Now with seven different competitions (Cadet and Junior Women, Junior Women 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 preeminent 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. Tomasello seeks three-peat in Junior freestyle, possibly ten others to defend their titles
Nathan Tomasello (Photo/Rob Preston)Tomasello, who ended high school ranked No. 15 overall in the Class of 2013, is expected to compete for the title at 120 pounds this year after winning previous titles at 112 and 120 pounds. One has to view Tomasello as the favorite in this weight class, though it is not for the lack of quality challengers. Among that challenge pack will likely be fellow defending Junior freestyle champion Tommy Thorn (Minnesota); ranked No. 18 in the Class of 2014, he won the 113-pound weight competition last summer. Also likely to be in this weight class is FILA Cadet freestyle champion Stevan Micic (Indiana), who was a Cadet National freestyle champion in 2011, and is ranked No. 20 in the Class of 2014.
Six of the other defending champions join Tomasello in heading off to college next month, with five of them among the top 20 prospects in the graduated Class of 2013: No. 2 Adam Coon (Michigan), likely at 285 pounds; No. 3 Zain Retherford (Pennsylvania), possibly at 138 or 145; No. 5 Isaiah Martinez (California), possibly at 160 or 170; No. 6 J'den Cox (Missouri), likely at 220 or 285; and No. 20 Anthony Collica (Ohio), likely at 152. Rounding out the list of defending Junior National freestyle champions are Tanner Rohweder (Iowa), possibly at 113; Paul Mascarenas (New Mexico), possibly at 113 or 120; Bryce Brill (Illinois), likely at 145; and Josh Llopez (Maryland), possibly at 160.
2. Breakout performances
Last summer, eight wrestlers entering their ninth grade year won Cadet National titles in Fargo, including a trio of wrestlers who swept Greco-Roman and freestyle: Devin Schnupp (Pennsylvania) at 88 pounds, Hunter Marko (Wisconsin) at 94, and Aaron Pico (California) at 132. This was a second consecutive Cadet National double title for Pico, who is the top-ranked wrestler in the Class of 2016, and has a case for being the best overall high school aged wrestler in the country.
Five other wrestlers won a Fargo stop sign last summer before entering ninth grade: Mitch McKee (Minnesota) at 100 pounds, Kyle Norstrem (Florida) at 106, Mason Manville (Blair Academy, N.J.) at 145, and Samuel Colbray (Oregon) at 182 earned their titles in Greco-Roman; while Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) won a Cadet freestyle title at 152 pounds. Among these five wrestlers, all but McKee are ranked inside the top 16 for the Class of 2016.
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. During this coming week, three names in particular merit watching, each was already a finalist at the FILA Cadet Nationals in late May.
Spencer Lee (Photo/Rob Preston)Ranked third among incoming ninth-graders, Nick Lee (Indiana) was a runner-up at 58 kilos (127.75 pounds) at the FILA Cadet Nationals in freestyle, with five out of seven victories on his path to the final coming via technical fall. Competing at 126 pounds in the Cadet Duals last month, Nick went 6-1 in Greco-Roman and an undefeated 7-0 in freestyle. He also brings success against high school aged competition in folkstyle to the table, placing seventh at 106 pounds in the 2012 FloNationals, and going 3-2 each of the last two years in the high school Super 32 Challenge.
Third in this group is Daton Fix (Oklahoma), who was runner-up to Spencer Lee at 110 pounds in the FILA Cadet Nationals. He also went 7-0 at 106 pounds in freestyle at last month's Cadet Duals, and is in the hunt for a Cadet National Triple Crown, as he won the Cadet folkstyle national title at 106 pounds in early April.
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.
3. 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. Close to twenty wrestlers that won Greco-Roman and/or freestyle titles at the Cadet level last summer make the jump to Juniors, presuming that they are making the trip to 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 the true stars of scholastic-aged wrestling.
Bo Nickal (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Other Class of 2014 wrestlers, who also won a Cadet title in at least one style, potentially making their Junior level debut this coming week include Top 100 recruits No. 13 Chandler Rogers (Washington), No. 37 Cole Weaver (Michigan), No. 38 Michael Pixley (Missouri), No. 41 Ryan Christensen (Washington), No. 55 Seth Gross (Minnesota), No. 63 Coy Ozias (Virginia), No. 68 Kimball Bastian (Utah), and No. 96 Scott Parker (Pennsylvania). Note that No. 8 Nickal and No. 79 Nash are also top 100 rated rising seniors.
4. Rule changes in international wrestling have been a big topic in 2013, what rules will be used this coming week in Fargo?
The decision by the IOC to recommend eliminating wrestling from the 2020 Olympic Games in February has been a big discussion topic since then by all in the wrestling community. One of the many reactions made by FILA was significant rules changes. As a result of the "original" interpretation of those rule changes in May, USA Wrestling implemented rules for the Beat the Streets event in Los Angeles, which was adopted by the Junior Games committee. These procedures have been used for events since mid-May at the Junior, Cadet, and below levels.
Instead of the best-of-three period "tennis set" match, it is now two three-minute periods of cumulative scoring in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. Those matches ending in ties at the end of six minutes are decided on criteria (highest value score, last score, etc.). The most recent match-ending adaptation with two three-point moves or a five-point move hit with having the lead are not in effect. The two-point takedown and all exposures being worth two points are in effect. Technical falls in freestyle come at a ten-point advantage, while in Greco-Roman the technical fall comes at a seven-point advantage.
5. Participation dropped recently, has plateaued, but Fargo still remains the "place to be" in offseason wrestling
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 eight years -- which also happens to be the period of time for which data was available through TrackWrestling.com. The data shows that there is a decrease from the mid-2000s level of participation, but things have leveled at a "new plateau" in the 2010s.
Several theories have been proposed. One of the theories is that the rule changes within freestyle and Greco-Roman have made the sports less popular, less translatable to scholastic wrestling, and therefore less promoted to high school-aged wrestlers. Another theory is that the proliferation of opportunities for scholastic-style competition during the spring and summer months has made it possible for wrestlers to get a high level quantity and quality of competition without competing in the Olympic styles.
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 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.
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
All times Central
Day 1: Saturday, July 13:
Day 2: Sunday, July 14:
Day 3: Monday, July 15:
Day 4: Tuesday, July 16:
Day 5: Wednesday, July 17:
Day 6: Thursday, July 18:
Day 7: Friday, July 19:
Day 8: Saturday, July 20:
Fargo Coverage
InterMat will again be providing coverage of the Cadet and Junior National Championships, starting with this preview. Follow the action throughout the week.
TrackWrestling.com will be providing updated results throughout the event.
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