Kurt McHenry won a gold medal at the Cadet World Championships last September (Photo/Gerhard Remus)This weekend's UWW Cadet National freestyle tournament is at its core a world team trials event for the Cadet World Championships, which will be held this September in Athens, Greece. Competition will be on Saturday and Sunday on the campus of the University of Akron in Ohio; the Greco-Roman event will be held on Friday.
Last year's Cadet World Team for the United States was superlative, earning medals in seven out of the 10 weight classes contested at the World Championships, including a trio of gold medals. Kurt McHenry (St. Paul's, Md.) and Gable Steveson (Apple Valley, Minn.) are age eligible to defend their titles. However, Steveson has outgrown the tournament's biggest weight class, 100 kilograms, while he is also the favorite to represent the United States at the Junior World Championships in the 120 kilo competition.
McHenry is one of three other team members from last year age eligible to compete in this event again, with bronze medalist Travis Wittlake (Marshfield, Ore.) and Aaron Cashman (Shakopee, Minn.) being the others. McHenry, last year's champion at 42 kilograms, is slated to compete up a weight class at 46 kilograms; Wittlake is expected to compete again at 76 kilograms; while Cashman is also slated to move up one weight class, going from 50 to 54 kilograms.
In addition to serving as the team trials for the Cadet World Championships, it serves as a very rigorous event for 15-to-17 year old wrestlers (this year those with birthdates in 2000 to 2002). Merely placing within the top eight of a weight class in this event is truly an accomplishment, as virtually every weight class is deep with national caliber talent.
Below is an overview of each weight class based on contestants pre-registered for the event on FloArena. It should be noted that there is the opportunity for in-person registration on Friday night during the check-in/weigh-in process.
42 kilograms (92.6 pounds): A pair of wrestlers ranked among the top 15 Junior High wrestlers in the country anchor this weight class, No. 10 Chance Lamer (Oregon) and Cole Skinner (Ohio); Lamer was a Cadet folkstyle champion this spring at 88 pounds, while Skinner placed fourth in Cadet freestyle last summer at 88 pounds. Others to watch include Kase Mauger (Twin Falls, Idaho), runner-up in Cadet folkstyle this spring at 94; and incoming freshman Jett Strickenberger (Colorado), a runner-up at the Tulsa Nationals this winter with a win over Skinner along the way.
46 kilograms (101.4): McHenry is ranked No. 13 overall in the Class of 2019 and was a Cadet world champion down one weight class last year, also out-placing any number of wrestlers in this field at the national tournament last year. Most notable of those would be Cadet National freestyle champions (in Fargo) Cullan Schriever (Mason City, Iowa) and Jeremiah Reno (Liberty, Mo.); Reno is ranked No. 16 overall in the Class of 2020 and was runner-up to McHenry in Akron last year. Joining Reno as returning UWW Cadet freestyle All-Americans are Andrew Chambal (Davison, Mich.) and Dylan Ragusin (Montini Catholic, Ill.)
Other impact contenders include a pair of nationally ranked Junior High wrestlers, No. 2 Richard Figueroa (California) and No. 11 Ryan Crookham (Pennsylvania); another pair of notable incoming freshmen in Cooper Flynn (Tennessee) and Carter Young (Oklahoma); Junior National freestyle All-American Brenden Choawanapibool (Bonney Lake, Wash.); and 2016 state lacer Jacob Moran (Portage, Ind.)
50 kilograms (110.2): Cadet National freestyle champion Julian Tagg (Brecksville, Ohio), ranked No. 9 overall in the Class of 2020, would be the slightest of favorites in this weight class. Among the challengers include a pair of fellow ranked Class of 2020 wrestlers in No. 10 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Blair Academy, N.J.), a Cadet freestyle All-American at 113 pounds last summer, and No. 23 Anthony Clark (Delbarton, N.J.). Another pair of contenders are nationally ranked Junior High wrestlers in No. 9 Isaac Salas (California), a Cadet folkstyle champion this spring, and No. 12 Dean Peterson (New Jersey).
Others to watch include Junior folkstyle champion Jonathan Prata (Downey, Calif.), Cadet folkstyle champion Noah Surtin (Edwardsville, Ill.), Cadet freestyle All-American Matthew Ramos (Lockport, Ill.), Cadet Nationals double finalist Sam Latona (Thompson, Ala.), and returning UWW Cadet freestyle All-American Lucas Byrd (LaSalle, Ohio).
