Spencer Lee finished seventh at the 2013 FILA Cadet World Championships (Photo/Bill Rudick)One of the traditional major events of the wrestling spring is this coming weekend, as the FILA Cadet and University National Championships will be held this coming weekend on the campus of the University of Akron. The Greco-Roman competition will be held on Friday in each level, with freestyle competition occurring on Saturday and Sunday.
Within the FILA Cadet competition, four of the five wrestlers ranked tops in the country for their scholastic grade category will be in the freestyle field. Cade Olivas (California), the nation's top junior high wrestler, is slated to compete at 46 kilos; Spencer Lee (Franklin Regional, Pa.), No. 1 among Class of 2017 wrestlers, is slated to compete at 50 kilos; Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.), tops among Class of 2016 wrestlers, is registered in the 76-kilo weight class; while Lance Benick (Totino Grace, Minn.), ranked first in the Class of 2015, is registered at 85 kilos.
Lee and Benick are two of the three returning FILA Cadet freestyle World Team members competing in the freestyle competition on Saturday and Sunday. They are joined by Austin Gomez (Glenbard North, Ill.), who will be competing along with Lee in the 50-kilo weight class.
Approximately 40 wrestlers ranked currently in their grade level are slated to compete in the FILA Cadet freestyle competition, as based on pre-registration, which closed late on Tuesday evening. There are additional wrestlers in the field that are projected to be in the rankings when some grade levels expand in late June, along with others in consideration for a ranking. Given the composition of the field, and the stakes of the competition, it is a major evaluative event.
The following represents a weight-by-weight analysis of the FILA Cadet freestyle field, as based on participants pre-registered for the tournament through late Tuesday evening (pre-registration is closed).
42 kilos:
Leading the way in this weight class is Gavin Teasdale (Pennsylvania), who is ranked No. 3 overall among junior high wrestlers. He was a Cadet National freestyle champion last summer at 88 pounds, and is a two-time PJW champion in folkstyle. Others to watch in this weight class include Zach Murillo (Southington, Conn.), who placed fifth in high school New England's this season at 106 pounds and was runner-up in Cadet freestyle at 88 pounds last summer; incoming ninth grader Logan Macri (Pennsylvania), who was a PJW champion in folkstyle this spring; along with Cody Phippen (Kansas), who was a Cadet folkstyle champion at 94 pounds this spring.
46 kilos:
Cade Olivas (California) is ranked as the nation's top junior high wrestler, and was the FILA Cadet World Team member in Greco-Roman at 42 kilos last year. He has won almost everything under the sun prior to entering high school this fall, including Cadet National folkstyle titles the last two years. Others to watch include Cadet folkstyle runner-up Brandon Courtney (Desert Edge, Ariz.); returning FILA Cadet freestyle All-American Drew Mattin (Delta, Ohio); Junior folkstyle runner-up Louie Hayes (Carl Sandbury, Ill.), who is also a two-time FILA Cadet Greco-Roman All-American; and National Prep runner-up Zach Sherman (Blair Academy, N.J.)
50 kilos:
Even with many other excellent wrestlers present, there is but one clear favorite, and that is the returning FILA Cadet freestyle World Team member in this weight class. Spencer Lee (Franklin Regional, Pa.) had a superlative 2013-14 scholastic season, and is a legitimate contender to medal and/or win at FILA Cadet Worlds later this summer, something he fell short of doing last year.
Others in this weight class include fellow returning World Team member Austin Gomez (Glenbard North, Ill.), who represented the United States at 42 kilos last summer and is ranked No. 16 overall in the Class of 2017; Kaden Gfeller (Heritage Hall, Okla.), runner-up to Gomez in this event last year, but beat Gomez for a Cadet freestyle title in Fargo; Ben Freeman (Walled Lake Central, Mich.), who won Cadet folkstyle in early April and is ranked No. 18 overall in the Class of 2017; Brent Jones (Shakopee, Minn.), who was third place in both styles at both FILA Cadets and Cadet Nationals last year; Danny Vega (Ironwood Ridge, Ariz.), a Junior folkstyle champion this spring and Cadet Nationals freestyle champion last summer; Ian Parker (St. Johns, Mich.), an All-American at both the Cadet Nationals and FILA Cadets in freestyle; along with National Prep champion Joey Prata (St. Christopher's, Va.)
54 kilos:
Two Cadet National freestyle champions from last summer anchor the field in this weight class, Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla.) and Jack Mueller (Trinity Christian Academy, Texas). Fix is ranked No. 5 overall in the Class of 2017, was a Cadet Triple Crown winner last year, and was runner-up in this event last spring at 50 kilos; while Mueller is ranked No. 21 in the Class of 2016, and finished third in this event last spring at 50 kilos.
