So what is in store for this year? Here are six points to ponder in the coming week prior to the event.
1. Breakout performances
Every year in Fargo it seems there are some freshmen-to-be that make an opening statement to their high school careers with a Cadet National title.
Last year it was a pair of wrestlers that were double Cadet National finalists, as both Joey Dance (Christiansburg, VA) and Ben Whitford (Marmion Academy, IL) were second in the Greco-Roman and first in the freestyle competitions. Additionally, Brad Perkins (Oak Park, MO) won a title in freestyle; while Dylan Akers (Flower Mound, TX), Oliver Pierce (Allen, TX), and Brooks Black (Blair Academy NJ) were Greco-Roman champions. Dance will be moving on to the Junior level, while all others return as Cadets next week.
In 2008, incoming freshmen Nick Roberts (North Star PA), Mark Grey (Blair Academy, NJ), and Taylor Massa (St. John's, MI) earned titles in both the Greco-Roman and freestyle competitions. Roberts and Massa followed that up with double titles in 2009, while Grey was a double finalist -- champion Greco-Roman and runner-up in freestyle. InterMat ranks Massa as the nation's top wrestler in the Class of 2012, Grey is ranked fifth, and Roberts ranked 31st. All three wrestlers will be making their debuts at the Junior National level this coming Fargo.
Going back to 2007, which is when the current seniors were incoming freshmen, Hunter Stieber (Monroeville, OH) and Chris Phillips (Monroeville, OH) earned titles in the Freestyle competition. In addition, Jesse Thielke (Germantown, WI) and Andrew Campolattano (Bound Brook, NJ) earned Greco-Roman titles. Phillips, Campolattano, and Thielke are ranked third through fifth nationally; while Stieber was ranked ninth by InterMat in the Class of 2011 rankings released last month.
In the summer of 2006, when the group of wrestlers about to enter college was incoming freshmen, three wrestlers took home titles in the Cadet National Freestyle tournament; Logan Steiber (Monroeville, OH), Andrew Alton (Central Mountain, PA), and Jamie Clark (St Edward, OH).
Some wrestlers to keep an eye on this summer include:
Chance Marsteller (Kennard-Dale, PA) -- ranked first by InterMat, undefeated at the Cadet National Greco-Roman and freestyle duals
Jered Cortez (Marmion Academy, IL) -- ranked second by InterMat, undefeated at the Cadet National freestyle duals, FILA Cadet freestyle runner-up, and Cadet Nationals freestyle runner-up
Bryce Brill (Marmion Academy, IL) -- ranked fourth by InterMat, undefeated at the Cadet National freestyle duals, and FILA Cadet freestyle All-American
Burke Paddock (Warsaw, NY) -- ranked sixth by InterMat, FILA Cadet "double" All-American
Zeke Moisey (Northampton, PA) -- ranked seventh by InterMat, 18-3 record between Greco-Roman and freestyle at the Cadet National Duals
Joey McKenna (Blair Academy, NJ) -- ranked eleventh by InterMat, FILA Cadet Greco-Roman All-American, undefeated in Greco-Roman at the Cadet National Duals (and 9-1 in freestyle)
2. Making the proverbial "leap"
The Junior National Championships offer a venue for wrestlers to make a couple types of "leaps."
There are the seniors-to-be that are seeking to impress the mass of college coaches that attend these championships. In addition to identifying talent and ability, these championships have a unique way in revealing the true character of a wrestler. How does a wrestler respond to facing truly elite competition? How does the wrestler face the adversity that is associated with tight matches? How does a wrestler battle through multiple elimination matches?
After two years of competing as Cadets, it is time for a number of wrestlers to make that progression to the Junior level. This includes five wrestlers that won double championships (Greco-Roman and Freestyle) last summer at the Cadet Nationals -- Nick Roberts (North Star, PA), Alex Dieringer (Port Washington, WI), Taylor Massa (St. John's, MI), Jake Waste (Apple Valley, MN), and Devin Peterson (Wisconsin Rapids, WI).
Four other wrestlers were finalists in both styles last summer as Cadets but move up to the Junior level this summer. Tyler Fraley (Colts Neck, NJ) and Mark Grey (Blair Academy, NJ) were champions in Greco-Roman but fell short in the freestyle championship final. On the other hand, Joey Dance (Christiansburg, VA) and Justin Koethe (Iowa City West, IA) were Greco-Roman runners-up who moved one step higher on the podium in freestyle.
3. The graduates among us
One of the more intriguing stories over the past few years in Fargo has been a seeming erosion of graduated seniors from the competition pool in the Junior National Championships.
