By Rob Sherrill, W.I.N. High School Editor
Fargo, N.D. — Andrew Long (84 pounds) of Iowa, Michael Mangrum (119) of Washington, Eren Civan (145) of Maryland, Deron Winn (189) of Missouri and Tyrell Fortune (215) of Oregon all won double titles here in the Asics Vaughan USAW Cadet National Championships, July 23-30.
Winn and Eric Grajales (98) of Florida repeated as Cadet Greco-Roman champions. Anthony Valles (98) of Connecticut and Ben Kuhar (275) of Ohio repeated as Cadet freestyle champions. Luke Rebertus (160) of Maryland won a freestyle title after winning the Greco-Roman crown a year ago.
At 171, Andrew Buck came up just short in his bid to give Washington two double champions. Buck couldn’t hold an early lead and lost, 8-3, to Andy Thomas of West Virginia. Thomas, the latest in the Parkersburg High hit parade, was too much for Buck offensively as he rallied from an early 2-0 deficit for the win.
Here’s a recap of the individual weights.
84 pounds: Long, from Creston, Iowa, had to rally from a 9-7 opening-round loss to Oregon’s Alex Kostenborder in the freestyle tournament and did so, rallying with three technical falls and a pin to nip Kostenborder, a double All-American, 5-4, in round-robin points and earn his finals berth. Once Long got to the finals, he was unstoppable, pinning both opponents in the first period. He pinned Pennsylvanian Richy Reinoehl, who won only one Greco match, in 51 seconds of the freestyle final. An 8-3 win over double All-American Kenny Sanders of Washington in the second round was his only Greco bout that went the distance.
91 pounds: One move prevented Ohio’s David Taylor, the next star in the St. Paris Graham High pipeline, from becoming the sixth double champion. He built an 11-3 lead over Wyoming’s Tyler Cox in the Greco-Roman final. But Cox proved you’re never out of a match, catching Taylor in a headlock and pinning him with one second left in the opening period. Taylor had previously been pinned by Minnesota’s Cody Hansen in the third round before rallying to the finals with a pin and three technical falls. In freestyle, Taylor was dominant, not allowing a point as he scored three pins and four technical falls. 98 pounds: Valles, who will attend Blair Academy next year, moved up a weight class from last year and racked up a pin and five technical falls before encountering his only close match, a 4-3 squeaker over fellow returning All-American Fred Santaite of New Jersey in the round robin. After leading just 1-0 at the break, Valles opened it up for a 5-0 victory over Ohio state place-winner Ben Sergent. Starting a record run of seven national champions for Brandon High, Grajales breezed to an 8-0 record and his second Greco-Roman title, scoring a 12-2 technical fall over Nathan Furches of Kansas in a rematch of last year’s final.
105 pounds: A 3-1 upset loss to Ohio’s Bo Touris in the Greco-Roman final kept four-time All-American Tyler Clark of Orion, Ill. from adding his name to the list of double champions. Touris tied the match on a Clark slip early in the second period and added a pair of one-point gut wrenches for the win. Clark won his other 19 matches of the week and didn’t go the distance in freestyle until his final round-robin match, when he blanked Pennsylvania’s Robert Ward, 3-0, in overtime. Clark got his title by pulling away from Michigan’s Mark Weber late, 5-1. 112 pounds: Tyler Graff of Loveland, Colo. High moved up a step from his second-place finish a year ago, showing a variety of moves on top in winning the freestyle title. A three-point throw off the overtime clinch gave him a 5-1 victory over Nate Moore of Iowa City West High. He wrapped up his trip to the finals with an impressive 10-0 technical fall over the Greco-Roman champion, Nikko Triggas of California, in the round robin. Triggas allowed only seven points in going 10-0 in the Greco-Roman meet, beating Utah’s Bo Berkman in the final on a 13-3 technical fall.
119 pounds: Mangrum, a Class 4A state runner-up as a freshman at Auburn Riverside High, went 18-0 during his week at Fargo and allowed only 11 points overall. He nearly shut out the field in Greco-Roman, with finals opponent Trenton Washington of Nebraska scoring the only point against him in an 11-1 technical-fall loss. Jason Chamberlain of Utah, the only other double All-American, scored a tilt to make things interesting late in the freestyle final, a match Mangrum won, 7-3.
125 pounds: Athletic DeVaughn Parkins of Omaha, Neb. North High completed his destruction of the Greco-Roman field with a 6-2 finals victory over Dak Adamson of Rio Rancho (N.M.) High. Perkins had three pins and three technical falls in the tournament, allowing just three points. He lasted just six rounds in freestyle, however, double All-American Adamson gaining revenge with a 16-6 technical fall in the third round. Kellan Russell, whose 7-6 victory over Adamson in the fifth round eventually got him to the finals, couldn’t make Blair Academy’s lineup last season after winning a National Prep title as a freshman. But he countered the early offense of Missouri’s Craig Wilson, pulling away late for a 6-0 victory.
