FARGODOME (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)For a 17th consecutive year, the ASICS/Vaughan Junior & Cadet National Championships return to the FARGODOME in Fargo, N.D. This year's events will commence on July 14 with the start of Cadet women's freestyle competition, and the Junior National freestyle finals marking their conclusion on July 21. However, of greater import, the primary four events of the week start on Sunday with the Cadet National Greco-Roman competition.
Now with seven different competitions (Cadet and Junior women's freestyle, Junior women's freestyle duals, Cadet and Junior Greco-Roman, and Cadet and Junior freestyle) held over eight days, the week in Fargo remains the largest single wrestling tournament in the world. It is also -- bar none -- the pre-eminent compilation of elite scholastic wrestlers in the United States. Over the years, many NCAA finalists and United States Olympians have competed in these tournaments.
Given its perch on top of the scholastic wrestling calendar, what stories should one eye during the week of Fargo?
1. Breakout performances
The fact that only Cody Jackson (Scappoose, Ore.) in the 84-pound Greco-Roman competition won a Cadet National title among incoming ninth graders last summer could have been viewed as an early indicator that the Class of 2015 appears to be somewhat weak in comparison to recent grades. In virtually every year, it seems that there are freshmen-to-be that make an opening statement to their high school careers with a Cadet National title.
Three wrestlers in particular stand out as candidates, even though each has already shown their mettle against high school level competition on the major stage. Ranked second in the Class of 2016, Aaron Pico (California) swept Cadet National titles in Fargo last summer at the 119-pound weight class, and already snatched the 132 pound folkstyle title this April in attempting to win a Cadet Triple Crown. The top-ranked wrestler in this grade, Mark Hall, already has two Minnesota big-school state titles to his credit and was a FILA Cadet freestyle All-American last month at 152 pounds. Finally, Mason Manville (Minnesota) -- ranked third in this grade -- was third in the 152-pound weight class at the state tournament, placed seventh in the 138 pound class at the FloNationals, and took fourth place in both styles at last month's FILA Cadet Nationals in the 138 pound class.
For the recent historical context, go back to the summer of 2010 when six different incoming freshmen-to-be picked up Cadet titles in Fargo -- Joey McKenna (New Jersey), Hayden Tuma (Idaho), and Patrick Coover (Pennsylvania/Blair Academy) in Greco-Roman, along with Brent Fleetwood (Delaware), Jered Cortez (Illinois), and Chance Marsteller (Pennsylvania) in freestyle. Similarly six wrestlers did the deed in 2009 -- Dylan Akers (Texas), Oliver Pierce (Texas), and Brooks Black (Pennsyvania/Blair Academy) in Greco-Roman, along with Brad Perkins (Missouri), Joey Dance (Virginia), and Ben Whitford (Michigan). Going back to the summer of 2008, three wrestlers earned the big stop sign before entering high school, as did four in the summer of 2007.
The three young men listed below are among others seeking to make a strong statement on the high school landscape before their scholastic careers begin:
Luke Pletcher (Pennsylvania): Ranked No. 4. FILA Cadet freestyle fifth place at 110 pounds.
Luke Karam (Pennsylvania): Ranked No. 9. Combined 11-2 across styles in the Cadet Duals last month at 94 pounds (6-0 freestyle, 5-2 Greco-Roman), and finished as runner-up in Cadet freestyle last summer at 84 pounds.
Nick Reenan (Texas): Ranked No. 14. Cadet folkstyle champion at 138 pounds, and is in contention for the Cadet Triple Crown.
2. Cadet to Junior transition
For many of the stars of Fargo week last year, there will be a significant transition this coming year, and some new challenges for them to face. Over 20 wrestlers that won Greco-Roman and/or freestyle Cadet National titles last summer make the jump to the Junior level, though some may not be competing in Fargo this summer. While many of these young men are expected to do very well in the upcoming tournaments, there will be more challengers for their thrones -- both in quantity and quality.
One of the most interesting things to follow year-in and year-out is how the new group of Junior-level competitors is able to transition. In many cases, they thrive -- and that is what helps identify whom the true stars of scholastic-aged wrestling are.
