Continuing along on their journey through the nation's toughest schedule -- Wyoming Seminary, PA traveled to Council Rock South, PA and came home with a tournament championship. They were champions at Hopewell, fourth at the Ironman, third at the Beast, and third at the Cheesehead. The Knights scored 243 points, which was enough to upend defending champions Central Mountain, PA. The Wildcats scored 219, as the teams swapped places from last year. Each school was without a nationally ranked wrestler in the tournament; top-ranked Mike McMullan (285) sat out for Wyoming Seminary, while Jordan Rich (135) was out for Central Mountain.
Eight Knights wrestlers made the championship finals, half came home with championships. Title winners were Dominick Malone (112), Kyle Johnson (119), Simon Kitzis (135), and Chris Moon (160). Coming in second place were Eric Morris (130), Cohl Fulk (140), Jay Wieller (171), and Matt Bilodeau (189). Malone, ranked 12th in the country, defeated 15th ranked Chris Donaldson (Salesianum, DE) 1-0 in the semifinal match; Donaldson would end up finishing third.
On the other hand, it was a five-for-five night in the finals for the Wildcats of Central Mountain. Brian Brill (140), Andrew (145) and Dylan (152) Alton, Dylan Caprio (171), and Zach Corl (285) all rose to the top step of the podium for their awards photo. Andrew Alton defeated Josh Dziewa (Council Rock South, PA) 10-6 in a much anticipated matchup involving two of the nation's elite seniors; Dziewa is ranked third at 140, while Alton is ranked first and 145.
The only other squad with multiple champions was Paulsboro, NJ -- whose pair of nationally ranked wrestlers Joe Duca (125) and Zach Greenwald (215) was tops in their weight class. Rounding out the champions were Zain Retherford (Line Mountain, PA) at 103 pounds; Dan Neff (Solanco, PA) at 130; and Jamie Callender (Council Rock North, PA) at 189.
Two other interesting notes from the tournament: (1) Sussex Central, DE had three finalists -- none were able to win a championship as Brandon Shultie (125), Ryan Walls (135), and Jay Matheus (160) all were second place finishers (2) Beast of the East champion Matt Idelson (Garnet Valley, PA) lost his quarterfinal match at 215 pounds by an 8-7 score against Todd Hall (Athens, PA) but then defaulted out of the tournament in his consolation match.
Apple Valley repeats as champions at a weather-marred Clash
In relatively dominant fashion -- Apple Valley, MN repeated at the Clash Duals with four of their five victories in dominating fashion. The Eagles opened with a first round bye in Friday morning Bracket "A" competition before earning a 55-12 victory over Carl Sandburg, IL; and then dominating Grand Island, NE 50-19 in the championship final. About the only negative on the day was that state champion Dakota Trom (119) lost to a freshman Colin Holler (Carl Sandburg, IL) 5-3, as Apple Valley won 20 out of 28 matches.
Montini Catholic, IL joined Apple Valley as a champion in morning session competition on Friday, earning the top spot in Bracket "B." The Broncos had a first round bye and then advanced to the final with a 46-15 win over Hastings, MN; and they defeated Roseburg, OR 33-23 in the bracket final.
Simley, MN became the third team to advance to the first place pool on Saturday evening with two dominating wins on Friday afternoon from Bracket "C." They beat Owantonna, MN by a 58-13 score; and dominated Waverly Shell-Rock, IA 60-7 in a match where the only Go-Hawk wins came from their pair of nationally ranked wrestlers -- No. 2 Jacob Ballweg (135) and No. 13 Cody Krumwiede (215). Simley won three lower weight matches by one point or in overtime to remove all doubt from the dual meet; Juan Torres beat Tanner Werner 11-9 in overtime at 112 pounds, Dylan Wright beat a former two-time state champion Eric Devos 6-4 in overtime at 119 pounds, and Jake Short defeated state runner-up Jordan Rinken 2-1 at 130 pounds.
