Elite preps to answer top Fargo questions
FARGO, N.D. — No, I’m not really writing this column from the FargoDome. However, I hope I’ll have given you the flavor — flies and all — of a week in the 72-degree, 1-square-mile-east-west-north-and-south world that is the Cadet and Junior National Championships at the dome.
Or, to be exact, the Asics Vaughan USA Wrestling Cadet and Junior National Championships. Be ready for the quiz later.
Of course, if you can answer the upcoming 10 questions correctly, any name — even one this long — will be a snap. At any rate, the answers the wrestlers provide will serve as an interesting backdrop for next year’s high school scholastic season.
Unlike Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, USA Wrestling has come up with the real midsummer classic. Held July 23-30 here at the dome, one of high school wrestling’s shrines, over 3,000 wrestlers of high school age will compete on as many as 24 mats to get the best competition possible anywhere … any time.
With apologies to the lovely and talented David Letterman, let’s run down our 10 Most Pressing Questions to be Answered at Fargo 2005, in no particular order.
1. Will the long-awaited Schlatter-Metcalf match under the Dome finally take place?
Yes, I know … the nation’s top two senior middleweights, Dustin Schlatter of Massillon (Ohio) Perry High and Brent Metcalf of Davison (Mich.) High, wrestled twice this year during the scholastic season; the 145-pounders splitting the two matches. Metcalf rode out Schlatter in a 3-3 referee’s decision in the finals of the Medina (Ohio) Invitational Tournament du
ring the Christmas holidays and Schlatter evened the score with a 4-3 victory in the finals of the NHSCA National High School Seniors Wrestling Championships in April.But the reason those matches were so eagerly anticipated was because they didn’t take place here last summer. A broken hand kept Schlatter from trying for a second consecutive double Junior title and third double crown overall. With his path cleared of any obstacles named Schlatter, Metcalf cruised to his second double Junior title. Overall, Schlatter has won six titles under the Dome, Metcalf five.
With Schlatter headed west to powerful Minnesota and Metcalf going the other direction to help build Virginia Tech’s program, it’s not likely the two will meet often during their collegiate careers. And that’s what makes a potential Dome showdown all the more interesting.
With the emphasis on action at Fargo, Metcalf, who likes initiating in-your-face pressure, could have the advantage. But Schlatter did a masterful job of slowing him down at the High School Nationals, so the jury’s out on this one.
2. Can Nickerson become the first to win back-to-back double OWs?
Last year, we posed a Troy Nickerson question of a slightly different take: Could he make a seamless transition from the Cadet to the Junior level?
From Chenango Forks High in Binghamton, N.Y., Cornell-recruit Troy Nickerson made New York history with his fifth state championship this season, surpassing Harvard NCAA champion Jesse Jantzen’s four titles. He also won his third Outstanding Wrestler award, and didn’t have a state tournament match go the distance those final three seasons.
Still, that question was worth asking, considering that a year ago at this time he had competed only in the Cadet Division under the Dome.
It didn’t take us long to get an answer.
Some wrestlers are motivated by challenges, and Nickerson quickly showed he was one of those. He rolled through both tournaments with identical 9-0 records, only two of those 18 matches going the distance. Those were his round-robin matches in the Greco-Roman tournament, by decisions of 6-0 and 9-5. He won both his finals matches with first-period 10-0 technical falls and he became only the second wrestler to add both Outstanding Wrestler awards to his hardware haul in the same year. The other was Iowan Steve Knight in 1982. With his performance, Nickerson clearly added his name to Schlatter and Metcalf, making the nation’s top two seniors a top three.
3. Could Henry Cejudo become the next giant killer?
If you thought the 145-pound weight class posed some high drama, Nickerson could be in the middle of some himself.
One of the leaders of the Class of 2006, Henry Cejudo of Colorado Springs (Colo.) Coronado High, could also be at 125 pounds though he might still be a little light for the weight. Like Nickerson, Cejudo has back-to-back double titles — one Cadet, one Junior — so this, too, could be a double meeting.
It would be quite a contrast in styles — Cejudo’s speed and offense on the feet against Nickerson’s experience and grit — not to mention that deadly tilt on top.
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