130 pounds: One of the most intriguing match-ups of the freestyle finals pitted the athletic ability of Alex Meade, the Outstanding Wrestler of the Delaware state tournament as a Camden Wyoming Caesar Rodney High freshman, against the on-top strength of two-time National Prep place-winner Sean Bilodeau of North Andover (Mass.) Brooks School. Bilodeau won by technical fall over his first eight opponents, but he was unable to turn Meade until the second period, when it was too little, too late. Meade, meanwhile, scored a first-period turn of his own en route to a 5-3 decision.
135 pounds: A two-point tilt at the final buzzer helped Shane Nay of Kansas City (Mo.) Oak Park High win the Greco-Roman title, 5-4, over Jake Salazar of Heber City (Utah) Wasatch High. Nay lost 8-6 to Pennsylvania’s Quentin Wright, third in both styles, in the round robin, but advanced to the finals with the most pool points. Wright again prevailed over Nay in the freestyle tournament, eliminating him, 7-6, in overtime in the seventh round. In the freestyle final, Mario Mason became Blair Academy’s second champion with a stunning 7-0 shutout over Johnny Koepp of Dallas (Texas) Bishop Lynch High. Using the entire mat, Mason scored five takedowns in the win.
140 pounds: Koepp’s Bishop Lynch teammate, Luke Ashmore, became Texas’ first Cadet National champion with a 3-1 victory over Scott Winston of Jackson (N.J.) Memorial High. The victory also earned Ashmore, who got to the finals by shutting out all seven pool opponents on technical falls, Outstanding Wrestler honors. Among Ashmore’s victims was Greco-Roman champion Alex Ortiz of Oregon in the sixth round. Vince Ramos of Carol Stream (Ill.) Glenbard North High, who lost 8-1 to Ortiz in the Greco-Roman final, was the only wrestler to score on Ortiz in the tournament.
145 pounds: Not a great athlete, the lanky Civan’s superior balance and position nevertheless earned him a pair of rubber chickens — the Maryland title salute — and a pair of titles. He won the freestyle title in dramatic fashion, scoring a three-point throw off the overtime clinch to erase a 2-0 regulation deficit and beat double All-American Josh Stalcup of Estacada (Ore.) High, 3-2. Stalcup had an OW performance of his own going, pinning defending champion Eric Medina of New Jersey.
152 pounds: Double finalist Chris Hacker of El Reno (Okla.) High had to settle for a pair of runner-up finishes. He lost, 5-2, on the overtime clinch to double All-American Michael Chaires of New York in the Greco-Roman final, then saw Patrick Wright of Michigan rally for an 11-9 freestyle final victory. After getting to the Greco-Roman finals without allowing a point, Hacker rebounded from an 11-8 overtime loss to Iowa’s Robert Kellogg in the fourth round with four consecutive technical falls.
160 pounds: Rebertus, who attends Bear (Del.) Caravel Academy, survived a nasty tumble off the raised championship mat platform in the first period and went on to beat Kirk Smith of Boise (Idaho) Centennial High 7-5 in the title match. The match was a rematch of the third-place match in the Greco-Roman meet, won by Smith 3-0 in overtime. Smith got some revenge of his own in the tournament, edging Greco-Roman champion Torrey Line of Minnesota 5-4 in the seventh round to reach the finals. Line had blanked Smith 4-0 in the Greco-Roman round robin.
171 pounds: After winning his first 15 matches of the week, Buck’s string came to an end in the freestyle finals as freshman state champion Thomas used his strength and superiority on his feet to post an 8-3 title victory. Oklahoma’s Chris McNeil was the only other double All-American. A total of 35 states had at least one Cadet freestyle All-American and 171 provided a diverse group, which included dominating performances by Thomas and two-time South Carolina champ J.C. Oddo (third) of Taylors Eastside High.
189 pounds: The most dominating wrestler for a dominating Missouri team, the short, powerfully-built Winn wowed the field and the crowds with his never-stop, never-slow-down style. The only points Winn allowed all week came in his two championship matches. Six technical falls in six matches earned him the Greco-Roman Outstanding Wrestler award before earning a 4-2 freestyle victory over two-time state qualifier Jerome Ward of Chicago (Ill.) St. Rita High. Winn also was pushed off the platform and injured his elbow in the fall.
215 pounds: Fortune, competing in his first major tournament, went 7-0 in each tournament to wrap up his double title. Fortune, who attends Portland Parkrose High, trailed Missouri champion Dom Bradley of Blue Springs High, 3-0, late in the Greco-Roman final before exploding for 11 points in the final 30 seconds to win, 11-3. In the freestyle final, Fortune again trailed by three, 4-1, at the break against D.J. Bruce of Naperville (Ill.) North High. He then outscored Bruce, 10-1, in the second period, including three two-point gut wrenches, to win, 11-5.
Heavyweight: A 5-4 loser to Zack Rey of Hopatcong (N.J.) High in the sixth round, Kuhar, who attends Lakewood St. Edward High, pinned Greco-Roman champion Myles Caragein of Pennsylvania in his final round-robin match to edge Caragein and Rey, 5-4-3 in round-robin points and earned a trip to the finals. In an all-Cleveland area final, he pinned Division III state champion Cameron Wade of Bedford St. Peter Chanel High to end a tight match.