There are four wrestlers that doubled as Cadets last summer that would be on pace to make their debuts at the Junior level this time around: Gannon Volk (Minnesota), Chance Marsteller (Pennsylvania), Mitch Sliga (Indiana), and Sam Stoll (Minnesota). Six additional wrestlers that were double Cadet finalists last summer make a debut at the Junior level: Ronnie Bresser (Oregon) and J'den Cox (Missouri) as Greco-Roman champions and freestyle runners-up; while Jabari Moody (Illinois), Hayden Tuma (Idaho), Ricky Robertson (Illinois), and Kyle Snyder (Maryland) were second in Greco-Roman and champions in freestyle.
3. Cadet World Team members in Fargo?
As mentioned in his one-on-one interview with InterMat last week, Chance Marsteller is choosing to pass up on Fargo next week to focus on the FILA Cadet World Championships in late August. What about the other members of the FILA Cadet World Team?
This is one of the unknowns about the upcoming Fargo week, and merits watching as the registration/entry lists are posted. Absence (or inclusion) of these wrestlers certainly influences the title races in their (would-be) weight classes.
The following wrestlers were FILA Cadet Greco-Roman champions: Dalton Roberts (Michigan), Danny Boychuck (New Jersey/Wyoming Seminary), Kyle Norstrem (Florida), James Flint (Florida), Dylan Lucas (Florida), Hayden Tuma (Idaho), Grant LaMont (Utah), Chandler Rogers (Washington), Ray O'Donnell (Pennsylvania), and Garrett Ryan (Arizona). Only Roberts, Boychuck, and Norstrem are Cadet Nationals eligible, all others would compete at the Junior level.
These wrestlers won freestyle titles at the FILA Cadet Nationals: Andrew Nieman (Oklahoma), Jordan Kutler (New Jersey), Tommy Thorn (Minnesota), Joey McKenna (New Jersey), Seth Gross (Minnesota), Zain Retherford (Pennsylvania), Jack Bass (Texas), Chance Marsteller (Pennsylvania), Mitch Sliga (Indiana), and Garrett Ryan (Arizona). Only Nieman, Kutler, and Gross are Cadet Nationals eligible, all others would compete at the junior level.
Note that the 275-pound weight class won by Nathan Butler (Kansas) in freestyle and Michael Johnson, Jr. (Pennsylvania) in Greco-Roman is not contested at the World Championships.
From the FILA Junior World Team rosters, only Geordan Speiller (Florida) in Greco-Roman, along with Adrian Cordova (Colorado) and Joey Dance (Virginia) would be eligible to compete in the Junior Nationals.
There is an additional international competition this coming weekend, the FILA Cadet Pan-American Games in Venezuela, in which other Fargo-eligible wrestlers will be appearing. These young men placed at the FILA Cadet Nationals, but did not win. They will most likely not be competing in Fargo, or if they do, it will be part of a very long week for them between competition and travel.
4. Participation trending downward, Fargo still "place to be"
One of the discussions topics posed within the wrestling community is if participation within the Olympic styles is down at the high school level. A very legitimate way to examine this is to look at participation trends at the Cadet and Junior Nationals over the previous six years -- which also happens to be the period of time for which data was available through TrackWrestling.
Despite those two theories and the many more that are out there, the Cadet and Junior National Championships remain a primary destination for high school aged wrestlers during the off-season, especially for those seeking to make a name for themselves among the prominent wrestlers in the country. College coaches from across the country travel to Fargo, ND for the competition. The major national wrestling publications will make their presence known during the course of the competition as well. The competitions remain a critical measuring stick in determining the elite high school aged wrestlers in America.
5. A weighty discussion
As was discussed significantly during the last off-season and the course of the past high school season, the NFHS implemented new weight classes for the 2011-12 season. Following suit, USA Wrestling chose to realign the Cadet and Junior competitions to match up with the high school weight classes. At the Cadet level, the opening weight is 88 pounds, continuing with 94 and 100, before going through the high school progression. The junior level opens with 100 pounds, and then goes through the high school progression.
The key implication is there exists one less middle-weight (five weights from 125-145 become four weights from 126-145) and one extra upper-weight (four weights from 170-220 instead of three weights from 171-215). The implication at the Cadet level is very obvious, where the upper-weights were already extremely thin, and will just get thinner in terms of quantity. For the junior level, the old 130-145 weight classes represented the two most populous weight classes and two others among the next five. The likely outcome is going to be increased quantity in the 126-145 range, increasing the pairing asymmetry that is present in this tournament.
