1. No "Chance" at all
That was the collective sentiment of opponents that had to face Chance Marsteller during the Cadet Greco-Roman and freestyle competitions this past week. Marsteller -- ranked No. 1 in the Class of 2014, and who quite possibly might be the best high school wrestler in all the land during the 2011-12 season -- did not give up a single point in 17 matches this week. In fact, all eight of his freestyle matches ended in either technical fall (5) or pin (3). Of his nine Greco-Roman matches, there were three pins, two technical falls and four decisions. In fact, in only one match -- against Drew Garcia (Michigan) in Greco-Roman -- did he not earn a technical fall in either period of the match (a 1-0, 5-0 victory). This followed up a Cadet National Duals, where he wrestled 16 matches -- seven freestyle and nine Greco-Roman), only giving up points in one of them (a 4-3, 6-0 decision over Hunter White from Florida).
2. Double the pleasure
Marsteller was one of five Cadets to earn double titles this week in Fargo. He was joined by Gannon Volk (Minnesota) at 91 pounds, Aaron Pico (California) at 119, Mitch Sliga (Indiana) at 189, and Sam Stoll (Minnesota) at 285. Four Junior wrestlers won titles in both styles as well: Nkosi Moody (Illinois) at 98 pounds, Ben Whitford (Michigan) at 135, Alex Dieringer (Wisconsin) at 152 in Greco and 160 in freestyle, and Devin Peterson (Wisconsin) at 189. An additional five Cadets and four Juniors made the finals in both styles -- it so happens that each won a title in just one.
Winning a Cadet title in freestyle after falling short in Greco-Roman were Jabari Moody (Illinois) at 98 pounds, Hayden Tuma (Idaho) at 130, Ricky Robertson (Illinois) at 160 in Greco and 171 in freestyle, and Kyle Snyder (Maryland) at 215. The lone Cadet to win in Greco-Roman and take second in freestyle was Ronnie Bresser (Oregon), who was on top of the podium at 98 pounds but second at 105. At the junior level, finishing first in Greco but second in freestyle were Johnson Mai (California) at 105 pounds and Jahwon Akui (Illinois) at 171 in Greco but then 189 in freestyle. While second in Greco, but first in freestyle were, Zane Richards (Illinois) who went 125 in Greco and then 130 in freestyle, along with Connor Medbery (Colorado) at 285 pounds.
3. Vertical vexing
The outcomes of certain weight pools, in terms of All-American honors and/or pool champions, left followers seeking their abacuses. However, an understanding of the vertical pairing system would have made it as clear as it was possibly going to be.
In the Junior freestyle competition alone, there were three situations in which the fourth All-American position in a pool had to be awarded from three wrestlers exiting the tournament in the same round. However, the wrestler earning the All-American position lost to one of the other wrestlers that exited in said round. The reason being that if all three wrestlers did not compete against one another, total points is the tiebreaker.
In Pool A at 105 pounds, Adam Burchett (Washington), Javier Guillen (Arizona), and Matt Miller (California) exited in the same round; Burchett had a win over Miller, and lost to Guillen. However, Guillen and Miller did not meet; therefore, it was decided by total points: Burchett 13, Guillen 12, and Miller 10. Similarly at 140 pounds in Pool B, Matt Cimato (Pennsylvania), Natrelle Deminson (California), and Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) exited in the same round. Deminson upended Cimato, lost to Sorensen, but Sorensen and Cimato did not meet. Therefore, it was decided on total points: Cimato gets the nod with 26 points, while Sorenson and Deminson had 19 each. Finally Pool B at 171 pounds saw Kris Klapprodt (South Dakota) earn All-American honors on 21 points to the 19 totaled by Kevin Beazley (Michigan) and Sean Mappes (Indiana) despite having lost to Beazley during the tournament; that was because Mappes did not wrestle either Beazley or Klapprodt during the tournament.
The Junior freestyle competition also demonstrated not as easy applications of a split within the final round-robin within a pool. In Pool B at 160 pounds, all three wrestlers ended up with 4 classification points (one victory by decision, and one loss in which they scored a point). The next level tiebreaker becomes which wrestler had the most points outside of the round-robin matches. At that level, Zach Skates (Oklahoma) and Mark Martin (Ohio) had 23 points, which Spartak Chino (Illinois) had 20. After that, it went to the head-to-head between Skates and Martin; Skates having won that match. In Pool B at 285 pounds, Connor Medbery (Colorado), Doug Vollaro (Florida), and Austin Marsden (Illinois) split matches. Medbery beat Vollaro by decision, scored in a loss to Marsden; Vollaro scored in a loss to Medbery, and beat Marsden by decision; while Marsden beat Medbery by decision, but was shut out in his loss to Vollaro. Therefore, Medbery and Vollaro had four points each in the round-robin, Marsden had three. The tiebreaker at that point is the head-to-head in which Medbery beat Vollaro.
4. Champion despite a loss
The nature of the vertical pairing system is such that wrestlers can make the final, and even win a Fargo championship, having lost match(es) during the course of the competition. There are two possible ways for this to happen: (1) the three wrestlers in the round robin split matches, which means the pool comes down to a classification point tiebreaker (2) the wrestler loses a match to an opponent that is eliminated from championship consideration prior to the round-robin or one match play-in. At least one wrestler in all four competitions won a weight class championship despite losing earlier in the tournament.