The trend seems to be that more and more of these wrestlers are transitioning to their respective college campuses during the summer term. These wrestlers therefore get an early acclamation of what the collegiate wrestling experience is like, and some even get a head start academically by taking a class or two during the summer term. Already it is pretty much known that the top-ranked graduated senior Logan Stieber (Monroeville OH/Ohio State) will not appear in Fargo.
On the other hand, there are collegiate programs that want their incoming freshmen to partake in the process necessary to compete in Fargo (training, etc.), and then to compete in the championships.
4. Participation trending downward, but Fargo still remains the "place to be" in off-season 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 five years -- which also happens to be the period of time for which data was available through TrackWrestling.
Any number of possible rationale 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 the 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. As to why the significance of Fargo ...
http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/6950
The May 2010 article that examines the number of NCAA All-Americans that also competed (most notably earned All-American honors) at the Cadet and Junior Nationals, as well as the number of Cadet and Junior National placers who then went on to earn All-American status at the NCAA Division I Championships.
6. A vertical pairing reinforcement
One of the circumstances that sometimes happens in the course of Fargo is that a wrestler will be able to advance late into the tournament and "ride the bye" into an All-American position. This is to say that a wrestler already with a loss in the tournament is drawn into a bye with either five or seven wrestlers left in the pool, and after that round, there remain four or less wrestlers in his pool (which clinches All-American status for that wrestler).
In a given round of a vertically paired tournament, should an odd number of wrestlers (greater than or equal to five) remain in the competition - the wrestler currently at the bottom of the chart will be assigned a bye for that round. Keep in mind that for the succeeding round, the wrestler which had the bye is now considered to be at the top position of the pool.
In examining the four competitions of Fargo during 2009 (Greco-Roman and freestyle, Cadet and Junior), here were some of the findings about this circumstance. Of the 128 pools, 36 times (just over 28 percent) did a wrestler with a loss clinch All-American status during a round in which they had a bye. Whether the bracket had an odd or even number of participants did not seem to be a great predictor; 20 of the 36 occurred when the bracket had an odd number of participants. In addition, the distribution of weight brackets in which this occurred did not seem to indicate that a certain participant number made the circumstance more likely to occur.
The most common position in a pool to benefit from this circumstance was those wrestlers 30 to 40 percent up from the bottom of the chart. That is to say in a 35 person pool, wrestlers in positions 21 through 24; 13 of 36 (36.1 percent) occurrences involved wrestlers in this area. On the other hand, wrestlers more than 40 percent up from the bottom of the chart (the first 20 positions in a 35-person pool) only benefitted 8 of 36 (22.2 percent) of the time.
On the other hand, getting the bye late in the competition (having already suffered one loss) can have adverse results -- if All-American status is not sealed during that round. That is because classification points cannot be accrued in the round of a bye. Therefore, should that wrestler then lose in the next round -- (1) four other wrestlers may be alive with zero or one loss (2) three wrestlers remain with multiple wrestlers suffering that second loss. In scenario number two, it is classification points which serve as the tiebreaker -- unless only two wrestlers are involved and they faced each other.
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
Schedule of Events
Please Note: Times reflect Central time zone
Sunday, July 18:
Cadet Greco-Roman commences, two sessions; 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Monday, July 19:
Junior Greco-Roman commences (combined Cadet and Junior session), 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Cadet Greco-Roman finals from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Junior Greco-Roman continues, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Tuesday, July 20:
Junior Greco-Roman continues, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Junior Greco-Roman finals from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 21:
Cadet Freestyle commences, two sessions; 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 22:
Junior Freestyle commences (combined Cadet and Junior session), 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; combined Cadet and Junior session, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday, July 23:
Junior Women's Freestyle commences (combined Junior and Junior Women's session), 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Cadet Freestyle finals from 2 p.m. to 5p.m.; Junior and Junior Women's Freestyle continues, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 24:
Junior Women's Freestyle concludes with two sessions, 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 1p.m.; Junior Freestyle finals from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Fargo Coverage
InterMat will again be providing coverage of the Cadet and Junior Nationals, starting with this preview. InterMat senior writer 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, Track Wrestling (http://www.trackwrestling.com) will be providing updated results throughout the championships.
Video coverage of the events -- in terms of matches and interviews -- will be available through the USA Wrestling Web site (http://www.themat.com) and its youtube channel; as well as through FloWrestling (http://www.flowrestling.com)
Finally, for further coverage throughout the championships, check out http://www.themat.com.
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