From USA Wrestling

STILLWATER, Okla. - The National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Wednesday announced the state winners of the Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award (TSHSEA).

First presented in 2014, the award is named for Tricia Saunders, a four-time World Champion and women’s wrestling pioneer. Saunders was the first woman to be inducted as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006 and was inducted into the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2011.

The award recognizes and celebrates the nation’s most outstanding high school senior female wrestlers for their excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship, and community service.

“The winners of our Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award are an amazing group of young women who have set the highest standards for personal achievement, excelling in the classroom and on the wrestling mat while also providing leadership and service,” said NWHOF Executive Director Lee Roy Smith. “I want to thank our committees for their diligence and hard work to select such outstanding representatives of our sport.

“We take great pride watching our TSHSEA winners as they continue their careers and achieve success at the collegiate and international level while continuing to excel academically and be positive role models who inspire young wrestlers.”

TSHSEA winners are evaluated and selected on the basis of three criteria: success and standout performances and sportsmanship in wrestling; review of GPA and class rank, academic honors and distinctions; and participation in activities that demonstrate commitment to character and community.

The Central Region, Midwest Region, Northeast Region, Southeast Region and West Region winners will be announced on May 1 and the national winner will be announced on May 8.

The state winners of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award will be announced on Thursday. The DSHSEA recognizes and celebrates the nation’s most outstanding high school senior male wrestlers for their excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship, and community service. The regional DSHSEA winners will be announced on May 2 and the national winner will be announced on May 9.

The regional winners for the TSHSEA and the DSHSEA are selected from the state winners, and the national winner is chosen from the regional winners.

Congrats to this year’s Award Winners in the Southeast:

• Alabama - Emily Smith, Daphne High School

• Florida - Gabriele Tedesco, Lake Gibson High School

• Georgia - Genevieve An, Kennesaw Mountain High School

• Mississippi - Kayleigh Savage, St Martin High School

• North Carolina - Caleigh Suddreth, Lake Norman High School

• South Carolina - June Welch, Woodruff High School

• Tennessee - Ella Murphey, Hardin Valley Academy

SE Registered as of 4.20.24

45 kg

• Hudson Chittum Tennessee

• Jose Cordero Tennessee

• David Serrano Florida

• Cameron Gill Florida

48 kg

• Christopher Swann Georgia

51 kg

• Shamus Regan Tennessee

• Joseph Uhorchuk Tennessee

• Mac Johnson North Carolina

• Liam Davis Florida

55 kg

• Ethan Brownlee North Carolina

• Tye Johnson North Carolina

• Landon Quiroga Florida

• Adaias Ortiz Florida

• Brooks Morton Alabama

60 kg

• Alex Giglietti Florida

65 kg

• Malachi Puckett Tennessee

• Houston Rudisill South Carolina

• Jaylen Bethea North Carolina

• Nathaniel Askew North Carolina

• Samuel Gantt North Carolina

• Karter Nolan Georgia

• Blue Stiffler Georgia

• Titus Deyoung Florida

• Charlie DeSena Florida

• Bradley Hastings Alabama

• Colyn Finley Alabama

• Cruz Rainwater Alabama

71 kg

• Chase Mayes Tennessee

• Brodie Melzoni Tennessee

• Titus Norman Tennessee

• Ryan Rector Georgia

• Nathan Nielsen Georgia

• Zeno Moore Florida

80 kg

• Cy Fowler Tennessee

• Maximus Norman Tennessee

• Nathaniel Lowe Georgia

• Jackson Moffit Georgia

• Ronan An Georgia

• Ryder Wilder Georgia

• Tre Driggett Florida

92 kg

• Cason Howle South Carolina

• Dantrell Williams North Carolina

• Alexander Smith Florida

110 kg

• Jacob Levy Georgia

• Michael Mocco Florida

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Who to Watch (Based on PIN Ratings from USA Wrestling … not sure what PIN is? Check out my interview with Coach Mathews - starts at 16:36). PIN Ratings are listed for each wrestler below. Keep in mind that a wrestler may not have a PIN rating (I don’t know why that would be the case … just going by USA Wrestling’s information).

NOTE: The weight listed below is the weight they registered … don’t be surprised if they weigh-in at a different weight class.

