Isaiah Quintero of California completes a single leg attack. Photo by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers Are Warriors
Official release by Joe Wedra, Special to TheMat.com
FARGO, N.D. - The first day of the 16U Men’s Freestyle competition wrapped up in Fargo on Saturday with 10 wrestlers still in contention to win a USA Wrestling Triple Crown. Saturday’s tournament progressed through the Round of 16, setting up Sunday’s quarterfinal matches here at the FargoDome. Heading into Sunday, there are still 10 wrestlers ranked in FloWrestling’s national rankings vying for a championship.
The coveted USA Wrestling Triple Crown is given to wrestlers who win USA Wrestling Folkstyle, Greco-Roman and Freestyle national titles in the same year. There have been 23 16U Triple Crown winners since 2003. The Triple Crown contenders are listed below.
Saturday’s action began at 8 a.m. CST, marking an earlier start time due to the high number of entries, which will be the largest-ever turnout at this event. Sunday’s competition will also begin at 8 a.m.
Saturday was highlighted by impressive action in the 106, 113 and 120 weights, three consecutive weight classes that boast a combined 13 ranked wrestlers in the FloWrestling national rankings. It did not take long for the notable wins to start taking place, with #7 Isaiah Quintero (106) starting the day with a victory over Virginia’s Chase Van Hoven, a Folkstyle Nationals champion at 100lbs. Quintero also knocked off #17 Jameson Garcia and is one of the Sunday’s quarterfinalists, all of which can are listed at the bottom of this story.
Two significant upsets occurred at 113 pounds toward the end of the first session – New Jersey’s Leo DeLuca knocked off #10 Jaxon Joy of Ohio, while Nick Treaster of Kansas pinned #18 Logan Lau of Hawaii to highlight the final minutes of the morning session. In what looks to be an exciting match, DeLuca and Treaster will face off tomorrow to battle for a spot in the semifinals.
After the first session, 14 of the 16 FloWrestling nationally-ranked athletes in the 16U men’s freestyle division were still competing in the championship bracket.
Saturday’s Round of 16 action rolled through with plenty of excitement, including several major upsets to break into the second session of the tournament. Three ranked wrestlers dropped matches to mix up multiple brackets as competition continued on. New Jersey’s Anthony Knox began the string of upsets at 106 with a win over #8 Ethan Rivera of Florida at 106 pounds. Knox turned heads all day, out-scoring his competition 40-0.
Shortly after, California’s Brock Mantanona (113) had perhaps the standout match of the afternoon, knocking off #3 Carter Freeman of Iowa in a dominant 12-6 decision. Mantanona, who has two talented wrestling brothers (Troy and Beau) with impressive Division-I wrestling accolades, looks to potentially be one of the best stories to watch on Sunday. His quarterfinals match will be against Georgia’s Drew Gorman.
Mantanona’s upset was followed just minutes later by Vince Bouzakis of Pennsylvania taking down Ohio’s #18 Omar Ayoub, 11-7, in the 126-pound Round of 16. Bouzakis’ brother, Nic, is a USA Wrestling Greco-Roman Junior World Team member at 60kg.
Looking at the team race, Team Pennsylvania leads the way with 18 wrestlers in the quarterfinals. Shortly behind is Team Minnesota, who will have 13 wrestlers in tomorrow’s quarterfinals.
The 16U wrestling begins again tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. CST at the FargoDome. As always, FloWrestling will broadcast every match.
