Zahid Valencia (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)It's been exactly a month since the conclusion of the state wrestling championships season -- New Jersey wrestled their state finals on March 9. While the state championships are a major pinnacle of each season, it is not the endpoint for scholastic wrestling in the least. There's been a slew of wrestling since then -- some (senior) all-star meets, along with a couple of key national-level tournaments (NHSCA grade-level nationals, FloNationals, and the USA Wrestling Junior & Cadet Folkstyle Championships).
Below is a look at five wrestlers that have had significantly positive performances over this period of time.
Zahid Valencia (St. John Bosco, Calif.)
The nation's top 132-pound wrestler, and sixth-ranked overall Class of 2015 prospect, moved up four weight classes for the Junior National Folkstyle Championships this past weekend in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Competing at 152 pounds, he won the title with an impressive performance.
Valencia's tournament run started with two pins; continued with a 7-3 win over two-time state placer Dan Kelly (Cedar Falls, Iowa), who was third this past year at 138 pounds; upended Joe Smith (Stillwater, Okla.), the nation's No. 11 Class of 2015 wrestler, 2-1 in the tiebreaker of the quarterfinals; beat nationally ranked Tagen Lambotte (Rossville, Kan.), a four-time state champion, 3-1 in the semifinals; and then beat two-time state champion Jared Scharenbock (Sun Prairie, Wis.) 7-3 in the final.
Nick Piccininni (Ward Mellville, N.Y.)
Nick Piccininni (Photo/Joe DAquila, Phototrens.com)The tournament started with three decisive wins over relative unknowns -- a 7-1 decision, followed by a 46 second pin, and then a 19-2 technical fall. The round of 16 bout was a 5-3 victory over state champion Dylan Duncan (Montini Catholic, Ill.); Piccininni then upended No. 14 George Phillippi (Derry Area, Pa.), runner-up at the Super 32 Challenge this fall, by 3-2 decision in the quarterfinals; and it was then a 3-1 win over four-time state placer, and 2013 state champion, Luis Gonzalez (Don Bosco Prep, N.J.) in the semifinal.
This set up a championship bout against No. 1 Luke Pletcher (Greater Latrobe, Pa.), the defending FloNationals champion and winner of the Super 32 Challenge this fall. This bout ended up as a one-sided destruction, one in which Piccininni came through with a 10-2 major decision victory.
Kenneth Brinson (Marist, Ga.)
Though Brinson had very strong productivity -- two straight undefeated state title seasons, NHSCA Freshman and Sophomore Nationals titles -- the junior from Georgia made his debut in the national rankings during the 2014 portion of the scholastic season. He entered the NHSCA Junior Nationals two weekends ago ranked No. 17 nationally at 220 pounds and outside the top 50 overall in the Class of 2015.
In said event, he emerged as champion. Brinson's run started with a pair of first period pins, before a closer than expected 4-3 victory in the quarterfinal round over state champion Patrick Grayson (Colonial Forge, Va.). The semifinal match was a decisive 11-5 victory over New England regional champion and Super 32 Challenge runner-up Ian Butterbrodt (St. John's Prep, Mass.). That was all in prelude to the championship match against Austin Myers (Campbell County, Ky.), who is positioned No. 23 overall in the Class of 2015 and No. 7 in this weight class. It was a bout won 8-6 by Brinson.
Two reasons why Brinson is not as heralded as some of his productivity suggests he should be. First, he is floating in a medium-school Georgia classification. Second, he doesn't really compete during the spring/summer, as he is nationally ranked in his age group for the discus and javelin. Brinson was a high school state champion in the discus as a sophomore.
Dylan Wisman (Millbrook, Va.)
It's been a very productive cycle for Wisman, starting with a double fourth place finish at the Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D. this summer. He won his first state title this season after finishing runner-up as a freshman and sophomore. The last two weekends have been stellar for the nation's No. 45 ranked Class of 2015 prospect, and the No. 15 ranked 182-pound wrestler.
First it was a title at the NHSCA Junior Nationals, including a pin at the 5:00 mark against state champion Jared Langley (Newton, Kan.) in the semifinal, and then a 3-1 decision over fellow three-time state placer and 2014 state champion Cash Wilcke (OA-BCIG, Iowa) in the final. Then, he also won the title at the FloNationals this past weekend. Key victories came by 6-3 decision in the semifinal against three-time state champion Boomer Fleming (Ridgeview, Ore.), and then a 7-3 victory over No. 11 Christian Dietrich (Greene, N.Y.) in the championship final.
Jairod James (Bedford, Ohio)
Never even a finalist in his state tournament, placing only seventh and fourth, James is not a nationally ranked wrestler, nor will he likely end up as one next week. However, the non-committed wrestler had a superlative NHSCA Senior Nationals tournament on the way to finishing as runner-up at 152 pounds.
Leading in the championship bout, James had three very high quality wins. The first was a 9-4 round of 16 win over state placer Dennis Ferro (East Islip, N.Y.), then it was a first period pin in the quarterfinals over three-time state placer -- and this year a state champion -- Travis Willers (Pleasant Valley, Iowa), and capped off by a 7-1 win over three-time state placer Maaziah Bethea (Trenton Central, N.J.) in the semifinal. The championship loss was 4-3 in the tiebreaker against No. 13 Paul Fox (Gilroy, Calif.), despite James scoring the lone takedown in the match.
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