Tons of talent coming from the Southeast at U17 Freestyle. Tennessee’s Hudson Chittum has the highest PIN rating at 45 kg and should be amongst the favorites to claim a title. 80 kg is wide open in terms of high PIN ratings and Fargo Runner-up Max Norman has the highest rating for the SE. But he isn’t the only one with Ronan An of Georgia and Cy Fowler of Tennessee also having notable PIN ratings. One wrestler that doesn’t have a rating (from what I could find - probably because he doesn’t have many freestyle matches) is Camden County’s Ryder Wilder. 80 kg is another weight to watch. But the headliner from a SE perspective is 110 kg with returning Fargo Champs Michael Mocco of Florida and Jacob Levy of Georgia. 110 has some hammers, but this is a weight that could feature an all SE final.

45 kg

• Hudson Chittum (TN) - 1264

• SE to Watch: Jose Cordero (TN) - 1037

48 kg

• Caleb Noble (IL) - 1275

• SE to Watch: Gabe Swann (GA) - 1059

51 kg

• Domenic Munaretto (IL) - 1335

• Grey Burnett (OH) - 1311

• Gavin Landers (IA) - 1288

• Shamus Regan (TN) - 1162

• SE to Watch: Liam Davis (FL) - 1132 and Jojo Uhorchuk (TN) - 1118

55 kg

• Lincoln Sledzianowski (PA) - 1321

• Paul Kenny (NJ) - 1288

• Landon Sidun (PA) - 1283

• Jayden Raney (KY) - 1275

• SE to Watch: Adaias Ortiz (FL) - 1074

60 kg

• Thomas Verrette (CO) - 1282

• Timothy Koester (IA) - 1281

65 kg

• Michael Romero (CA) - 1291

• Blue Stiffler (GA) - 1250

• Nathaniel Askew (NC) - 1194

• SE to Watch: Malachi Puckett (TN) - 1077

71 kg

• Zane Gerlach (AK) - 1303

• Daniel Heiser (WI) - 1268

• Clayton McGuire (AK) - 1254

• SE to Watch: Zeno Moore (FL) - 1165

80 kg

• Maximus Norman (TN) - 1194

• Ronan An (GA) - 1138

• SE to Watch: Cy Fowler (TN) - 1050 and Ryder Wilder (GA)