Park Hill, MO was the favorite in Bracket "D" heading into the tournament. However, due to the massive storm that hit the midwest region of the United States on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, Park Hill was one of five teams that had to pull out of the event. The two other Show-Me State teams, Blue Springs and Oak Grove, also had to pull out -- as did Independence, IA and Skutt Catholic, NE. One team was added to the event -- Zumbrata-Mazeppa, MN -- and there were some adjustments to the brackets in order to create seven teams per Friday bracket. There was also obviously no eighth place pool on Saturday morning.
Inheriting the top seed in the "D" bracket was Wisconsin Rapids, WI -- and they were able to capitalize upon that position into the first place pool during Friday afternoon bracket competition. Coming off the first round by, life was not easy for Wisconsin Rapids against Sturgis, SD. This came down to the last match of the dual meet, as Ryan Lubeck (Wisconsin Rapids) held on to a 4-3 victory over Nate Wilson to seal a 35-30 margin of victory. One upset in favor of Sturgis was that Chris Vinson defeated 18th ranked Curt Fuller 2-1 at 285 pounds. An outcome that went against Sturgis was that NHSCA Sophomore Nationals third place finisher Clint Wilson was forced to injury default out of the match at 189 pounds in this dual meet. After that match, Wisconsin Rapdis did upend Kasson Mantorville, MN 44-14 to win the bracket.
Proceeding onward to the Saturday pools, Apple Valley swept those three matches; 32-20 over Simley in the opening match, 45-12 over Wisconsin Rapids, and then closing it out with a 40-16 victory over Montini Catholic. The other three teams split matches against each other. Montini Catholic opened with a 34-22 victory against Wisconsin Rapids, Simley followed it up with a 29-26 defeat of Montini Catholic, and Wisconsin Rapids closed things out with a 29-27 result over Simley. Some notable results included: Kurtis Julson (Simley) upsetting No. 19 Steve Keogh (Apple Valley) 1-0 in overtime at 160 pounds, Montini Catholic closing out the last three matches against Wisconsin Rapids with victories by two or less points, No. 16 Jake Waste (Apple Valley) defeated Devin Peterson (Wisconsin Rapids) for the second time this year 5-3 in overtime at 171 pounds, Montini Catholic still couldn't beat Simley even with a 3-1 edge in one point matches, and No. 15 Kevon Powell (Montini Catholic) avenged a loss at the Cheesehead with a 4-2 victory over Jordan Kingsley (Apple Valley) at 103 pounds.
Summarizing all pool placement results: http://www.clashmn.com/Clash8/Results/Clash8Day2.html
All-Tournament Team:
103 -- Morgan Engbrecht (Sturgis, SD) 6-0; 112 -- Eric Bauer (Hastings, MN) 6-0; 119 -- Colin Holler (Carl Sandburg, IL) 6-0; 125 -- Alex Manley (Baylor, TN) 5-0; 130 -- Seth Lange (Sturgis, SD) 6-0; 135 -- Tyler Argue (Mount Carmel, IL) 6-0; 140 -- Jacob Ballweg (Waverly Shell-Rock, IA) 6-0; 145 -- Seth Thomas (Roseburg, OR) 6-0; 152 -- Destin McCauley (Apple Valley, MN) 5-0; 160 -- Jordan Campa (STMA, MN) 6-0; 171 -- Jake Waste (Apple Valley, MN) 5-0; 189 -- Michael Kroells (Scott West, MN) 6-0; 215 -- Cody Krumwiede (Waverly Shell-Rock, IA) 6-0; and 285 -- Evan Knutson (Wausau West, WI) 5-0.
Other nationally ranked undefeated wrestlers:
No. 15 Kevon Powell (Montini Catholic, IL) 5-0 at 103; No. 8 Josh Keszler (Sturgis, SD) 6-0 at 125; No. 16 at 130 Matt Kelliher (Apple Valley, MN) 5-0 at 125; No. 17 at 130 Brandon Kingsley (Apple Valley, MN) 5-0 at 135; No. 14 Noah Budi (Kaukauna, WI) 5-0; and No. 20 Sani-Jonathan Fuimaono (Punahou, HI) 5-0.