16U MEN'S FREESTYLE NATIONALS
at Fargo, N.D., July 17
Quarterfinal pairings
88 pounds
Javaan Yarbrough (Ohio) vs. Revin Dickman (Indiana)
Griffin Rial (Colorado) vs. Cole Welte (Nebraska)
Lawson Eller (Minnesota) vs. Aydan Thomas (Texas)
Kole Davidheiser (Pennsylvania) vs. Haakon Peterson (Wisconsin)
94 pounds
Mack Mauger (Idaho) vs. Lincoln Flayter (Wisconsin)
Tyler Garvin (Maryland) vs. Ezekiel Witt (Kansas)
Cadell Lee (Virginia) vs. Michael Olson (Minnesota)
Devon Harrison (Missouri) vs. Riley Rowan (Ohio)
100 pounds
Dru Ayala (Iowa) vs. Seth Mendoza (Illinois)
Dedrick Navarro (Idaho) vs. Chase Quenault (New Jersey)
Blake Beissel (Minnesota) vs. Carson Walsh (New Jersey)
Christian Castillo (Arizona) vs. Layne Kleimann (Utah)
106 pounds
Nathan Desmond (Pennsylvania) vs. Isaiah Quintero (California)
Anthony Knox (New Jersey) vs. Marcus Blaze (Ohio)
Carter Nogle (Maryland) vs. Sam Herring (Pennsylvania)
Jackson Blum (Michigan) vs. Jack Nelson (Minnesota)
113 pounds
Jack Consiglio (Pennsylvania) vs. Jax Forrest (North Carolina)
Nick Treaster (Kansas) vs. Leo DeLuca (New Jersey)
Drew Gorman (Georgia) vs. Brock Mantanona (California)
Draegen Orine (Missouri) vs. Vincent Kilkeary (Pennsylvania)
120 pounds
Kael Lauridsen (Nebraska) vs. Luke Stanich (New Jersey)
Adrian Meza (Arizona) vs. Tyler Wells (Minnesota)
Casen Roark (Tennessee) vs. Jacob Myers (Colorado)
Tyson Charmoli (Minnesota) vs. Aden Valencia (California)
126 pounds
Mason Gibson (Pennsylvania) vs. Nick Gorman (Pennsylvania)
Kamdyn Williams (Pennsylvania) vs. Kyler Larkin (Arizona)
Landon Robideau (Minnesota) vs. Gunner Andrick (West Virginia)
Vince Bouzakis (Pennsylvania) vs. Edmund Enright (Illinois)
132 pounds
Christopher Coates (Missouri) vs. Jason Mara (Idaho)
Travis Grace (California) vs. Gabriel Bouyssou (Rhode Island)
Zach Hanson (Minnesota) vs. Anwar Alli (Ohio)
Cross Wasilewski (New Jersey) vs. Casper Stewart (New York)
138 pounds
Alessio Perentin (New Jersey) vs. Tyler Kasak (Pennsylvania)
Ethan Mojena (Florida) vs. Jayden Robinson (Illinois)
August Hibler (New Jersey) vs. Nicholas Kunstek (Pennsylvania)
James Chance (Ohio) vs. Joel Adams (Nebraska)
145 pounds
Charlie Millard (Wisconsin) vs. Brodie Dominique (Ohio)
Zane Licht (Wisconsin) vs. William Henckel (Connecticut)
Latrell Schafer (Georgia) vs. Brett Back (Wisconsin)
Logan Shaw (Illinois) vs. Pierson Manville (Pennsylvania)
152 pounds
Nicholas Fox (Iowa) vs. Zachary Eliszewski (Wisconsin)
Zack Ryder (New York) vs. Dominic Bambinelli (Georgia)
Kj Evans (Oklahoma) vs. Lars Michaelson (Washington)
Griffin Lundeen (Minnesota) vs. Macon Ayers (Virginia)
160 pounds
Aeoden Sinclair (Wisconsin) vs. Travis Smith (Minnesota)
Talon McCollom (Oklahoma) vs. Daschle Lamer (Oregon)
Louie Cerchio (New Jersey) vs. Brent Slade (Iowa)
Roman Garcia (Florida) vs. Zeke Dubler (Pennsylvania)
170 pounds
Cody Merrill (California) vs. Jared Schoppe (New Jersey)
Keegan Sell (Ohio) vs. Toby Schoffstall (Virginia)
Brian Burburija (Florida) vs. Dalton Loyden (Arizona)
Oscar Williams (Oklahoma) vs. Gabriel Arnold (Georgia)
182 pounds
Connor Mirasola (Wisconsin) vs. Dominic Thebeau (Illinois)
Camden McDanel (Ohio) vs. Noah Blair (Nebraska)
Soren Herzog (Minnesota) vs. Luke Vanadia (Ohio)
Cole Mirasola (Wisconsin) vs. De’Alcapon Veazy (Indiana)
195 pounds
McCrae Hagarty (Iowa) vs. Aiden Hight (Pennsylvania)
Sonny Sasso (Pennsylvania) vs. Evan Franke (Iowa)
Adam Haselius (Michigan) vs. Max McEnelly (Minnesota)
Carter Neves (Ohio) vs. William McCleary (Utah)
220 pounds
Koy Hopke (Wisconsin) vs. Austin Johnson (Pennsylvania)
Parker Ferrell (Virginia) vs. Samuel Murphy (Missouri)
Nicholas Sahakian (California) vs. Zachary Evans (Pennsylvania)
Vaun Halstead (Oregon) vs. Jacob Walker (Iowa)
285 pounds
Will Sather (Minnesota) vs. Cameron Groncki (New York)
Spencer Lanosga (Louisiana) vs. Sebastian Lopez (Kansas)
Aiden Compton (Pennsylvania) vs. Aidan Trujillo (Colorado)
Aidan Fockler (Ohio) vs. Navarro Schunke (South Dakota)
Current 16U Men’s Freestyle Teams With Most Wrestlers in Championship Bracket
1 - Pennsylvania (18)
2 - Minnesota (13)
3 - Ohio (11)
T4 - New Jersey (10)
T4 - Wisconsin (10)
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