’s Champ from Florida in nearly a decade and just the second ever. She was joined by 4 of her teammates - Clare Booe, Destiny Madison, and Alyssa Favara. Putting 4 of your 5 on the podium is quite an accomplishment for the Florida ladies. Sawyer Bartelt finished 5th in Freestyle and then dominated in Greco on his way to the top step. And when I say dominated … he outscored his opponents 55-4 and gave up 2 in the finals when he probably could’ve fought out of the position at the end of the match (but didn’t need to). He was joined as a double All American by Ethan Mojena and Roman Garcia - both of whom made the consolation finals in both styles … another outstanding accomplishment. Ethan Rivera and Brian Burburija both claimed All American honors in freestyle and Brandon Cody was an All American in Greco. So those are your obvious choices of who stood out … but they aren’t the only ones. The following wrestlers performed well and just missed their spot on the podium:
Kendrick Hodge is the first name that pops to mind. He was 8-4 and went 5-2 in Freestyle. All 4 losses came to a wrestler that finished on the podium - including losses to KJ Evans in both styles. Hodge made huge jumps even if he didn’t make the podium.
Joshua Boykin was 3-2 in Freestyle and Fretwell and Vugman went 3-2 in Greco. Fretwell didn’t wrestle Freestyle (not sure why).
Anderson Heap is probably not happy with his 1-2 record in Freestyle, but he bounced back and finished 4-2 in Greco with losses to 2 All Americans (Reece and Lorenzana).
Sebastian Degennaro was 2-2 with a tough loss to All American Nathan Desmond of Pennsylvania. Still a ways to go for Degennaro .. gotta win the close matches (lost to Louis Gill 7-5 and was eliminated).
Giovanni DeAngeles finished 4-4 (2-2 in each style) with a loss to Iowa’s Mike Baker in Greco - who finished 7th.