54 kilograms (119): Cashman is ranked No. 46 overall in the Class of 2018, and has the experience of being last year's Cadet World team member down a weight class. The most talented wrestler in this weight class is Brody Teske (Fort Dodge, Iowa); the No. 30 overall Class of 2018 is more of a folkstyle fiend with his career undefeated record in high school, but even so was a Cadet freestyle runner-up in Fargo at 120 last summer. A pair of nationally ranked Class of 2019 wrestlers in No. 15 Chris Cannon (Blair Academy, N.J.) and No. 39 Gabriel Tagg (Brecksville, Ohio) populate this weight class, as do a pair of ranked wrestlers from the Class of 2020 in No. 6 Robert Howard (Bergen Catholic, N.J.) and No. 17 Dominick Serrano (Windsor, Colo.)
Other contenders include returning Cadet freestyle All-Americans in Eric Barnett (Hortonville, Wis.), Joe Heilmann (South Plainfield, N.J.), Ben Kamali (Detroit Catholic Central, Mich.), two-time runner-up Ridge Lovett (Post Falls, Idaho), and Angelo Rini (St. Edward, Ohio). Additional impact wrestlers include high school state champions Kyle Gollhoffer (Woodland, Ga.), Gabe Hixenbaugh (Thompson, Ala.), Alec Viduya (Roncalli, Ind.), and Jakob Camacho (Danbury, Ct.)
58 kilograms (128.85): This is the tournament's highest profile weight class. A pair of grade level number one ranked wrestlers are present, Carson Manville (Minnesota) from the Junior High group and Beau Bartlett (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.) from the Class of 2020; Bartlett was an All-American in this weight class last year in Akron, while Manville has been machine-like through three Cadet regional tournaments this year.
Also here is two-time Cadet National double champion in Fargo, Nick Raimo (Hanover Park, N.J.), who is ranked No. 2 in the Class of 2019; Joshua Saunders (Christian Brothers College, Mo.), ranked No. 4 in the Class of 2020; Jesse Vasquez (St. John Bosco, Calif.), ranked No. 7 in the Class of 2020, an All-American in this event down two weight classes last year; and Andrew Alirez (Greeley Central, Colo.), ranked No. 9 in the Class of 2019, an All-American in this event down a weight class last year and a two-time Cadet freestyle All-American in Fargo.
Others include returning Cadet National freestyle All-Americans in Ryan Moore (Walton Verona, Ky.) and Job Greenwood (Poudre, Colo.); along with state runner-up Noah Villarreal (Aurora Christian, Ill.) and state champion Jevon Parrish (Olathe North, Kansas).
63 kilograms (138.9): Sammy Sasso (Nazareth, Pa.), runner-up last year down a weight class to eventual world silver medalist Vitali Arujau, is the favorite in this weight class. Sasso is ranked No. 7 in the Class of 2018 and has added a Cadet freestyle runner-up finish along with Super 32, Walsh Ironman, state tournament, and Flo Nationals titles since last year's event in Akron.
An additional ranked Class of 2018 wrestler in this weight class is No. 42 Malcolm Robinson (Blair Academy, N.J.); No. 40 Coltan Yapoujian (Pomona, Colo.) and No. 42 Jason Kraisser (Centennial, Md.) are ranked from the Class of 2019; No. 13 Fidel Mayora (Montini Catholic, Ill.) is ranked from the Class of 2020; while No. 5 Padraic Gallagher (Ohio), No. 7 Alex Facundo (Michigan), and No. 8 Victor Voinovich (Ohio) are ranked Junior High wrestlers.
Other contenders include three-time state placer and 2016 Cadet folkstyle runner-up Kasper McIntosh (Portage, Ind.), Cadet National double finalist Mason Phillips (Stanwood, Wash.), Cadet folkstyle third place finisher Luka Wick (California), state runner-up Frankie Talshahar (American Heritage, Fla.), and returning Cadet freestyle All-American Andy Garr (Aurora, Ohio).
69 kilograms (152.1): This is the tournament's deepest weight class with eleven grade-level ranked wrestlers, all of whom competed in high school last season. The tournament's joint favorites would be Connor Brady (Olentangy Liberty) and Will Lewan (Montini Catholic, Ill.). Brady is ranked No. 5 in the Class of 2019 and steamrolled through the Central Junior regional, but does not have much in the way of national level freestyle experience; while Lewan is ranked No. 26 in the Class of 2018 and has twice placed third in Cadet freestyle in Fargo to go with a fifth place finish down a weight class in this tournament last year.