Clovis dominates at home in the Doc Buchanan
In chapter one of a back-to-back prelude to the California State Wrestling Tournament, the host squad at the Doc Buchanan was unkind to over fifty guest teams as part of a dominating performance. Despite only two finalists -- Tommy Burriel (189) was the sole champion -- Clovis, CA made its statement with ten placers to score 211 team points. One champ, one runner-up, three third place finishers, two finishing fifth, one in sixth, and two in seventh was enough to distance itself from the second place team by just less than 50 points.
The only two teams with multiple champions in the event battled it out for second place. With all eight placing wrestlers winning their final match -- Bakersfield, CA came in second place scoring 163 points. Champions were Bryce Hammond (160) and Brian Schoene (215), while two other wrestlers came in third place, three others in fifth, and another wrestler took home seventh place.
Finishing in third place with 156-1/2 points was Selma, CA. Alex Cisneros (112) and Nick Pena (135) -- both of whom are nationally ranked -- came home with gold medals for Selma, Justin Lozano (160) earned a second place finish, two other grapplers finished in third place, while one wrestler earned fourth place. Cisneros -- ranked third nationally -- defeated the 11th ranked Stevan Knoblauch (Clovis West, CA) 8-3 in a rematch of last year's state final; the finals match was the only one involving a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers.
Jesse Delgado (Gilroy, CA) became only the third wrestler to ever earn four titles at the Doc Buchanan, navigating his way through the absolutely brutal 125 pound weight class. Avenging a 3-2 quarterfinal loss at the Reno Tournament of Champions, Delgado defeated Chris Martinez (Clovis West, CA) 1-0 in the semifinal match. That was after Martinez beat former state runner-up AJ Valles (Sanger, CA) 2-1 in the quarterfinal round. In the championship final, Delgado defeated the freshman sensation -- and Reno ToC champion - Isaiah Martinez (Lemoore, CA) 7-1.
In order to advance to the Doc Buchanan final, the freshman Martinez (LeMoore, CA) earned a 20-5 technicall fall in the quarterfinal against Adam Magnusson (Madera South, CA), and then defeated Vince Rodriguez (Clovis North, CA) 4-1 in the semifinal. Rodriguez defeated Chris Martinez 6-5 for third place in a battle of rival wrestlers from the Clovis Unified School District. After losing quarterfinal bouts, both Valles and Magnusson lost their next match and failed to place in the weight class bracket.
The other showcase weight class of this tournament had three-time state placer James Cook (Madera, CA) coming home with the tournament championship at 171 pounds. In the semifinal round, Cook defeated fellow state placer Dominic Kastl (Gilroy, CA) 7-6; while Zach Nevills (Clovis, CA) upset nationally ranked Martin Fabbian (Buchanan, CA) 2-1 in another battle of state placement wrestlers. Cook secured the weight class title with a first period fall in 1:40, while Fabbian defeated Kastl 4-2 for third place.
Rounding out the weight class champions were Vincent Gomez (Bakersfield Frontier, CA) at 103 pounds; Zach Zimmer (Clovis West, CA) at 119; Shane Tate (Oakdale, CA) at 130; Napoleon Aniciente (Las Vegas, CA) at 140; Derik Rizo (Foothill, CA) at 145; Nick Sierra (Lemoore, CA) at 152; and Drew Meulman (St.. Francis, CA) at 285.
Telford keys Spartan victory at Virginia Duals
After a runner-up finish in the National Division at last year's Virginia Duals -- St. Mark's, DE came into this year's event somewhat heavy favorites to finally win the championship. However, that almost came to a screeching halt late Friday evening. Heading into the last match of the evening, eighth seeded South Plainfield, NJ had a 29-24 lead in the dual meet. The Tigers had won seven matches, including a pin by freshman Troy Heilmann (112) against ninth ranked Tyler Pendergast. The silver lining for the Spartans was that third ranked in the nation Bobby Telford was on duty in the heavyweight bout, where a pin was absolutely necessary as South Planfield had the criteria should the match had ended in a technical fall.
