For the tournament, Diakomihalis did not allow a single point from seven matches, and earned technical fall victories in five of the bouts. On Sunday morning, the No. 2 overall ranked Class of 2017 prospect swept Jamie Hernandez (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.), a two-time top three finisher in Fargo in Cadet National freestyle, by 9-0 decision and then by 10-0 technical fall during the first period.
Conversely, Steveson had a rather tight opening match in the finals round, as he won by just a 2-1 score over Noah Adams (Independence, W.Va.), scoring on a first period takedown. However, the second match saw the nation's top Class of 2018 prospect turn it up with two high-amplitude takedown scores in an 11-0 technical fall victory.
The third wrestler to earn a second straight Cadet World team spot was Malik Heinselman (Castle View, Colo.), winning the title at 46 kilograms after competing last year down a weight class at 42 kilograms. Heinselman advanced to the final with three of four wins coming by shutout technical fall, while his two finals win came by technical fall over Eric Faught (Clear Lake, Iowa). The first match of the finals series was a 14-3 technical fall for Heinselman in 3:35, with the second win by a 10-0 score in 58 seconds.
On the other hand, Dylan D'Emilio (Genoa, Ohio) moved up to 50 kilograms after making the world team last year down at 46 kilograms, but was upended in two finals matches by Aaron Cashman (Mound Westonka, Minn.); Cashman won a Cadet folkstyle national title this year and last year, while earning sixth in Cadet freestyle at 106 pounds last summer in Fargo.
Cashman earned a 4-2 victory in the first finals match, his two takedowns coming in the first period, while D'Emilio scored very late in the bout. During the second match, it was a 1-0 victory for Cashman, with the only point coming in the first period when D'Emilio was put on the 30-second shot clock and was unable to score. Seven months ago in folkstyle, Cashman did beat D'Emilio at the Super 32 Challenge.
Another pair of wrestlers on this year's Cadet World Team lost in the finals of this tournament last year.
Vitali Arujau (Syosset, N.Y.), ranked third overall in the Class of 2017, won the title at 58 kilograms this year after falling short against Diakomihalis last year. He swept the finals series against Sammy Sasso (Nazareth, Pa.), a Cadet National freestyle champion in Fargo last summer at 132 pounds.
In the first match of the series, Arujau won 6-3, keyed by a counter takedown in each period; the one in the opening period was a high amplitude lift off a Sasso attack. The second match was a 7-3 Arujau victory, as he jumped out to a 7-0 lead midway through the second period keyed by a takedown in each period.
David Carr (Massillon Perry, Ohio), ranked second overall in the Class of 2018, won at 69 kilograms one year after finishing second place in that weight class. He swept his finals series against Joe Lee (Evansville Mater Dei, Ind.), a Cadet National champion in Fargo last summer at 138 pounds. Carr rallied from a 3-0 first period deficit in the opening match to secure a 9-5 victory, before winning 4-1 in the second bout.
Among other wrestlers to make their initial world freestyle team is Jacob Warner (Washington, Ill.), who is now a three-time medalist in this tournament, finishing fifth and third the previous two years down at 76 kilograms. He also qualified for the Greco-Roman world team at 85 kilograms on Friday afternoon, winning all five bouts by technical fall.
On Saturday, Warner won all four of his bouts by technical fall to reach the championship series in freestyle at 85 kilograms. Then on Sunday, he earned a pair of eight point decision victories over Michael Beard (Malvern Prep, Pa.) to earn the world spot, those coming by 12-4 and 11-3 scores.
Rounding out the group to qualify for the Cadet World Championships in freestyle are Kurt McHenry (St. Paul's, Md.) at 42 kilograms, Roman Bravo-Young (Sunnyside, Ariz.) at 54 kilograms, and Travis Wittlake (Marshfield, Ore.) at 76 kilograms.
McHenry upended Jeremiah Reno (Missouri, Class of 2020) in the lone series to go to a third bout. McHenry won both the first and third matches by technical fall in the first period (10-0 in 47 seconds, then 12-0 in 1:44), while Reno rallied back from an early 3-0 deficit to win the second match by 13-5 decision, which was keyed by a pair of four point high-amplitude scores.
Bravo-Young, a two-time Cadet National double champion in Fargo, improved upon second and third place finishes in previous years at this event (at 46 and 50 kilograms respectively) to win this title in dominant fashion. Just to reach the final, he had five shutout technical falls, including a pair over wrestlers ranked No. 2 overall in Junior High and the Class of 2019.
The championship series opened with a 13-2 technical fall over Jordan Decatur (CVCA, Ohio), who won a Cadet National freestyle title last year in Fargo at 106 pounds. Leading 3-2 early in the second period, Bravo-Young scored a takedown and then accrued four consecutive gut wrench exposures to achieve match termination. The second bout of the series was an 8-2 victory for Bravo-Young.
Wittlake had an impressive run on the way to the final, most notably with a 6-4 victory over last summer's Cadet National freestyle champion Marcus Coleman (Ames, Iowa) in the quarterfinal. Then in the championship series, it was a pair of decisive victories over Jack Jessen (Willowbrook, Ill.), who has finished third and second in both styles each of the previous two summers in Fargo at the Cadet level. Wittlake scored a 6-2 victory in the opening bout, earning the match's only three takedowns; in the second bout it was a 14-3 technical fall in 3:23.
Also winning a championship on Sunday, though it came in a single was Anthony Cassioppi (Hononegah, Ill.), who won the 125 kilogram title with a 12-2 technical fall over Kayne Hutchison (Pittsburg, Kansas) at the 4:00 mark. That weight class will not be contested at the World Championships come September in Tblisi, Georgia.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now