Also ranked in the Class of 2018 is No. 43 Peyton Robb (Owatonna, Minn.), another returning Cadet freestyle All-American from Fargo. Others ranked in the Class of 2019 include No. 19 Michael Weber (Forsyth, Mont.), No. 32 Cater Starocci (Erie Cathedral Prep, Pa.), No. 33 Cameron Amine (Detroit Catholic Central, Mich.), No. 35 Mason Reiniche (Baylor School, Tenn.), and No. 36 Sam Dover (St. Edward, Ohio); Weber was champion in Cadet folkstyle this spring, while Amine and Reiniche were All-Americans in Cadet freestyle last summer. Ranked from the Class of 2020 are No. 18 Greyden Penner (Liberty, Mo.), No. 19 Dustin Plott (Tuttle, Okla.), and No. 21 Nevan Snodgrass (Kettering Fairmont, Ohio); Plott was third in Cadet freestyle last summer.
Other contenders in this weight class include two-time Cadet double All-American Tyler Dow (Stoughton, Wis.), also a double All-American at this event last year; 2016 Cadet freestyle and folkstyle champion Jared Franek (West Fargo, N.D.); Cadet freestyle All-Americans Danny Braunagel (Althoff Catholic, Ill.), Justin McCoy (Chestnut Ridge, Pa.), Rodrick Mosley (Heritage Hall, Okla.), and Baylor Fernandes (Lockport, Ill.); two-time state runner-up Matthew Grippi (Fox Lane, N.Y.); and Junior folkstyle runner-up Harlan Steffensmeier (Fort Madison, Iowa).
76 kilograms (167.5): Wittlake is ranked No. 3 overall in the Class of 2018 and a returning Cadet World bronze medalist in this weight class. He was one absolute shock loss in the quarterfinals of Cadet freestyle back in 2015 away from winning a pair of Cadet Triple crowns. It would be an absolute shock if the Penn State commit did not earn the chance to repeat as a world medalist from this coming weekend's tournament.
Six other grade level ranked wrestlers stand in his way. From the Class of 2018 it is fellow Cadet double champion Aaron Brooks (North Hagerstown, Md.), ranked No. 49 overall; No. 6 Julian Ramirez (Blair Academy, N.J.), No. 22 Chris Foca (Bergen Catholic, N.J.), and No. 45 Devin Winston (Park Hill, Mo.) are among the best of the Class of 2019; while No. 8 Patrick Kennedy (Kasson-Mantorville, Minn.) and No. 11 Gerritt Nijenhuis (Canon-McMillan, Pa.) are ranked from the Class of 2020.
Other contenders include three-time state placer Michael O'Malley (Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.), a two-time Cadet double All-American; state champions Zac Braunagel (Althoff Catholic, Ill.) and Edmond Ruth (Susquehanna Township, Pa.); as well as returning Cadet National double All-Americans Josh Stillings (Pennridge, Pa.) and Jake Hendricks (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.)
85 kilograms (187.4): A pair of top 25 rising seniors anchor this weight class, No. 17 Gavin Hoffman (Montoursville, Pa.) and No. 25 Ryan Karoly (Malvern Prep, Pa.). The Ohio State commit Hoffman is a two-time Cadet freestyle All-American, placing second at 220 last year, while augmenting that on the folkstyle side with a Super 32 runner-up finish sandwiched around two state titles, to go with NHSCA Junior and Flo Nationals titles this spring. The Northwestern commit Karoly is a two-time National Prep champion and a four-time Fargo finalist as a Cadet, winning a pair of Cadet freestyle titles.
Others to watch in this weight class include Cadet freestyle runners-up in Tyler Barnes (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) and Lucas Davison (Chesterton, Ind.), along with returning Cadet freestyle All-Americans in Joel Shapiro (West Des Moines Valley, Iowa) and Austin Cooley (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.); Barnes and Shapiro were state champions in high school this season.
100 kilograms (220.5): The clear favorite in what is the shallowest of the ten contested weight classes for world team trials purposes is Daniel Kerkvliet (Simley, Minn.), who is ranked No. 4 overall in the Class of 2019. The two-time state champion placed third in Cadet freestyle last summer, fourth at the Super 32 in the fall, and was a Cadet folkstyle champion this spring. Others to watch include state champions Luke Luffman (Urbana, Ill.) and Kyle Lightner (Delaware Valley, N.J.), Luffman was also a Cadet freestyle All-American last summer and runner-up to Kerkvliet in folkstyle this spring; along with two-time state placers Kaleb Reeves (Sigourney-Keota, Iowa) and Jace Punke (Washington, Ill.), both Cadet double All-Americans last summer.
120 kilograms (264.5): This weight class is contested at the national tournament, but is not contested at the world championships. The two most notable in the field at present are Eli Pokorney (Chesterton, Ind.) and Jordan Earnest (Wadsworth, Ohio), each of whom took fourth at their state tournament this high school season; Pokorney was a Cadet freestyle All-American last summer.
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