Telford delivered that pin late in the second period with sixteen seconds left on the clock, and St. Mark's won that dual meet 30-29. Along with a 65-17 victory over Hopewell, VA in the opening round -- the Spartans moved onto a semifinal date with Phillipsburg, NJ. Despite 13th ranked Sean Boylan (125) losing a 3-1 decision to Matt Lane, St. Mark's only lost three other matches in the dual meet as they moved on to the championship final against Nazareth, PA with a 42-20 semifinal victory.
The Blue Eagles reached the final on the strength of a 62-6 opening round victory over Columbia, NY; a 37-24 quarterfinal defeat of Eastern Regional, NJ; and a 45-24 victory over Bethlehem Liberty, PA in the semifinal. The Hurricanes had an interesting path to the semifinal with a 33-28 victory over Camden Catholic, NJ in the opening round where it took a 6-4 victory from Justin Williams (285) to seal the deal; and then it was 35-30 upset over Cox, VA in the quarterfinal. The squads split matches at seven in that dual meet, but four pins for Bethlehem Liberty compared to four decisions for Cox sealed that deal.
Quarterfinal losers South Plainfield and Cox moved onto the consolation semifinals with a pair of consolation bracket wins. The Tigers would defeat Bethlehem Liberty 37-31 in that round, while Cox and Phillipsburg wrestled to a 32-32 tie; however, Cox won the dual meet on the eighth criteria to bump the score up to 33-32 for the Falcons. South Plainfield defeated Cox for third place by a 34-26 score.
The following wrestlers went undefeated for the tournament with at least four victories in contested matches. Wrestlers are listed at the lowest weight class in which they wrestled. Anthony Ashnault (South Plainfield, NJ) -- 103 pounds; Caleb Richardson (Cox, VA) -- 112; Bryan Whitt (Cox, VA) -- 119; Anthony Marino (Bethlehem Liberty, PA) -- 125; Nick Schenk (St. Mark's, DE) -- 130; Nick Heilmann (South Plainfield, NJ) and John Horak (Phillipsburg, NJ) -- 135; Hank Stinson (Eastern Regional, NJ) -- 140; Ben Dorsay (Cox, VA) and Anthony Baldosaro (Eastern Regional, NJ) -- 145; Ryan Krecker (Nazareth, PA) and Oliver Burkhardt (Phillipsburg, NJ) -- 152; Chris Pintado (Bethlehem Liberty, PA) and Ben Bradley (Nazareth, PA) -- 171; Mike Wagner (South Plainfield, NJ) -- 189; Connor O'Hara (Cox, VA), Cody Klempay (Canon McMillan, PA), and Aaron Bradley (Nazareth, PA) -- 215; and Ross Burbank (Cox, VA) and Bobby Telford (St. Mark's, DE) -- 285.
Dorsay was named Most Outstanding Wrestler for the National Division. Two wrestlers listed -- both unranked -- had notable wins over ranked opposition during the course of the tournament. Whitt defeated 13th ranked Robert Deutsch (Eastern Regional, NJ) 5-3; while Wagner defated 20th ranked Matthew Loew (Wantagh, NY) 4-3.
Grundy, VA won the American Division at the 30th annual Virginia Duals with a 48-23 victory over Haddonfield, NJ in the championship final. Outstanding Wrestler honors went to Alex Morales (Lexington, SC) -- who competed at 171 pounds. Brookville, VA defeated Ocean Lakes, VA 36-22 to win the Jim Greene Black and Blue Division -- where Outstanding Wrestler honors went to Peter Ormsby (Chancellor, VA) competing at 160 pounds.
Hauppauge best in the Empire this weekend
Many of the top teams in New York State and a selection of other teams from the New England region convened upon Sullivan Community College in Loch Sheldrake, NY for the seventh annual Eastern States Classic. The 74-team field had remarkable balance, and the wrestling over two days was rather competitive and of high quality.