92 kg

• Dreshaun Ross (IA) - 1367

• Jaxon Penovich (IL) - 1255

• Cason Howle (SC) - 1150

• SE to Watch: Alex Smith (FL) - 1045

110 kg

• Michael Mocco (FL) - 1174

• Jacob Levy (GA) - 1110

SE Registered as of 4.20.24

57 kg

• Brodie Christmas Alabama

• Caleb Wright Alabama

• Mason Moody Georgia

• Cael Kusky Georgia

• Allen Calderon Georgia

• Cameron Stinson Jr. North Carolina

• Giulio Fabriziani North Carolina

• Isaac Sheehan North Carolina

• Jermaine Peace South Carolina

• Bryson Terrell Tennessee

61 kg

• Marcus Wright Alabama

• Cory Land Alabama

• Isfandier Sharipov Florida

• Colson Hoffman Georgia

• Boedi Kirkland North Carolina

• Ethan Croom North Carolina

• Devon Conner North Carolina

• Genaro De La Garza South Carolina

65 kg

• Sam Sutton Alabama

• William Anderson Alabama

• Judge Deyoung Florida

• Brennan Van Hoecke Florida

• Conner Kimbrough Georgia

• Thomas Termini Georgia

• Drew Gorman Georgia

• Aldo Hernandez North Carolina

• Joseph Morris South Carolina

70 kg

• Logan W. Paradice Georgia

• Tyler Xavier McKnight Georgia

• JB Epps Georgia

• Anderson Heap Florida

• Cedric Griffin North Carolina

• Logan Fite North Carolina

• Cooper Hilton Tennessee

• Hunter Sturgill Tennessee

• Colin Dupill Tennessee

74 kg

• Claudio Torres Florida

• Cooper Haase Florida

• Gunner Holland Florida

• Dominic Bambinelli Georgia

• Latrell Schafer Georgia

• Troy Shannon North Carolina

• Thomas Snipes South Carolina

• Devin Espinoza South Carolina

• Logan Fowler Tennessee

• Ian McGehee Tennessee

79 kg

• Christopher Minto Florida

• Christopher Mance III Georgia

• Landon Jones Georgia

• Pierce Carpenter Kydd South Carolina

86 kg

• Mason Ellis Alabama

• Keenan Wyatt Alabama

• Kennedy Wyatt Alabama

• Hunter Jones Alabama

• Hoke Hogan Georgia

• Conor Mccloskey Georgia

• Tomas Brooker North Carolina

• Roy Price South Carolina

92 kg

• Cayden Bevis Florida

• Brock Hacker Georgia

• Luke Cochran Georgia

• Patrick Brophy South Carolina

97 kg

• Kaleb Ivie Florida

• Ethan Larsen Florida

• Jamarion Ward North Carolina

125 kg

• Zack Chatman Alabama

• Jamier Ferere North Carolina

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Who to Watch (Based on PIN Ratings from USA Wrestling … not sure what PIN is? Check out my interview with Coach Mathews - starts at 16:36). PIN Ratings are listed for each wrestler below. Keep in mind that a wrestler may not have a PIN rating (I don’t know why that would be the case … just going by USA Wrestling’s information).

NOTE: The weight listed below is the weight they registered … don’t be surprised if they weigh-in at a different weight class.

Each of the weights in U20 Freestyle are going to be tough. 57 and 74 kg might be the deepest brackets. Imagine a weight that if seeded by PIN rating will have a placer at Olympic Trials in Jax Forrest as the 3 seed (unless the PIN rating is updated before then). Any SE wrestler that makes a run to the podium will have had an outstanding weekend. 74 kg is exceptionally deep with SE hammers and we could have listed a bunch, but we’ve highlighted those that have the highest PIN ratings to avoid any bias.

Keep in mind that several current college freshmen are not listed below … I’d guess the reason for that is they did not wrestle Fargo after their senior season and have not wrestled many freestyle events over the last 12 months. Many of the names below are current high school juniors or seniors, but keep an eye on those that you might not have heard from for a minute.

57 kg

• Luke Lilledahl (PA) - 1456

• Mack Mauger (ID) - 1345

• Jax Forrest (PA) - 1343

• Anthony Knox (NJ) - 1296

• Aydan Thomas (OK) - 1281

• Kael Lauridsen (NE) - 1269

• SE to Watch: Cam Stinson (NC) - 1129

61 kg

• Elijah Cortez (CA) - 1294

• Sam Herring (PA) - 1274

• Kyler Larkin (AZ) - 1265

• Cory Land (AL) - 1237

• SE to Watch: Colson Hoffman (GA) - 1134

65 kg

• Pierson Manville (PA) - 1444

• Bo Bassett (PA) - 1382

• Drew Gorman (GA) - 1258

• SE to Watch: Brennan Van Hoecke (FL) - 1196

70 kg

• Kannon Webster (IL) - 1446

• Kody Routledge (OK) - 1311

• Landon Robideau (MN) - 1279

• Cooper Hilton (TN) - 1247

• SE to Watch: Logan Paradice (GA) - 1219, but he is out … so keep an eye out for Hunter Sturgill (TN), Tyler Xavier McKnight (GA), and Anderson Heap (FL) - all with PIN’s in the 1100’s.

74 kg

• Zach Hanson (MN) - 1334

• Ladarion Lockett (OK) - 1307

• Braeden Scoles (WI) - 1302

• Beau Mantanona (CA) - 1276

• Joe Sealey (PA) - 1272

• SE to Watch (2 over 1200) - Dominic Bambinelli (GA) - 1203 and CJ Torres (FL) - 1206

79 kg

• Noah Mulvaney (WI) - 1286

• SE to Watch: Chris Mance (GA) - 1114

86 kg

• Aeodon Sinclair (WI) - 1393

• Tate Naaktgeboren (IA) - 1263

• Hoke Hogan (GA) - 1226

• SE to Watch: Mason Ellis (AL) - 1060

92 kg

• Connor Mirasola (WI) - 1314

• SE to Watch: Luke Cochran (GA) - 1081

97 kg

• Camden McDanel (OH) - 1263

125 kg

• Koy Hopke (WI) - 1365