A complete schedule can be found here.
With the new format, the business part of the week for many of the male athletes is done by late afternoon on Tuesday at the conclusion of Junior freestyle. The freestyle events tend to be much more scrutinized and followed from a folkstyle perspective, as the overall fields have more numbers and talent -- along with the fact that freestyle is much more translatable to folkstyle success (high school and college) than Greco-Roman.
Below are seven things to watch in Fargo.
1. The influence of the Cadet and Junior World Championships dates
The Cadet World Championships will be held in under three weeks, from July 29-Aug. 4 in Sofia, Bulgaria, while the Junior World event is slated for two weeks thereafter, Aug. 12-18 in Tallinn, Estonia. With the events so close, it would be a stunner to see any Cadet World Team members wrestle in Fargo. For the Juniors it would be less of a surprise, but still unexpected.
The dent in depth will be more felt in the Junior division of Fargo then the 16U division. 13 of the 19 athletes that qualified for the Cadet World Championships would have to be competing at the Junior level in Fargo, since they turn 17 during calendar year 2019. Further, that number is eight of the ten that qualified in freestyle:
It is six of ten, led by Haas, from the Greco-Roman team that are only age-eligible for the Junior division in Fargo:
The remaining six athletes are age-eligible for the 16U division:
There are a select few athletes that qualified for Junior World teams that would be eligible to participate in Fargo this coming week:
As one can see, the world level competitions are taking away potential high-end contenders from Fargo weight classes.
2. The lack of graduated seniors in the field
An increasing trend in recent Fargo weeks has been the profound lack of notable graduated seniors competing in the Junior tournaments. Much of this is due to colleges bringing in their incoming freshmen early to campus so they can acclimate to college life (i.e. take a couple classes, etc.). When adding these athletes not in the field to the group not competing since they will be competing in World Championships over the month, the Junior division does take a hit in terms of its depth. Yes, there is still a ton of quality in the brackets, and there will be many high-end wrestlers not earning All-America honors.
Breakdown of All-Americans by grade in Junior freestyle last year:
Class of 2019 (rising seniors): 55, including at least one in every weight; three-plus at all but 100, 113, and 285
Class of 2018 (graduated seniors): 36, with 30 coming from weight classes 145 and up, though 100 and 138 were the only weights without an All-American.
Class of 2020 (rising juniors): 21, but only four came above the 138-pound weight class
Class of 2021 (rising sophomores): 8; five at 100, two at 106, one at 113
Keegan O'Toole will look to repeat as champion in the Junior freestyle competition (Photo/Jim Thrall)3. Will there be a repeat champion in the Junior freestyle tournament?
Eleven of 15 champions from the 2018 Junior National freestyle tournament are eligible to compete again this year. Six of those wrestlers are recent high school graduates: Eric Barnett (Hortonville, Wis./Wisconsin), Michael Colaiocco (Blair Academy, N.J./Penn), Jordan Decatur (CVCA, Ohio/Ohio State), Bryce Andonian (St. Edward, Ohio/Virginia Tech), Carson Kharchla (Olentangy Liberty, Ohio/Ohio State), and Luke Luffman (Urbana, Ill/Illinois). From that group, Luffman is the lone wrestler listed on the rosters released by USA Wrestling to suggest that he is expected to participate in Fargo this year. The other five are most likely already engaged in summer programs at their college of choice.
The other four will again be in high school next year: Joseph Fischer (South Park, Pa.), Will Guida (St. Paul's, Md./New Jersey resident), Cullan Schriever (Mason City, Iowa), and Keegan O'Toole (Arrowhead, Wis.). O'Toole is the lone athlete from that group of four listed as competing in Fargo this year. However, it would not surprise me if Fischer and/or Guida ended up on the bracket, while Schriever is still in recovery mode after aggravating an injury that occurred at the Cheesehead during in his state semifinal bout almost five months ago.
The following Junior Greco-Roman champions are age eligible to compete in this year's event: Eli Griffin (Cascia Hall, Okla.), Brenden Chaowanapibool (Bonney Lake, Wash.), Paxton Creese (Shakopee, Minn.), Chayse LaJoie (Gaylord, Mich.), Austin Almaguer (Kamaikin, Wash.), Ridge Lovett (Post Falls, Idaho), Kyle Parco (de la Salle, Calif.), Cael Carlson (Willmar, Minn.), Alex Cramer (Grayslake Central, Ill.), and Jace Punke (Washington, Ill.). Only three of those ten wrestlers -- Griffin, Creese, and LaJoie -- will be returning to high school next year; the others are graduated seniors. Ending the high school season ranked in that group were Griffin, Lovett, Parco, Carlson, Cramer, and Punke.
4. Class of 2022 "best in show" at the 16U Nationals
Seven of the 17 champions from last year's Cadet Nationals in freestyle are age-eligible to seek a repeat title in the 16U Nationals this coming weekend. Considering that Gehloff and Picklo both made the Cadet World Team in Greco-Roman, that number realistically reduces to five possible repeat champs in freestyle at the Cadet level. Three of those wrestlers are top 12 ranked overall in the Class of 2022: No. 6 Jordan Williams (Collinsville, Okla.), No. 11 Nicolar Rivera (Stoughton, Wis.), and No. 12 Noah Pettigrew (Blair Academy N.J./Georgia resident).