Despite being one of only two teams to win two championships, and the only school with three finalists, second place was all that would be in the cards for Rocky Point, NY. Titles from Stephen Dutton (140) and Anthony Volpe (160) -- as well as a runner-up finish from Billy Coggins (171) -- only were able to muster the Eagles 137 points, as no other grapplers pulled out a top eight finish. Despite only having one champion -- Mark West (96) -- Hauppauge, NY stood on top of the field with 162-1/2 points. Key to the victory was third place finishes from Ken Collado (119) and Chanse Menendez (171), as well as a fifth place finish from Kevin Panebianco (135).
Johnson City, NY was the only other team than Rocky Point to come up with a pair of champions in this year's Eastern States Classic. Like ten days ago at the Tieke/Bernabi, Sean McCormick (112) and Lance Moore (285) stood on top of the podium. After beating defending state champion Arik Robinson (Peru, NY) last week in the final, McCormick beat the other 103 pound state chamion from last season in this week's final in a 5-4 victory over Brian Realbuto (Somers, NY). Realbuto had beaten Robinson -- ranked sixth in the nation at this weight class -- in the semifinals by an 8-6 decision.
The finals' feature bout involved a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers at 135 pounds, with 10th ranked Andrew Lenzi (Fordham Prep, NY) defeating the 16th ranked Cody Ruggirello (Valley Central, NY) 6-5. With that effort, Lenzi was named Most Oustanding Wrestler among middleweights and the overall Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.
Featuring four state finalists from last year, the 125 pound weight class was considered the tournament's toughest. When all was said and done, the only wrestler without a state title over his career emerged as champion. The bottom bracket semifinal featured a pair of runners-up from last year, with 19th ranked Justis Flamio (Mahopac, NY) defeating 2008 state champion Quinton Murphy (Holley Central, NY) by 9-0 major decision. In the top half of the draw, it was a battle of state champions, as Steven Rodrigues (Fox Lane, NY) upset ninth ranked -- at 130 -- Nick Wilcox (Greene, NY) 6-5. Flamio defeated Rodrigues 8-4 for the title, while Murphy upset Wilcox 2-0 for third place. Flamio earned the MOW award for the lowerweights.
The biggest upset of the tournament had to be the relatively disappointing performance from Alex Smith (Timberlane, NH) -- who came into the tournament 15th nationally after a third place finish at the Beast of the East. Smith placed eighth in the event with a 8-4 quarterfinal loss to eventual runner-up Ryan Tompkins (Beacon, NY); a 3-2 loss in the consolation quarterfinal to Ali Hasan (Valley Central, NY); and then losing by fall in the seventh place match to Josh Manuel (Tioga, NY).
Earning the MOW award for upperweights was Tyler Beckwith (Greene, NY) -- champion of the 171 pound weight class. Rounding out the weight class champions are Zach Bridson (Timberlane, NH) at 103; Nick Kelly (Shenendehowa, NY) at 119; Bob Dierna (Wayne, NY) at 130; Mitch Wightman (Warwick Valley, NY) at 145; Guiseppe Lanzi (Amsterdam, NY) at 152; Mike McGrath (Kingston, NY) at 189; and Kyle Colling (Pioneer, NY) at 215.
Where final matches actually matter
One couldn't imagine that nation's oldest wrestling tournament had ever seen a finish like this one. Three teams finished 2-1/2 points apart of the championship. The eventual champions were undefeated in first place matches. The runners-up had what one might call a minor collapse, going 1-6 in first place matches. The third place team, which was the on paper tournament favorite when Bishop Lynch, TX scratched from the event, almost got it done with depth.
Tournament champions -- Claremore, OK -- got the job done with a 4-0 performance in championship matches and three complimentary fifth place finishes. Tournament champions for Claremore -- in a 122-1/2 team point effort - were Gunnar Woodburn (103), Calib Freeman (112), and Josh (130) and Nick (140) Haugen.
By the time that Shane Woods (215) secured a 14-0 major decision in his championship bout, the damage was done. Tuttle, OK had already lost six matches for first place -- as Colton Roberts (112), Sterling Hawkins (125), DJ Boles (135), Dylan Coppenbarger (140), Jerod Williams (160), and Jake Simpson (171) all had runner-up finishes. When an addition third place finish was added to the puzzle, Tuttle scored 121 team points.