This is an aspect certainly meriting examination in the post-tournament wrap. Look for a comparison line graph between the number (and/or percentage) of total participants in each weight class position from last year to this year in the wrap-up article.
6. Key vertical pairing reminders
The Cadet and Junior Nationals are conducted using a bracketing concept known as vertical pairing, which essentially is a hybrid of double elimination and round-robin competition. At the start of the tournament, the wrestlers in each weight class are placed into two pools. The first match of the tournament for each wrestler will be against the one right next to them on the chart. If it was an eight-person chart: 1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6, and 7 vs. 8. If it was a nine-person chart, those four matchups would hold with the wrestler 9 getting a bye.
From that point of the tournament onward, wrestlers are eliminated when they lose for a second time. The assignment of matches for a given round will start at the "top of the list" with each wrestler assigned a match against the "first available" opponent; a wrestler with a bye in the previous round becomes the "top of the list". In the eight person example, the second round matches would place 1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 4, 5 vs. 7, and 6 vs. 8. In the nine person example, second round matches would place 9 vs. 1, 2 vs. 3, 4 vs. 5, and 6 vs. 7, with 8 getting the bye.
At the point that four wrestlers remain alive in a pool, they earn All-American honors, as they will finish in the eight placing positions. Should it go from five or six wrestlers remaining to three remaining, the fourth position is determined by a tiebreaking procedure. If possible, head-to-head is utilized. However, if it is not possible to use head-to-head, total classification points are used to determine the All-American finisher (if a tie exists there, then an extra match will be staged to determine the All-American finisher).
As a refresher, and for those unfamiliar with classification points, they are awarded as follows:
5 points -- win by pin, disqualification, forfeit, etc.
4 points -- win by technical fall
3 points -- win by decision
1 point -- scoring a point in a loss when the opponent does not score 5 classification points
0 points -- failing to score within a match, or during a loss in which the opponent scores 5 points
If the pool has three wrestlers remaining with less than two losses, the "round-robin" will ensue. Prior matches involving those wrestlers "carry forward", along with the classification points earned in those matches. After the round-robin is complete, the wrestler with the most classification points will win the pool (and advance to the first place match); head-to-head is the first tiebreaker in the case of a tie, then it goes to total points earned in pool competition.
If a pool goes from four remaining to two remaining, the two wrestlers with less than two losses will either (1) wrestle if they haven't met already in pool competition (2) if a match involving them has occurred in pool competition, that match's winner is the pool champion. The third and fourth place finisher will be determined by tiebreaking procedure: head-to-head, total points, and match if necessary.
The most obvious part of the vertical pairing/pool competition format is that wrestlers finishing first in the two pools meet for the championship, those finishing second meet for third, those finishing third meet for fifth, and those in fourth place meet for seventh overall.
Schedule of Events
Saturday, July 14:
Cadet women's freestyle prelims 2-6 p.m.
Cadet women's freestyle medals 7-9 p.m.
Sunday, July 15:
Cadet Greco-Roman (9 a.m.-1 p.m., 3-7 p.m.)
Monday, July 16:
Cadet/Junior Greco-Roman 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Cadet Greco-Roman medals 2-5 p.m.
Junior Greco-Roman 6-9 p.m.
Tuesday, July 17:
Junior Women and Greco-Roman 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Junior Greco-Roman medals 2:15-5:15 p.m.
Junior Women 3-4 p.m., medals 5:45-8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 18:
Junior Women Duals 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (prelim)
medals 3:30-7:30 p.m.
Cadet freestyle 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., 3:30-7:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 19:
Junior freestyle 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Cadet/Junior freestyle 3:30-7:30 p.m.
Friday, July 20:
Cadet/Junior freestyle 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Cadet freestyle medals 2-5 p.m., Junior freestyle 6-8 p.m.
Saturday, July 21:
Junior freestyle medals 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Fargo Coverage
InterMat will again be providing coverage of the Junior & Cadet National Championships, starting with this feature. InterMat senior editor Andrew Hipps will be providing recaps of all the championship sessions, while InterMat high school analyst Josh Lowe will be offering perspective on various aspects of the event.
For yet another year, TrackWrestling.com will be providing updated results throughout the event. In addition, USA Wrestling through its online portal (themat.tv) will be providing live web-streams of a number of mats during the competition.
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