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  • Photo: Photo/John Sachs

    Photo: Photo/John Sachs

    Lowe: What to watch in Fargo

    Fargo. One word that means so much within the scholastic-age wrestling community. The ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet Nationals return yet again to Fargo, N.D., starting this coming weekend. Competing in Greco-Roman and freestyle will be the nation's top high school aged wrestlers, both boys and girls.

    The event starts on Saturday with the Cadet Women's freestyle tournament. The first session will commence at 2 p.m. CT, while the medal matches are slated for a second session starting at 7 p.m.

    Male wrestlers make their debut in the FARGODOME on Sunday with the Cadet Greco-Roman tournament. Two sessions of wrestling will take place, one at 9 a.m. and the other at 3 p.m. By then, there will be semifinal matches set up on the front side of the bracket, which will take place in a Monday morning session starting at 9 a.m. The Cadet Greco-Roman medal matches are slated for 2 p.m. Cadet level wrestlers have birth dates in either 1999 or 2000.

    Also competing on Monday will be Junior level wrestlers. Males will be competing in the opening day of Greco-Roman, with two sessions, one at 9 a.m. and the other at 6 p.m. Female wrestlers will compete in freestyle, their opening session at 6 p.m. Junior level wrestlers were in 9th through 12th grade during the 2014-15 school year. Quarterfinal and semifinal matches, along with consolation matches to determine All-American honors will take place on Tuesday starting at 9 a.m. with medal matches in Greco-Roman at 2:15 p.m., and the Women's freestyle at 5:45 p.m.

    One week from today starts the rather high profile Cadet (male) freestyle event, along with the complete contesting of the Junior Women's Duals. Both events will have two sessions on July 22 starting at 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. CT. Cadet freestyle will continue with rounds including the quarterfinals starting at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 23.

    It is at that time, one week from Thursday morning when the Junior freestyle event commences. This three-day event is as important a trio of days as any on the scholastic wrestling calendar. The assemblage of talent that is present in this field is impressive, as are the matchups of high-end talent that happen throughout the tournament. Day one in Junior freestyle sets up the round of 16 on the front side of the draw, with wrestling on Thursday taking place in sessions at 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

    As previously mentioned, the quarterfinals in Cadet freestyle take place on Thursday morning. The semifinals and consolation up to the medal matches take place in the 3:30 p.m. session on July 23. Medal matches will take place on week from Friday starting at 2 p.m.

    With the Cadet medal matches in the afternoon, and the cores round of the Junior freestyle event sandwiching it, Fargo Friday is arguably the biggest single day on the scholastic wrestling calendar in a given year. Junior freestyle sessions on Friday start at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Round of sixteen and quarterfinals take place in the morning, while semifinals take place in the evening. The final session of the Fargo extravaganza is one week from Saturday, July 25, starting at 10 a.m. CT.

    Now that we all know the chronology of the upcoming competition, let's take a look at what will actually happen during the course of the events.

    Line bracketing

    For the second straight year, traditional double-elimination brackets will be used in Fargo, after many years of vertical pairing. Last year's analysis of the match progression between the two formats still remains in tact.

    UWW Cadet and Junior World Championships

    Last year's Cadet World Championships were held the week before Fargo, while this year the Cadet World event is going to be held in the end of August. The Junior World event remains in a middle of August date.

    There are many Fargo eligible wrestlers slated to participate on those teams. By virtue of the calendar, it is reasonable and plausible to see those wrestlers participate next week in Fargo. However, those decisions will have to be made in context of considering the upcoming World Championships -- relative training cycles, etc.

    The following UWW Cadet World Championships participants are Cadet eligible for Fargo:

    Malik Heinselman (Colorado) -- freestyle at 42 kilos
    Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) -- Greco-Roman at 42 kilos
    Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio) -- freestyle at 46 kilos
    Jake Allar (Minnesota) -- Greco-Roman at 69 kilos
    Gable Steveson (Minnesota) -- freestyle at 100 kilos

    The following UWW Cadet World Championships participants are Junior eligible for Fargo:

    Brady Koontz (Wisconsin) -- Greco-Roman at 46 kilos
    Gavin Teasdale (Pennsylvania) -- freestyle at 50 kilos
    Dack Punke (Illinois) -- Greco-Roman at 50 kilos
    Daton Fix (Oklahoma) -- freestyle at 54 kilos
    Paul Bianchi (Wisconsin) -- Greco-Roman at 54 kilos
    Taylor LaMont (Utah) -- Greco-Roman at 58 kilos
    Jared Verkleeren (Pennsylvania) -- freestyle at 63 kilos
    Dominick Demas (Ohio) -- Greco-Roman at 63 kilos
    Brady Berge (Minnesota) -- freestyle at 69 kilos
    Joe Grello (New Jersey) -- freestyle at 76 kilos
    Logan Gruszka (Illinois) -- Greco-Roman at 76 kilos
    Owen Webster (Minnesota) -- freestyle at 85 kilos
    Wyatt Koelling (Utah) -- Greco-Roman at 85 kilos
    Jordan Wood (Pennsylvania) -- Greco-Roman at 100 kilos

    **Yianni Diakomihalis (New York) -- freestyle at 58 kilos

    The following UWW Junior World Championships participants are Junior eligible for Fargo:

    Spencer Lee (Pennsylvania) -- freestyle at 50 kilos
    Mark Hall (Minnesota) -- freestyle at 74 kilos
    Zahid Valencia (California) -- freestyle at 84 kilos
    G'Angelo Hancock (Colorado) -- Greco-Roman at 96 kilos
    Tate Orndorff (Washington) -- Greco-Roman at 120 kilos

    Returning Fargo champions

    Many wrestlers that won weight class titles in last year's Junior and Cadet Nationals can return for this year's event, though the vast majority of the Cadet champions will be moving up to the Junior level in next week's competitions. As a result, the Cadet National tournaments become a breeding ground for emerging stars and names to watch for in the upcoming seasons of scholastic wrestling.