In Greco-Roman, it is five of the 18 champions that are age-eligible to compete again at the 16U Nationals (Damien and Fabian Lopez of DeKalb, Ill. both advanced to the Cadet Greco-Roman final in the same weight class last year, but did not contest the match). From that group of five, Gehloff and Perez are both on the Cadet World team this year in Greco-Roman, though Perez is listed as competing in Fargo this week. The remaining three wrestlers are all from the Class of 2022: Kenndyl Mobley (North Central, Wash.), Damien Lopez, and No. 21 Kolby Franklin (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.).
The remaining age eligible to return Cadet National champions come from last year's freestyle event, Maxximus Martinez (St. John Bosco, Calif.), and Hayden Copass (Westville, Ill.); Martinez is ranked No. 15 overall in the Class of 2023. Copass is also eligible for a Cadet Triple Crown this year, as he won the folkstyle national title at 285 in early spring.
5. Moving on up! Can returning Cadet champions make significant noise at the Junior level this week?
Ten of 17 Cadet National freestyle champions from last year are now only age eligible for the Junior competition. It is a very high-profile group with six of those wrestlers inside or right around the top 50 mark of the Class of 2020: No. 24 Dominick Serrano (Windsor, Colo.), No. 28 Rocky Elam (Staley, Mo.), No. 30 Jesse Ybarra (Sunnyside, Ariz.), No. 32 Luke Stout (Mt. Lebanon, Pa.), No. 37 Jakason Burks (Omaha Burke, Neb.), and No. 52 Josh Edmond (Detroit Catholic Central, Mich.). Of that group, Elam is eligible for a Junior Triple Crown, having won the folkstyle national title in early spring at 182.
Three of the four Class of 2021 wrestlers that were Cadet freestyle champions last year, but are only age eligible for the Junior level are nationally elite: No. 5 Travis Mastrogiovanni (Blair Academy, N.J.), No. 8 Carson Manville (Shakopee, Minn.), and No. 34 Quayin Short (Simley, Minn.); Manville was champion last year in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. Also a returning champion is Nathaniel Deasey (Chandler, Ariz.).
Twelve others join Manville as Cadet National champions in Greco-Roman last year, with only being eligible for the Junior competition this year. Two of those qualified for the Cadet World Team in Greco-Roman: Parker Decker (Keller, Texas) and Braxton Mikesell (Central Valley, Wash.). Those other ten are Kaden Ramos (Thunder Ridge, Wash.), Sheldon Seymour (Troy, Pa.), Haiden Drury (Toppenish, Wash.), Davin Rhoads (Louisville, Ohio), Fabian Lopez (DeKalb, Ill.), Brayden Roberts (Parkersburg South, W.Va.), Greyden Penner (Liberty, Mo.), Tyler Hannah (Viroqua, Wis.), and Alex Coleman (Hamilton Ross, Ohio). It should be noted that Rhoads will not be in Fargo this year.
Out of the group of Greco-Roman champions, Penner and Seymour are top-100 overall wrestlers in the Class of 2020, ranked No. 53 and No. 83 respectively.
6. Fargo, where incoming freshmen make themselves more known
One of the old, and still true narratives, is of Fargo as being a place "where state champions go to die." Also true of Fargo is that it's a place where incoming freshmen can emerge as wrestlers to watch over the four years of their high school career, and beyond that to the next levels.
Two of the most obvious candidates would be a pair of wrestlers that are already very well-known in Robert Paul Perez (St. John Bosco, Calif.) and Marc-Anthony McGowan (Blair Academy, N.J./Florida resident). However, these top two overall wrestlers in the Class of 2023 are going to be competing at the Cadet World Championships in less than three weeks, though it should be noted that Perez has registered for both styles at this time.
Ranked third in the Class of 2023 is Cody Chittum (Blair Academy, N.J./Tennessee resident). Chittum won a high school state title in Tennessee's private school class in 2018, while competing for McCallie; this spring, he was champion at the 16U level in the Western Regional and third at the Junior level in the Northeast regional. Chittum is registered at the 138-pound weight class in both styles, and competed in that weight class at the regional tournaments.
Six additional wrestlers ranked in the top ten of this class are age eligible for Fargo: No. 4 Nasir Bailey (Thornton Fractional North, Ill.), No. 5 Grant Mackay (North Allegheny, Pa.), No. 6 Joshua Barr (Michigan), No. 8 Carter McCallister (Rock Bridge, Mo.), No. 9 Rocco Welsh (Waynesburg, Pa.), and No. 10 Ethan Stiles (Montini Catholic, Ill.).
Perez, Barr, and McCallister are joined by Drew Heethuis (Detroit Catholic Central, Mich.) and William Baysinger (Illinois) as Class of 2023 to have won Cadet 16U folkstyle national titles this spring.
7. An emerging base of female wrestlers
The just completed run of the United States Women's National Team at the FIFA World Cup has placed gender-related sports issues to the forefront of the media conversation. In the sport of wrestling, there is an emerging push for female competitors to gain more of a platform. Most notably this has taken the form of efforts to sanction girls wrestling as a varsity sport in many states across the country. There have been some incremental successes, with multiple state athletic associations providing sanctioning of the sport; while in other states, exploratory steps have taken place to possibly facilitate future state association sanctioning.
In terms of Fargo, it will be interesting to see if over the next couple of years this provides a meaningful push to increase the participation numbers in the female events -- especially in terms of individuals that participate (since at present, there seems to be a significant mass of 16U competitors that double dip in the Junior level of competition). One would think that state athletic association sanctioning would create a broader base of participants for Fargo, even though high school is folkstyle and Fargo is freestyle for the females.
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