In the Greco-Roman competition, the Pennsylvania squad won all seven matches that they wrestled. In only the championship final against Washington, which they won 41-37, was the outcome of the dual meet in doubt headed to the last match.
After an opening match pin by Braxton Mikesell of Washington at 175 pounds, it was three consecutive victories for Pennsylvania (including a forfeit at 265 pounds) to give them a 13-6 lead at the turn. Washington won the four lowest weight classes to jump out to a 21-15 lead after a 12-0 technical fall from Aizayah Yaccapin at 91 pounds. Pennsylvania countered with four successive wins from 98 to 120 pounds to take a 32-22 advantage.
Three successive wins for Washington enabled them to regain the lead 36-33 headed into the penultimate and last matches of the dual meet. That included early pins from Franky Almaguer (136) and Adrian St. Germain (144). Pennsylvania would win those last two matches to take home the dual meet: Angel Garcia with a pin in 1:43 at 152 pounds, and then a 6-3 decision victory from Darrien Roberts at 160.
During the freestyle competition, Illinois dominated their way to the title, winning at least 10 contested matches in all but one dual meet. In only one dual meet, a championship pool match against Pennsylvania, was the outcome in doubt headed to the last match of the dual; that was also the only dual that the Illinois squad won less than ten matches (9-8 match count).
In that initial dual meet of the championship pool, Illinois rallied back from a 22-12 deficit after eight matches, as well as a 31-24 deficit with four matches remaining in the dual meet to beat the Pennsylvania squad. Those last four wins came in a pin from Jacob Kaminski (175), a 12-0 technical fall from Luke Luffman (190), a 9-2 decision from Justin Hull (210), and a pin from Ronald Tucker (265) in a winner take all last match of the dual meet.
The Land of Lincoln squad upended Ohio by a 55-23 score in the championship final.
Seven teams finished top eight in both styles: Pennsylvania (Greco champs, fourth in freestyle), Washington (runner-up, third), Illinois (fourth, champions), Minnesota (fifth, seventh), Arizona (double sixth), Missouri (seventh, fifth), and Ohio (eighth, runners-up).
Among the stars for the Pennsylvania squad in Greco-Roman were Michael Kistler (105) and Beau Bartlett (120), who were undefeated in both styles this weekend. Most notable from the Illinois championship squad in freestyle was Ronald Tucker (265), who went undefeated in both styles.
A list of wrestlers who went undefeated in both styles this weekend, having five or more contested matches in each style:
70: Carter Young (Oklahoma)
77: Cullen Schriever (Iowa)
84: Anthony Clark (New Jersey), Caden McCrary (Georgia)
91: Carson Manville (Virginia)
98: Drew Eller (Colorado)
105: Michael Kistler (Pennsylvania)
112: Beau Bartlett (Pennsylvania), Alex Facundo (Michigan)
128: Aaron Bancroft (North Carolina)
136: Zak Phillips (Maryland), Franky Almaguer (Washington)
144: Adrian St. Germain (Washington)
160: Hayden Rockman (Virginia)
175: Braxton Amos (Ohio), Zachary Brown (Virginia)
190: Jaymone Whitaker (Ohio)
210: Jadyn Withrow (Missouri)
265: Ronald Tucker (Illinois)
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now