Three wrestlers won Junior freestyle titles in spite of losing during the tournament: Ben Whitford (Michigan) at 135 pounds, Brian Realbuto (New York) at 145, and Connor Medbery (Colorado) at 285. In fact, Whitford and Medbery both beat opponents that had lost earlier in the tournament as well -- Ty Davis (Ohio) and Cody Krumwiede (Iowa) respectively. Two other runners-up had a loss -- Zach Skates (Oklahoma) at 160 and Jahwon Akui (Illinois) at 189.
Five champions and five runner-up finishers had (at least) one loss in Cadet freestyle. Winning the "big stop sign" in spite of a loss were Gannon Volk (Minnesota) at 91 pounds, Seth Gross (Minnesota) at 112, Edgar Bright (Ohio) at 125, Colin Holler (Illinois) at 140, and Ricky Robertson (Illinois) at 171. Second-place finishers with a loss prior to the final were Ronnie Bresser (Oregon) at 105, Geordan Martinez (Colorado) at 135, Dustin Fuller (Iowa) at 160, and Jordan Ellingwood (Illinois) at 189. In fact, Parker Vonegidy (North Carolina) had the very rare two losses yet making the final. Vonegidy had a loss early in the tournament to a wrestler that did not make the round-robin, and also had a loss within the round-robin, but the round-robin ended up in a split with classification points and head-to-head working in his favor.
The lone champion with a loss in Junior Greco-Roman was Geordan Speiller (Florida) at 160 pounds. Four second-place finishers had a loss prior the final -- Bobby Nachreiner (Wisconsin) at 105 pounds, Tyler Fraley (New Jersey) at 119, Jacob Velarde (Washington) at 130, and Chase Ferman (Oklahoma) at 135.
While the Cadet freestyle competition had tons of chaos, by comparison Greco-Roman followed the "chalk," as just five finalists had a loss prior to the championship match. However, Rich Martinez (California) and Mike Longo (California) both reached the 135-pound final with an earlier loss in the competition; Martinez did win that weight class on Monday night. The other champion with a loss was Elijah Davis (California) at 130 pounds, while both Colton Schilling (Oregon) at 119 and Jaeden Bernstein (New Jersey) at 171 had losses prior their loss in the championship final.
5. It's an Illinois world …
... and we're all just here for the ride. Wrestlers from the Land of Lincoln stole the show throughout "Fargo Week." Nowhere was this clearer than in the Junior freestyle tournament, where 20 (out of 120 total) All-Americans came from Illinois. This included three champions (Nkosi Moody at 98 pounds, Matt Garrelli at 105, and Zane Richards at 130) and four second-place finishers (Tommy Pawleski at 98, Brian Murphy at 145, Edwin Cooper at 152, and Jahwon Akui at 189). Not only was it the expected stars who brought it strong, it was unexpected wrestlers like Angelo Silvestro taking third at 140 pounds and Zach Synon finishing eighth at 125 having to navigate weight classes with a litany of higher profile opposition. Additional notes on this are that Illinois had a wrestler earn All-American honors in 14 of 15 weight classes, and that the point total and All-American count accrued were higher than what could be combined for by any two states.
6. What more could they win?
Well, Illinois also won the Cadet freestyle team title with 14 All-Americans and 70 points (Pennsylvania was second with 14 All-Americans and 60 points). Key to that effort were championships from Jabari Moody at 84 pounds, Colin Holler at 140, and Ricky Robertson at 171; to go with second place finishes from Miguel Silva at 91 pounds and Jordan Ellingwood at 189. Sixteen All-Americans propelled Illinois to the team title in Junior Greco-Roman with 76 points (despite six finalists, and four champs, Florida could only muster second place with 63 points from its 10 All-Americans). Leading the Illinois effort were titles from Nkosi Moody at 98 pounds and Jahwon Akui at 171, a runner-up finish from Zane Richards at 125, and four separate third-place finishes.
7. But it wasn't a sweep like the Duals
Coming off of sweeping the titles at last month's Cadet Duals in Daytona Beach, Fla. and the Junior Duals in Oklahoma City, Okla. -- the journey for a sweep of all eight major team titles this summer was derailed in the week's first event. Illinois finished third in Cadet Greco-Roman with 47 points coming from 12 All-American medalists, but no champions. Pennsylvania led the way with 79 points from 14 All-Americans, including a quartet of champions: Darian Cruz at 105 pounds, Chance Marsteller at 152, Eric Morris at 160, and Raymond O'Donnell at 171. Second place went to California with 55 points from ten All-Americans, led by four champions: Aaron Pico at 119 pounds, Jon-Jay Chavez at 125, Elijah Davis at 130, and Rich Martinez at 135.
8. The Power of Five
Four of the nation's preeminent programs had five wrestlers that will be on their respective rosters during the upcoming 2011-12 season earn All-American honors this past week in Fargo.
9. Depth on Display
The Cadet and Junior National Championships display the nation's finest high school aged wrestling talent. One of the ways that this can be demonstrated is by looking at the many wrestlers who came in highly credentialed and/or had excellent tournaments of their own but failed to earn All-American honors.
View Non-All-American All-Stars
10. Finally some attention to the un(der)-appreciated
Reflecting upon the week that was in Fargo, N.D. would not be complete without providing recognition to all those that make the Junior & Cadet Nationals possible. Remember that the event goes beyond the wrestlers and coaches. There are many other people who volunteer of their time and efforts to make an event of this magnitude possible. Mat officials, pairing officials, team leaders, table workers, runners, medical staff, and many more are also involved.
On behalf of all the competitors and family members, to all of you ... Thank you!
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