Given such a significant change, it will be interesting to see what -- if any -- impact it has on the overall number of participants across the tournaments. Below is a chart showing the number of competitors in each of the four major events during the Fargo week over the five previous years.
Tournament Schedule
The following is the schedule of events for all the tournaments during the Fargo week (all times Eastern):
Cadet freestyle
Saturday 7/15 -- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday 7/16 -- second weigh-in, (quarterfinal round) 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., (semifinal round) 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Monday 7/17 -- (medal matches) 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Junior freestyle
Sunday 7/16 -- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Monday 7/17 -- second weigh-in, (quarterfinal round) 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., (semifinal round) 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Tuesday 7/18 -- (medal matches) 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Cadet women
Monday 7/17 -- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., (quarterfinal round) 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Tuesday 7/18 -- (semifinal round) 10 a.m. to Noon, (medal matches) 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Cadet Greco-Roman
Wednesday 7/19 -- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., (round of 16) 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Thursday 7/20 -- second weigh-in, (quarterfinal round) 4 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
Friday 7/21 -- (semifinal round) 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., (medal matches) 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Junior women
Wednesday 7/19 -- 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Thursday 7/20 -- second weigh-in, (round of 16) 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., (quarterfinal round) 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday 7/21 -- (semifinal round) 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., (medal matches) 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Junior Greco-Roman
Thursday 7/20 -- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday 7/21 -- second weigh-in, (round of 16) 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., (quarterfinals) 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday 7/22 -- (semifinals) 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., (medal matches) 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Junior women's duals
Friday 7/21 -- 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Saturday 7/22 -- 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Cadet and Junior World Championships participants
Moving on to the potential participants, a chunk of Fargo-eligible wrestlers will be on the United States' Cadet and Junior world teams in freestyle and Greco-Roman toward the end of the summer. The Junior-level events will be held in Finland at the beginning of August, while the Cadet-level events are slated for Athens, Greece in the beginning of September.
More often than not, these athletes have not competed in Fargo in recent years, and it would not surprise me if that pattern continued this year. Below is a list of those that qualified for the World Championships later this summer.
Kase Mauger (Idaho) -- Cadet Greco-Roman, 92 pounds
Cole Skinner (Ohio) -- Cadet freestyle, 92 pounds
Dylan Ragusin (Illinois) -- Cadet Greco-Roman, 101 pounds
Kurt McHenry (Virginia) -- Cadet freestyle, 101 pounds
Lucas Byrd (Ohio) -- Cadet Greco-Roman, 110 pounds
Julian Tagg (Ohio) -- Cadet freestyle, 110 pounds
Cevion Severado (Missouri) -- Junior Greco-Roman, 110 pounds
Malik Heinselman (Colorado) -- Junior freestyle, 110 pounds
Ridge Lovett (Idaho) -- Cadet Greco-Roman, 119 pounds
Robert Howard (New Jersey) -- Cadet freestyle, 119 pounds
Daton Fix (Oklahoma) -- Junior freestyle, 121 pounds
Malik Johnson (Missouri) -- Cadet Greco-Roman, 127 pounds
Jordan Decatur (Ohio) -- Cadet freestyle, 127 pounds
Dalton Young (Washington) -- Junior Greco-Roman, 132 pounds
Mason Phillips (Washington) -- Cadet Greco-Roman, 138 pounds
Jacori Teemer (New York) -- Cadet freestyle, 138 pounds
Dominick Demas (Ohio) -- Junior Greco-Roman, 145 pounds
Will Lewan (Illinois) -- Cadet Greco-Roman and freestyle, 152 pounds; it is unknown if he will compete in one or both styles at worlds, and which style that is; Mason Reiniche (Tennessee) was runner-up in Greco-Roman
Jake Hendricks (Pennsylvania) -- Cadet Greco-Roman, 167 pounds
Travis Wittlake (Oregon) -- Cadet freestyle, 167 pounds
Ashton Sharp (Missouri) -- Cadet Greco-Roman, 187 pounds
Gavin Hoffman (Pennsylvania) -- Cadet freestyle, 187 pounds
Cohlton Schultz (Colorado) -- Cadet Greco-Roman, 220 pounds; Junior Greco-Roman, 264 pounds
Daniel Kerkvliet (Minnesota) -- Cadet freestyle, 220 pounds
Gable Steveson (Minnesota) -- Junior freestyle, 264 pounds
Returning 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):
Cullan Schriever (Iowa) -- 88 pounds, freestyle
Jeremiah Reno (Missouri) -- 94 pounds, freestyle
Dylan Ragusin (Illinois) -- 94 pounds, Greco-Roman
Julian Tagg (Ohio) -- 100 pounds, freestyle
Jordan Hamdan (Michigan) -- 113 pound, Greco-Roman
Braxton Amos (West Virginia) -- 195 pounds, freestyle and Greco-Roman
Cadet champions that move up to the Junior level:
Sam Latona (Alabama) -- 88 pounds, Greco-Roman
Ridge Lovett (Idaho) -- 100 pounds, Greco-Roman