Others to watch in this weight class include Vitali Arujau (Syosset, N.Y.), who is ranked No. 12 in the Class of 2017; state champion Dylan Duncan (Montini Catholic, Ill.), who was a Cadet Nationals runner-up last summer in Greco-Roman; and Kanen Storr (Leslie, Mich.), a 2013 state champion who won the Preseason Nationals this fall.
58 kilos:
Six wrestlers ranked in their respective grade level lead the way at this weight class. Nick Lee (Evansville Mater Dei, Ind.) is ranked No. 3 in the Class of 2017, was a runner-up at FILA Cadets last year in this weight class, and finished third in Cadet freestyle last summer; Taylor LaMont (Maple Mountain, Utah) is ranked No. 19 in the Class of 2016, won the Greco-Roman portion of this tournament last year, and was a Cadet National freestyle champion last summer; Corey Shie (Cincinnati LaSalle, Ohio) is ranked No. 22 in the Class of 2017, was a Cadet freestyle All-American last summer, and a Cadet folkstyle champion this spring; Carter Happel (Lisbon, Iowa), ranked No. 25 in the Class of 2016, joins LaMont as being a Cadet National freestyle champion last summer; Mitch McKee (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.) is ranked No. 29 in the Class of 2016, was a runner-up in this event two years ago, and was a Cadet freestyle runner-up last summer; while Kyle Bierdumpfel (Don Bosco Prep, N.J.), ranked No. 35 in the Class of 2016, is a two-time Cadet freestyle All-American.
Others to watch in this weight class include two-time Fargo freestyle champion Hunter Marko (Amery, Wis.), returning Cadet National double finalist Gabe Townsell (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.), NHSCA Junior Nationals champion Richard Montoya (Robertson, N.M.), along with Cadet freestyle All-Americans Andrew Mehrholz (Deerfield, Ill.) and Matthew Noble (DePaul Catholic, N.J.)
63 kilos:
Three grade level ranked wrestlers, along with two notable rising seniors, are the anchor figures in this weight class. Cameron Coy (Penn Trafford, Pa.), a state champion in scholastic competition as a freshman, leads the field as the nation's No. 8 ranked Class of 2017 wrestlers. Also grade-level ranked are Cadet freestyle runner-up Austin Kraisser (Centennial, Md.), who is ranked No. 43 in the Class of 2016; and Cadet folkstyle champion Devin Bahr (West Salem, Wis.), who is ranked No. 24 in the Class of 2017. The two very notable rising seniors are Robert Lee (Kaukauna, Wis.), a runner-up at the Flo Nationals and Cadet freestyle All-American last year; and Vincent Turk (Montini Catholic, Ill.), a Cadet Greco-Roman national champion two years ago.
Others meriting attention in this weight class include two-time state champions Cole Martin (Lancaster, Wis.) and Wyatt Sheets (Stilwell, Okla.), state champions Nate Hagan (Toledo Central Catholic, Ohio) and Jaron Chavez (Centennial, Idaho), as well as NHSCA Freshman Nationals champion Dominick Demas (Dublin Coffman, Ohio).
69 kilos:
This weight shapes up to be a showdown between two of the nation's elite wrestlers, Zahid Valencia (St. John Bosco, Calif.) and Mason Manville (Blair Academy, N.J.). Valencia is ranked No. 6 overall in the Class of 2015, and is a two-time Cadet National freestyle champion. This spring he cleared a relative gauntlet to win the Junior folkstyle national title at 152 pounds. However, last year in this tournament, he suffered a major disappointment in failing to place at 58 kilos. Manville is ranked No. 2 nationally in the Class of 2017 and very accomplished in his own right, sweeping Cadet National titles in Fargo last summer after making the final in both styles the year before (Greco-Roman champion). He was also a FILA Cadet freestyle All-American in 2012 and a FILA Junior Greco-Roman champion this spring, among a litany of other national and international accomplishments across the three styles.
Two other grade-level ranked wrestlers feature in this weight class, Kaleb Young (Punxsatawney, Pa.) and Bryce Steiert (Waverly-Shell Rock, Iowa). Young is ranked No. 16 in the Class of 2016, while Steiert is No. 42 in the Class of 2015. Others to watch in this weight class include Cadet National freestyle runner-up Matt Ferraro (Marmion Academy, Ill.); Cadet National freestyle All-Americans Trace Carello (Marmion Academy, Ill.), Andrew Doak (Blairsville, Pa.), Jake Adcock (Pope, Ga.), and Jakob Restrepo (Sachem North, N.Y.); along with Cadet Greco-Roman runners-up Joey Gunther (Libertyville, Ill.) and Logan Kass (Benilde St. Margaret's, Minn.)
