15 Must-Watch Freestyle Semifinals in Fargo

The semifinals in men’s freestyle, at the 16U and Junior divisions, have been set! Up-and-down both age groups, there are plenty of great matchups. Ranked-versus-ranked matches all over the place. For those unranked, they’ll likely make their way in the rankings after this tournament! While every matchup you’ll see Wednesday morning is worth watching, we’ve singled out 15 of the top “must-watch” bouts, with a brief explanation, as well. 16U 100 lbs - Cameron Sontz (New Jersey) vs. Caleb Noble (Illinois) MatScouts latest rankings dropped seniors from the Class of 2023 and included incoming high school freshmen. Two of those are Cameron Sontz and Caleb Noble, currently ranked 16th and 17th, respectively, at 106 lbs. The pair met in the UWW U17 World Team Trials and Sontz prevailed for fifth place. 16U 113 lbs - Konner Larkin (Arizona) vs. Isaiah Harrison (Colorado) We’ve got another talented Larkin brother in Konner, who is following in the footsteps of older brothers Kaleb and Kyler. Konner made the semis after racking up four techs in five bouts. His only non-tech was a seven-point victory over seventh-ranked Carter Pearson (Iowa). His opponent is Isaiah Harrison, who is fresh off of an 11-7 upset over #3 Lincoln Sledzianowski (106 lbs). Earlier in the tournament, Harrison needed less than 90 seconds to down Class of 2026 Big Board’er Titan Friederichs (Minnesota). 16U 138 lbs - Blue Stiffler (Georgia) vs. Mason Wagner (Pennsylvania) Blue Stiffler, not ranked overall or in the Class of 2025, made a name for himself and pulled off a huge upset in the quarters when he edged Thomas Verrette 3-3 on criteria. Verrette was the top seed after placing third in freestyle and winning the Greco stop sign in 2022. Next, he’ll have to contend with Mason Wagner, who was part of a talented contingent of freshmen at Pennsylvania’s Faith Christian Academy. Wagner was fifth in PA’s AA state tournament in 2023. 16U 195 lbs - Dreshaun Ross (Iowa) vs. David Calkins (California) A returning 16U freestyle champion and the top-ranked wrestler in the Class of 2026, Dreshaun Ross should breeze through the field and win title number two, right? That’s certainly possible seeing as Ross has made the semis with three techs in three matches and has yet to surrender a single point. His opponent tomorrow, David Calkins, has been every bit as dominant as Ross. Calkins has four techs and has shut out each of his opponents. Both wrestlers just finished their freshman year in high school. Ross ended with an Iowa state title, while Calkins was eighth in California. Junior 113 lbs - Jake Knight (Iowa) vs. Christopher Kiser (Oklahoma) Jake Knight moves up to the Junior level for the first year and knocked off one of the favorites in the quarterfinals as he put up six points in the second period to down #9 Mack Mauger (Idaho). A match prior, he had taken out #4 Ayden Smith (Pennsylvania). He’ll attempt to make it three top-ten wrestlers in as many matches with Michigan recruit Christopher Kiser in the semis. Kiser has generally been dominant with a seven-point win over Johnny Green (Ohio) in the quarters representing his closest match. Junior 120 lbs - Beric Jordan (Oklahoma) vs. Isaiah Cortez (California) It’ll be two of the top-six 120 lbers in the country doing battle as #3 Isaiah Cortez meets #6 Beric Jordan. Cortez is always in contention with third-place finishes in both styles last year at the 16U division. Earlier this year, he was third in both styles at UWW’s. Jordan is looking to post his third ranked win of the tournament after downing #12 Gauge Botero (Pennsylvania) and #17 Cam Stinson (North Carolina). Junior 120 lbs - Leo DeLuca (New Jersey) vs. Ethan Rivera (Florida) The other half of the Junior 120 lb bracket contains two top-ten talents with Leo DeLuca and Ethan Rivera. Currently, DeLuca is ranked fifth and Rivera ninth. During the high school season, DeLuca was a National Prep champ at 113 lbs, while Rivera was seventh at 120 lbs. Last year, DeLuca won the 16U freestyle title at 113 lbs and Rivera was eighth at 106 lbs. Junior 126 lbs - Brady Roark (Missouri) vs. Jax Forrest (Pennsylvania) One of the most impressive performances from the first two days of the tournament(s) have come from graduated senior Brady Roark. The future South Dakota State Jackrabbit has a handful of quality wins and might be considered a surprise semifinalist. The stakes are even higher in the semis as Roark will take on 2022 U17 World silver medalist Jax Forrest. Though just entering his sophomore year of high school, Forrest is one of the top pound-for-pound high schoolers in the country. He’ll serve as a great litmus test for the impressive Roark. Junior 132 lbs - Kale Peterson (Iowa) vs. Dalton Perry (Pennsylvania) Could this be a preview of things to come in