    Cadet champions who can repeat at the Cadet level this coming year (listed by weight class in which they won their title last year):

    Malik Heinselman (Colorado) -- freestyle 88 pounds
    Nicolas Aguilar (California) -- double (freestyle and Greco-Roman) 94 pounds
    Roman Bravo-Young (Arizona) -- double 100 pounds
    Jake Allar (Minnesota) -- Greco-Roman 132 pounds

    Cadet champions that move up to the Junior level:

    Trey Keeley (Illinois) -- Greco-Roman 88 pounds
    Paul Konrath (Indiana) -- freestyle 106 pounds
    Ian Timmins (Nevada) -- Greco-Roman 106 pounds
    Austin Gomez (Illinois) -- double 113 pounds
    Dylan Duncan (Illinois) -- freestyle 120 pounds
    Coltan Williams (Texas) -- Greco-Roman 120 pounds
    Chad Red (Indiana) -- freestyle 126 pounds
    Jaden Enriquez (California) -- Greco-Roman 126 pounds
    Nick Lee (Indiana) -- freestyle 132 pounds
    Ethan Karsten (Missouri) -- double 138 pounds
    Jared Verkleeren (Pennsylvania) -- freestyle 145 pounds
    Matthew Park (Idaho) -- Greco-Roman 145 pounds
    Trey Meyer (Washington) -- freestyle 152 pounds
    Riley Jaramillo (Oregon) -- Greco-Roman 152 pounds
    Brandon Dallavia (New Jersey) -- freestyle 160 pounds
    Owen Webster (Minnesota) -- Greco-Roman 160 pounds
    Beau Breske (Wisconsin) -- double 170 pounds
    Keegan Moore (Minnesota) -- double 182 pounds
    Matt Stencel (Ohio) -- double 195 pounds
    Gannon Gremmel (Iowa) -- freestyle 220 pounds
    Brandon Metz (North Dakota) -- Greco-Roman 220 pounds
    Osawaru Odighizuwa (Oregon) -- freestyle 285 pounds
    Kevin Vough (Ohio) -- Greco-Roman 285 pounds

    Junior champions eligible to compete again:

    Randon Miranda (California) -- double 100 pounds
    Danny Vega (Arizona) -- double 106 pounds
    Jack Mueller (Texas) -- freestyle 113 pounds
    Dorian Sapien (Idaho) -- Greco-Roman 113 pounds
    Austin Assad (Ohio) -- freestyle 120 pounds
    Mitch McKee (Minnesota) -- freestyle 126 pounds
    Taylor LaMont (Utah) -- Greco-Roman 126 pounds
    Isaiah White (Illinois) -- freestyle 145 pounds
    Mason Manville (Virginia) -- freestyle 152 pounds
    Myles Martin (New Jersey) -- freestyle 182 pounds
    Justan Rivera (Georgia) -- Greco-Roman 195 pounds
    Bobby Steveson (Minnesota) -- freestyle 195 pounds
    Samuel Colbray (Oregon) -- Greco-Roman 195 pounds

    Rising freshmen to watch in Cadet Nationals

    As mentioned earlier in this article, the Cadet Nationals serve as proving ground for many an emerging star. Yes, that does include incoming ninth graders. Last summer, three wrestlers combined to win five "stop signs" at the Cadet Nationals before stepping on the high school mats.

    Among the top Class of 2019 wrestlers, some of the more likely to capture a stop sign include:

    No. 2 Cohlton Schultz (Colorado) -- will be right in the hunt at 220 pounds; though if Gable Steveson (Minnesota), who is ranked No. 1 in the Class of 2018 does not wrestle up to the Junior level, title aspirations become unrealistic.

    No. 3 Nick Raimo (New Jersey) -- already made a name for himself by advancing deep into the bracket at the UWW Cadet freestyle nationals, and by doing well as an eighth grader in the high school level of the Super 32 Challenge and FloNationals. He'll compete at most likely 120 or 126 in Fargo. While those are tough weights for a first-year Cadet, Raimo has the talent to contend.

    No. 5 Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio) -- finished runner-up last year at 94 pounds in Cadet freestyle last summer, and was the UWW Cadet freestyle champion at 46 kilograms in late May. If he competes in Fargo, he has to be a favorite at 106 pounds, where he went undefeated at the Cadet Duals.

    Keep in mind that the nation's top incoming freshman is Josh McKenzie (New Jersey), whose focus right now is on his initial high school football season at Bergen Catholic. He is also a star athlete in that sport.

    Fargo coverage

    Keep your eye glued onto InterMat for Fargo coverage throughout the coming week including some event-specific previews and recaps, as well as a broad recap of the whole group of tournaments after the festivities are complete.

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