Peach State Showdown
That included in the Peach State, where Archer and Pope -- last year's champions from Class 6A and Class 5A, Georgia's two biggest classifications -- were among sixteen teams to convene at the one-day Trojan Invitational hosted by Lassiter High School in Marietta. In the end, it was No. 34 Archer which escaped with a narrow tournament championship over Pope, by the score of 263 to 254.
Five Archer wrestlers -- Vinny Artiques (113), Chris Diaz (132), Thomas Bullard (152), Elliott Lee (195), and Jacob Lill (285) -- were among the weight class champions; while another quartet in Sam Bullard (138), Daniel Bullard (160), Garrett Miller (170) and Collin Williams (285) earned second place finishes for the Tigers. Pope countered with four individual champions in Jake Adcock (138), Jake Henson (160), Zeke Weber (182), and Seth Gorman (285); while all fourteen Greyhounds wrestlers placed in the top four.
Rounding out weight class champions in the event were a pair from Collins Hill, No. 4 Sean Russell (120) and No. 1 Ryan Millhof (126); a pair from Carrollton, Rhett Hembree (145) and No. 19 Taylor Lujan (170); and Harrison Kemp (106) from Allatoona.
Pico the Spectacular
Many words have been written about Aaron Pico over the last few days and years. This is a young man who needs very little introduction. Before starting his high school career, Pico had already twice earned Cadet National double titles (i.e. winning both Greco-Roman and freestyle). In the 2012-13 high school season -- which was his freshman year -- Pico was an undefeated state champion for St. John Bosco, Calif., and ended the season ranked No. 1 in the nation at 132 pounds.
Aaron Pico dominated in Fargo this past summer (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Three major observations about what Pico, the nation's No. 1 Class of 2016 wrestler, has done to date. Number one, his accomplishments in freestyle and Greco-Roman have been against opposition his own age, and Pico has more than dominated the opposition. Secondly, it is rare to see even the elite high school seniors dominate scholastic opposition the way Pico did in 2012-13. Finally, point to what happened this past Saturday afternoon.
As part of a United States vs. Russia weekend pair of dual meets involving senior level competitors, Pico represented the United States at 66 kilos (145.5 pounds). In that match, he faced Alibeggediz Emeev, who was runner-up at the NYAC Holiday Invitational one week before. The match ended in an 8-0 technical fall victory, as Pico used physical and positional dominance to control the match. While the use of comparative scores is imperfect, Pico's victory over Emeev came in more dominant fashion than those by a pair of past NCAA Division I champions; Emeev was runner-up to Frank Molinaro by a 9-4 score in the NYAC Invitational, while in the Sunday dual meet, Russell scored a late pin against Emeev in a match that went back-and-forth.
Youth Showcase: Kickoff Classic
Many of the nation's top youth and junior high wrestlers, as well as a few high school wrestlers, traveled to Tulsa, Okla. this past weekend for the Kickoff Classic. The event is the first leg of the "Trinity Award", given to wrestlers who win the three major World of Wrestling championships (Kickoff Classic, Tulsa Nationals, and Reno Worlds). Over the years, titles in these events have served as a gateway to great success in high school, college, and beyond.
Three of the nation's top 15 junior high wrestlers were among the champions in the 15U division: No. 3 Anthony Madrigal (Illinois) at 95 pounds, No. 12 Josiah Rider (Colorado) at 135, and No. 7 Jack Jessen (Illinois) at 157.
Full results and brackets are available here.
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