college with Kale Peterson on his way to Iowa and rising junior Dalton Perry already committed to Penn State? We have plenty of time before the two could square off representing their respective home-state powers, so you may as well enjoy this one. The top-seeded Peterson was finally scored on in the quarterfinals and had to pull out some late-match heroics to topple Matthew Botello (Massachusetts) last match. A pair of scores in the last :15 seconds pushed him into the semis, 9-6. Perry breezed through the quarters but was in an entertaining shootout against Dmitri Alarcon (Colorado) in the Round of 16 earlier in the day. Both have been pushed to the brink so far this tournament, so I’d expect points to be scored by both parties. Junior 145 lbs - Kannon Webster (Illinois) vs. Jaxon Joy (Ohio) Kannon Webster is looking to put himself into elite company by making his third Junior freestyle final and winning his second title. Everything we’ve seen this week leads one to believe that another Webster win is inevitable. Webster was finally pushed a bit in his quarterfinal match against Christopher Coates (Indiana) after a series of one-sided matches leading up to that point. Jaxon Joy hasn’t even had that one “close call” yet. He’s posted six techs and only surrendered points in one of those contests. The most recent win came at the expense of #13 Layton Schneider (Oklahoma). Joy’s semifinal appearance has already locked up a placement higher than his in 2022 (7th). Junior 152 lbs - Collin Gaj (Pennsylvania) vs. Grigor Cholakyan (California) It’s an intriguing East Coast/West Coast matchup at 152 lbs between Collin Gaj and Grigor Cholakyan. Both were third in Fargo in 2022, with Gaj doing so at the 16U level and Cholakyan as a Junior. Gaj is currently ranked fifth in the country at 145 lbs and #15 overall in the Class of 2025. Cholakyan, a Stanford recruit, is #36 in the Class of 2024 and #11 at 152 lbs. In his last match, Gaj teched a wrestler ranked above Cholakyan at 152 lbs, Paul Ognissanti (Maryland). Junior 182 lbs - Justin Rademacher (Oregon) vs. Orlando Cruz (Indiana) It can be a rare sight for top-notch graduated seniors to compete at Fargo these days, so it’s fun to see a pair of Big Board’ers in the mix at 182 lbs with Justin Rademacher and Orlando Cruz. Both will stay in-state for college as Rademacher is heading to Oregon State and Cruz will be a Purdue Boilermaker. Rademacher has had little resistance in securing his second Junior freestyle All-American honor. In his last match against future Pac-12 rival Cole Han-Lindemyer (Minnesota/Stanford), Han-Lindemyer scored the first four points, but Rademacher stormed back to win 17-7. Cruz’s biggest test came in the Round of 16 when he downed Jarrel Miller Jr., one of the top wrestlers in the Class of 2025. Cruz also came back from an early deficit (6-0) to get his win. Junior 195 lbs - Jersey Robb (Oklahoma) vs. Karson Tompkins (Texas) A member of Oklahoma State’s top-ranked recruiting Class of 2024, Jersey Robb’s win in the quarters clinched Fargo AA honors for the first time. Robb has yet to be tested, or even scored upon, during his run to the semifinals. A neighbor to the south may have something to say about that as Karson Tompkins has been extremely impressive in his own right. Tompkins has teched Class of 2023 Big Board’ers (Kingsley Menifee and Justin Griffith) in each of his last two matches. Tompkins is currently ranked #72 overall in the Class of 2024, but that could change with his strong tournament thus far. Junior 220 lbs - Cole Mirasola (Wisconsin) vs. Jay Henderson (Utah) Last year’s 220 lb 16U national champion, Jay Henderson, has stepped up to the Junior level and will get his stiffest test of the tournament thus far with 2022 fifth-place finisher Cole Mirasola. Cole is one of seven Wisconsin wrestlers in the Junior freestyle semis, which has them in first place heading into Wednesday. Mirasola had four straight techs before getting by Coby Merrill (California) 8-4 in the quarters. Henderson’s closest call came against Hudson Skove (New Jersey) in the Round of 16, when he prevailed, 8-5. Junior 285 lbs - Navarro Schunke (South Dakota) vs. Koy Hopke (Wisconsin) The heavyweight bracket in Fargo has some excellent semifinalists. Graduated senior Aden Attao is up top leaving #1 Koy Hopke and #4 Navarro Schunke on the bottom half and on a collision course for Wednesday morning. In 2021, both wrestlers were double 16U champions in Fargo, Hopke winning at 220 and Schunke at 285 lbs. Both have made the semis on the strength of four-straight techs along the way. This is one we hoped to see, so don’t leave early before the big guys take center stage!

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15 Must-Watch Freestyle Semifinals in Fargo

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