Corey Gamet (Michigan) -- 106 pounds, freestyle
Jace Koelzer (Kansas) -- 106 pounds, Greco-Roman
Colton Yapoujian (Colorado) -- 113 pounds, freestyle
Jordan Decatur (Ohio) -- 120 pounds, freestyle
Theorius Robison (Colorado) -- 120 pounds, Greco-Roman
Nick Raimo (New Jersey) -- 126 pounds, freestyle and Greco-Roman
Jacori Teemer (New York) -- 132 pounds, freestyle
Mason Phillips (Washington) -- 132 pounds, Greco-Roman
Brock Hardy (Utah) -- 138 pounds, freestyle
Will Lewan (Illinois) -- 138 pounds, Greco-Roman
Jared Franek (North Dakota) -- 145 pounds, freestyle
Dawon Andrews (Arizona) -- 145 pounds, Greco-Roman
Frankie Gissendanner (New York) -- 152 pounds, freestyle
James Rogers (Washington) -- 152 pounds, Greco-Roman
Aaron Brooks (Maryland) -- 160 pounds, freestyle and Greco-Roman
Travis Wittlake (Oregon) -- 170 pounds, freestyle and Greco-Roman
Ryan Karoly (New Jersey) -- 182 pounds, freestyle and Greco-Roman
Cohlton Schultz (Colorado) -- 220 pounds, freestyle
Tyler Curd (Missouri) -- 220 pounds, Greco-Roman
Montana Phillips (Oklahoma) -- 285 pounds, freestyle
Spencer Trenary (Iowa) -- 285 pounds, Greco-Roman
Junior champions whom are eligible to compete again:
Malik Heinselman (Colorado) -- 100 pounds, freestyle
Brendon Garcia (Colorado) -- 100 pounds, Greco-Roman
Jason Holmes (Arizona) -- 106 pounds, freestyle
Jaret Lane (Pennsylvania) -- 106 pounds, freestyle
Nico Aguilar (California) -- 113 pounds, freestyle
Dack Punke (Illinois) -- 113 pounds, Greco-Roman
Gavin Teasdale (Pennsylvania) -- 120 pounds, freestyle
Austin Gomez (Illinois) -- 126 pounds, freestyle
Nick Lee (Indiana) -- 138 pounds, freestyle
Anthony Artalona (Florida) -- 145 pounds, freestyle
Jake Allar (Minnesota) -- 160 pounds, freestyle
Anthony Mantanona (California) -- 160 pounds, Greco-Roman
Thomas Brackett (Tennessee) -- 170 pounds, Greco-Roman
Haydn Maley (Oregon) -- 195 pounds, Greco-Roman
Brandon Metz (North Dakota) -- 285 pounds, Greco-Roman
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, five wrestlers combined to win six stop signs at the Cadet Nationals before stepping on the high school mats.
Among the top Class of 2021 wrestlers, some of the more likely to capture a stop sign include:
No. 1 Carson Manville (Minnesota): He has already demonstrated clear ability to compete against wrestlers older in age, as seen by winning a high school state title in Minnesota's big-school division as an eighth-grader. Furthermore, he was second in freestyle and third in Greco-Roman at the UWW Cadet Nationals in Akron, a competition that adds the birth year right before those that are Fargo Cadet eligible. In USA Wrestling level Cadet competition, Manville won double titles at three different regional tournaments, and was undefeated in both Greco-Roman and freestyle at the Cadet duals last month.
No. 2 Travis Mastrogiovanni (New Jersey): He was the only wrestler to keep it remotely competitive with Manville between the regional tournaments and the Cadet Duals, as he led 6-0 early in freestyle at the Cadet Duals, before losing by technical fall. Should he stay below Manville in weight class, Mastrogiovanni would be a favorite for gold. 2016-17 was an excellent year for him in Junior High age group competition winning titles at the Super 32 Challenge, Tulsa KOC and Tulsa Nationals while going undefeated at the VAC event.
No. 3 Ryan Sokol (Minnesota): Already a two-time state placer in high school varsity competition, he went undefeated at the Cadet Duals in freestyle with a pair of high quality wins over state champion Jacob Lindsey (Illinois) and National Prep champion Trevor Mastrogiovanni (New Jersey).
No. 4 Padraic Gallagher (Ohio) and No. 5 Alex Facundo (Michigan): It would not at all be a surprise to see both these wrestlers competing in the same weight class in Cadet freestyle; Facundo is likely to attempt a double in Fargo, while Gallagher is likely to be "freestyle only". While Gallagher placed eighth in the UWW Cadet freestyle tournament competing at 63 kilos, one could argue Facundo had the higher quality results in the tournament. The wrestlers split folkstyle matches at major tournaments this year, Gallagher won at Tulsa, while Facundo won at the Tulsa KOC. It should be noted that Facundo was a champion in Cadet folkstyle, and is in the hunt for a Triple Crown, and was undefeated in both styles at the Cadet Duals last month.
No. 6 Isaac Salas (California): Already earned the first leg of the Cadet Triple Crown with a folkstyle national title, which included wins over a pair of returning Cadet National freestyle champions (Schriever and Reno). He was also runner-up in freestyle at the UWW Cadet Nationals last month competing at 50 kilograms. Salas would be a joint or slight favorite at either 106 or 113 pounds (presuming Julian Tagg does not compete at 113, so he can focus on the World Championships in Athens at the beginning of August).
How to follow the event
Due to the change in structure of the media rights with USA Wrestling, FloWrestling now has control of both the streaming and bracketing rights. As a result, the tournament will no longer be on Trackwrestling for bracketing, which means to follow the proceedings on Flo Arena; while continue to go to Flowrestling for the streaming broadcast.
Fargo coverage
Keep your eye glued onto InterMat for Fargo coverage throughout the coming week including some event-specific previews and recaps, and well as a broad recap of the whole group of tournaments after the festivities are complete.
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