Florida’s Sawyer Bartelt capped off a fantastic run in Greco with a dominant 8-2 win over Utah’s William McCleary in the 195 lb. final. Bartelt went 6-0 and outscored his opponents 56-4 … giving up points in just 2 matches. What might be more impressive is that Bartelt earned a spot on the podium in both styles this week in Fargo. He finished 5th in Freestyle as well.

Bartelt was just one of four Floridians to make the podium. He was joined by Brandon Cody (5th at 138), Ethan Mojena (4th at 145), and Roman Garcia (3rd at 160). The four helped Team Florida into the top 10 - actually a tie for 10th with Virginia in 16U Greco. Georgia finished 17th as a team and put 3 on the podium … Drew Gorman (4th at 113), Dominic Bambinelli (6th at 160), and Hoke Poe-Hogan (4th at 170). Jax Forrest helped North Carolina to 31st in the team race with a 6th place finish at 120. South Carolina and Alabama added their first 16U All Americans in 2021. William Jakeway (88) and Yannis Charles (138) made the podium for South Carolina … SC’s first 16U All Americans in Greco since 2016. Will Caneer (195) and Willie Cox (285) made the podium for Alabama.

As mentioned previously, Bartelt earned double All American honors as we placed in the top 8 in both styles. Bartelt wasn’t alone in accomplishing that feat … 4 others from the Southeast also earned double All American this week. Mojena, Garcia, Gorman, and Bambinelli were also able to secure a top 8 finish in both styles … a significant accomplishment.

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Florida’s Ryan Cody and Tennessee’s Dayne Dalrymple into the Junior Semis

Just 2 SE hammers were able to navigate day 1 of Junior Greco without a loss. Cody, a 2019 Greco Runner-up, showed out at 195 … he finished the day 4-0 and outscored his opponents 41-0. He faces Tom Culp of Illinois in the semifinals tomorrow morning. Dayne Dalrymple also finished 4-0 with some really tough wins. He began the day with a 10-9 win over Florida’s Braden Basile (a Freestyle All American) before getting a fall over Brady Hankin of Colorado. He then beat Georgia’s David Panone and Minnesota’s Walker Bents is tough matches to advance to the semis where he faces Oregon’s Nash Singleton.

The Bloodround

The following wrestlers advanced to the Bloodround - 1 match from making the podium - and each will look to win at least one more in the morning to take home some hardware. Each are still hunting for 3rd, but getting one more win is the first order of business in the morning.

• 100 - Vincent Biondoletti (Florida)

• 106 - Tyler Washburn (Florida)

• 152 - Jeremy Paradice (Georgia)

• 152 - Michael Kilic (Georgia)

• 160 - RJ Weston (Georgia)

• 182 - Gervacio Gonazlez (Tennessee)

• 220 - Ashton Davis (Tennessee)

16U Greco will finish things up this morning with the semifinals and the consolation quarters beginning at 8:30. They are currently scheduled to wrestle their placement matches at 2 pm Fargo time. Mojena, Garcia, and Bartelt of Florida, as well as Jax Forrest (NC) and Hoke Poe-Hogan (GA) will look to win one more and put themselves one win away from a Greco National Title. Brandon Cody, Drew Gorman, Dominick Bambinelli, Will Caneer, Willie Cox, William Jakeway and Yannis Charles will look to win 2 matches in the morning and a 3rd in the afternoon to take 3rd at their weight. Brandon Cody and Yannis Charles will meet first thing this morning - so there will be at least one wrestler from the SE in the 7th place match at 138.

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Junior Men begin their quest for a Greco Title

2019 16U Greco National Champs Michael Kilic and RJ Weston of Georgia as well as Junior Greco Runner-up Ryan Cody of Florida headline the field from the Southeast. Only Braden Basile and Ethan Vergara (both from Florida) have an opportunity to earn double All American status. Henson, Horne, Pettigrew, Hunt, Nini, Melguizo, Mason, and Flynn are not in the bracket for Greco after placing in Freestyle. Action begins at 8:30 am and will run until the break for the 16U placement matches.

Florida put 6 Junior Women on the podium … tying the most ever for a Florida Women’s team (Florida had 6 Junior AA’s in 2006 also). If I am wrong please let me know. This year’s squad finished 17th as a team. South Carolina had 2 All Americans and finished 22nd. Amani Jones was Georgia’s only All American in 2021 - leading the team to 26th overall.

Kealonie Vega and Sierra Chavez were the highest placing Floridians … finishing 6th (Vega at 100 and Chavez at 180). Juliana Diaz and Clare Booe were 7th - Diaz at 117 and Boe at 100 (after losing to Vega in the consolation quarters). Booe is the only woman in the SE to double All American this week … she was 3rd in 16U and 7th in Juniors. Hannah Hall and Andrea smith capped off a great run by the Florida team - taking 8th (Hall at 112 and Smith at 225).

South Carolina had 14 points - good enough for 22nd in the team race. They were led by All Americans Caitlyn Davis (4th at 138) and Dasia Yearby (8th at 180). Georgia’s Amani Jones took a tough 7-5 loss in the quarters but battled back through the bracket. Jones downed Adrienna Turner of California 4-1 (the same woman she lost to on the front side) to finish 5th.

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Mojena, Bartelt, and Garcia from Florida, Poe-Hogan of Georgia and Forrest of North Carolina in the 16U Greco Semis

Florida’s Ethan Mojena (145), Roman Garcia (160), and Sawyer Bartelt (195) punched their ticket to tomorrow morning’s semifinals. They are joined by Georgia’s Hoke Poe-Hogan at 170 lbs. and Jax Forrest of North Carolina at 120. Forrest, Mojena, Garcia, Poe-Hogan, and Bartelt will each attempt to punch their ticket to tomorrow afternoon’s finals, but first each has work to do in the morning. Forrest will wrestle Tanner Frothinger of Idaho, Mojena gets Pennsylvania’s Pierson Manville who finished 2nd at 145 in Freestyle. Garcia will wrestle Liam Scrivanich of PA, Hoke Poe-Hogan gets Oscar Williams of Oklahoma at 170, and Sawyer Bartlet will face Dai’mont Mucker of Missouri at 195.

Those 5 semifinalists are joined by Brandon Cody of Florida at 138, Drew Gorman (113) and Dominic Bambinelli (152) of Georgia, Will Caneer (195) and Willie Cox (285) of Alabama, and William Jakeway (88) and Yannis Charles (138) of South Carolina. Cody and Charles will wrestle in the consolation quarters so one of the two will wrestle for 7th tomorrow afternoon. It is worth noting that Mojena, Garcia, Bartelt, Forrest, Gorman, and Bambinelli are double 16U All Americans in 2021. I don’t know how rare the feat is … but it quite an accomplishment to make the podium in both styles.