76 kilos:
Two Cadet Triple Crown winners from last year, and a third wrestler who was a Cadet Nationals double champion in Fargo, make this an absolutely loaded weight class. Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) is ranked No. 1 overall in the Class of 2016, but has yet to win this tournament despite being arguably the favorite each of the previous two years. However, on each occasion, Bo Nickal served as his kryptonite.
Challenging Hall this year is fellow Cadet Triple Crown winner Nick Reenan (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.), who is ranked No. 9 overall in the Class of 2016. Reenan also joins Hall as a FILA Cadet freestyle runner-up from last year. The third Cadet Nationals double champion in this field is Beau Breske (Hartford Union, Wis.), who is ranked No. 6 overall in the Class of 2016.
Four other grade level ranked wrestlers compliment these three stars in this stacked weight bracket. Keegan Moore (Jackson County Central, Minn.) is ranked No. 10 overall in the Class of 2016, finished as runner-up in Cadet Greco-Roman last summer before getting injured during freestyle, and is also now a two-time Cadet folkstyle national champion; Taylor Lujan (Carrollton, Ga.) is ranked No. 19 in the Class of 2015, was runner-up at both the Super 32 Challenge and Flo Nationals this scholastic season, and earned All-American honors in both styles at this event last year; Zane Black (Bishop McDevitt, Pa.) is ranked No. 19 in the Class of 2017 after winning a NHSCA Freshman Nationals title; while Jacob Warner (Washington, Ill.) is No. 23 in the Class of 2017, and was a Cadet folkstyle national champion this year.
85 kilos:
Lance Benick (Totino-Grace, Minn.) is the nation's top Class of 2015 wrestler at present and seeks to make a second consecutive FILA Cadet freestyle World Team. This time, he'll do so down one weight class from last year and have to navigate through five other grade level ranked wrestlers to get the spot. Those include Christian Dietrich (Greene, N.Y.), a Flo Nationals runner-up who is ranked No. 12 in the Class of 2016; two-time Cadet Greco-Roman champion Samuel Colbray (Hermiston, Ore.), who is No. 15 in the Class of 2016 and also a two-time Cadet freestyle All-American, including a runner-up finish last summer; Tyler Johnson (Lockport, Ill.), a Cadet freestyle national champion last year, who is ranked No. 37 in the Class of 2015; Cadet National freestyle runner-up Jack Harris (Urbana, Ohio), a returning All-American in this event and ranked No. 41 in the Class of 2015; along with Nathan Traxler (Marmion Academy, Ill.), who is ranked No. 48 in the Class of 2016..
Others meriting attention in this field include Hunter Ritter (John Carroll, Md.), a National Prep runner-up and Cadet National double All-American last summer; Emilio Fowler (Gardner Edgerton, Kans.), a fellow Cadet National double All-American; and state runner-up Christian Brunner (Dundee Crown, Ill.)
100 kilos:
Five of the nation's top 50 wrestlers from the Class of 2016 anchor this field, led by Jordan Wood (Boyertown, Pa.). The two-time state runner-up is ranked No. 5 in this class, won the Super 32 Challenge this fall, and finished as a Cadet National double All-American last summer losing only to Benick in each style. Others include No. 17 Matt Correnti (Holy Cross, N.J.), third in Cadet freestyle last summer and a NHSCA grade-level national champion each of the last two years; No. 32 Ethan Andersen (Southeast Polk, Iowa), an All-American in Cadet freestyle last summer and an undefeated state champion this scholastic season; No. 44 Lucas Warren (Marmion Academy, Ill.); and No. 47 Gannon Gremmel (Hempstead Dubuque, Iowa), who won Preseason Nationals this fall over Andersen in the final.
125 kilos:
Leading the way in this weight class is Jake Marnin (Southeast Polk, Iowa), a Cadet Triple Crown winner last summer, who is ranked No. 48 in the Class of 2015. Others to watch include FloNationals champion Kevin Vough (Elyria, Ohio), who is ranked No. 14 in the Class of 2017; and Cadet National freestyle runner-up Tate Orndorff (University, Wash.), who placed third at the Flo Nationals this spring. This weight class is not contested at the FILA Cadet World Championships.
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