The only team other than champions Claremore to secure multiple weight class titles was Broken Arrow, OK -- which utilized the championships of Chase Ferman (125) and Keithen Cast (171) to secure a third place finish with 120 points. Cody Johnson (189) and Terry Williamson (285) came up short in championship matches, where a victory from either one would have propelled Broken Arrow to the team title. The squad also had one third place and three fourth place finishers.
Matt White (Woodward, OK) had the best quality performance of the tournament in winning the title at 160 pounds. In this tournament where there is no seeding, White -- ranked 18th nationally at 152, but without a state title in his career -- drew state champions in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. In the quarterfinal, White defeated Zach Skates (Broken Arrow, OK) by a 3-1 score. Then in the semifinal round, he defeated two-time state champion Cory Dauphin (El Reno, OK) 3-2. The championship bout was a not as close 6-3 decision over Williams.
On the unfortunate side of the ledger was the fact that Ronnie Balfour (Tulsa Union, OK) -- ranked 12th nationally at 160 pounds -- had to default out of his 171 pound semifinal against Simpson and drop back to sixth place.
Rounding out the tournament champions were Kyle Garcia (Choctaw, OK) at 119 pounds; Cory Williamson (Geary, OK) at 135; Kyle Ash (Tulsa Union, OK) at 145; Ben Morgan (Catoosa, OK) at 152; Jace Bennett (Canyon Randall, TX) at 189; and Cody Dauphin (El Reno, OK) at 285.
A Grizzly day at the OHSWCA State Duals
For the second consecutive year -- Wadsworth, OH defeated St. Edward, OH in the final match of the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association (OHSWCA) Division I State Duals. This year's match was less dramatic, though the lead did change on multiple occasions, with the host Grizzlies taking it over one last time after the 152 pound match. Moving up from 145, Brad Squire -- ranked eighth in the country -- defeated Dominic Abounader by a 12-4 major decision. The score was 21-18 at that point.
Though Nick Sulzer -- ranked fourth in the nation - also wrestling up one weight at 171 for St. Edward, was able to cut the deficit to one at 24-23 after a 25-10 technical fall over Bart Randolph; Wadsworth swept the last three matches to finalize the margin. Caleb Busson (189), Nick Tavanello (215), and Ben Buzzelli (285) -- all favored to take home Division I state titles -- won by 9-2 decision, first period pin, and 3-2 decision respectively.
The turning point of the match came at 135 pounds, where after giving up the initial takedown of the match, Louden Gordon (Wadsworth) did a back flip and caught Mark Martin with a pancake to reverse him to his back for the fall with five seconds left in the first period. That turned a 12-8 team score deficit into a 14-12 lead for Wadsworth.
Rounding out the place finishers in Division I: Elder took third, Twinsburg was fourth, Mason fifth, Mentor sixth, Marysville seventh, and Springboro eighth.
As expected -- Graham, OH did walk away with the Division II state dual meet crown. Oak Harbor was second, Aurora third, Beaver Local fourth, Padua fifth, West Branch sixth, Claymont seventh, and Greenville eighth. However, a notable match outcome occurred in the semifinal round as a pair of state champions did battle at 119 pounds. It was the 11th ranked Nick Brascetta (Graham) upsetting fifth ranked Ty Mitch (Aurora) by a 4-3 decision; this avenged a Walsh Ironman quarterfinal match where Mitch came out on top 7-3.
The Division III tournament contained the most drama, as Cuyahoga Hts defeated West Jefferson by a 29-28 count in the championship bout. However, West Jefferson was deducted two team points after the 119 pound match where Aaron Branham had procured a third period pin. The wrestler was called for misconduct in the celebration, and the coach was also dinged in arguing the call with the official. Rounding out the place finishers in that division were Dixie in third, Monroeville took fourth, Waynedale fifth, Heath sixth, Elmwood seventh, and Troy Christian eighth.
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