Rob Sherrill's Award Winners from Cadet/Junior Nationals
This past July’s Asics Vaughan USAW Fargo Cadet and Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D., officially closed the book on another exciting high school season. And, as we reported in the last issue, some new faces took their places among the nation’s wrestling elite.
A couple of highlights included Brent Metcalf of Davison (Mich.) High, now at Virginia Tech, who got the last laugh among the nation’s elite graduated seniors with his third consecutive double Juniors title; and three-time Florida state champion David Craig (of Brandon High), who faced high expectations as the nation’s top junior by winning a double crown of his own at 171.
But there’s plenty of time to look ahead to the next season. We’ll be doing that, starting in the next issue. For the moment, one task remains: giving credit where credit is due.
So let’s pass around a couple of macro-level awards: five states that stood out under the “Dome”…and three high school programs that also made their marks.
Five states that made an impact at Fargo
State of the Year: Missouri
The “Show-Me” state produced some outstanding individuals over the years: Sammie Henson and T.J. Hill, to name a couple. For most of its Fargo history, however, Missouri has fit a familiar profile: small-population state, mediocre team record.
This year, Mis-souri showed the rest of the nation they aim to join the nation’s elite.
Missouri won the championship of the Cadet National Freestyle Duals earlier in the month, then parlayed that momentum into its
best week ever at Fargo. With a pair of third-place finishes (Cadet Greco-Roman, Junior freestyle) and a fifth-place finish in the Cadet freestyle meet, Missouri joined Pennsyl-vania as the only two states to record three top-five team finishes. A 10th-place finish in Junior Greco-Roman gave the Show-Me State four Top 10s, a feat only Minnesota and Pennsyl-vania duplicated.Overall, Missouri had 28 All-Americans, sixth overall behind Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio, Washington and Illinois, and five champions, and was one of just two states — Iowa was the other — to crown a champion in each tournament.
Unlike some other states that made a big splash, Missouri’s resurgence was broad-based. Kansas City-area schools like Oak Park High and Blue Springs High led the way, but the All-Americans represented a dozen different schools from each of the state’s regions and all four enrollment classes.
Oak Park coach Gary Mayabb, whose school hosts the Competitors Association Club, says the Kansas City area, at least, is poised for a run of at least five years. This year provided quite a foundation.
The best of the rest…
Florida
Led by the state’s top two teams, 2A champion Brandon High and 3A champion Oviedo High, the Sunshine state laid waste to the Junior Greco-Roman field, advancing six to the finals and crowning four champions. Five of the six were from Brandon and, had ace Franklin Gomez’s points counted toward their total instead of for his native Puerto Rico, Florida would have edged Pennsylvania for the title…and taken the overall champions count with eight. Still, the unofficial title felt as good as a win to the Sunshine Boys.
Oviedo’s Jesse Robbins added depth to his state’s showing with his upset of Brandon teammate Rocky Cozart in the Junior Greco-Roman final.
Iowa
With one of the nation’s top senior classes, Iowa carried the burden of high expectations all year and lived up to the hype with a great July. The “Dirty Rotten Corn” Iowa squad took the Junior Duals freestyle title and ended the month at Fargo on a high note with a strong second-place finish in Junior Freestyle, leading the nation with three champions and 11 All-Americans.
Iowa State-recruit Mitch Mueller (135) and Iowa-recruit Ryan Morningstar (152) turned in Outstanding Wrestler-caliber performances to lead the senior class performance. One of just two teams to crown a champion in each tournament, Iowa’s six overall champions were matched only by California and Florida.
Pennsylvania
Their 2005 performance wasn’t one of the Keystone State’s best…not by their standards, anyway. But any other state would happily accept this “average” performance: three team titles (Junior Greco-Roman, Cadet and Junior freestyle) and a national-best 44 All-Americans. The Keystoners’ top-five team finishes and double-digit All-American totals in all four tournaments also were accomplishments no other team matched.
Sure, the Junior Greco-Roman title was only “official,” due to Gomez’s points counting for Puerto Rico instead of Florida. Sure, the fact that double champion Adam Frey competed in another state during his high-school career means that only two of the state’s four champions actually competed at a Pennsylvania high school. But…if this state is ever truly “on” at Fargo, the rest of the field is in real trouble.
Washington
Team George took the Cadet Nationals by storm. Despite being edged 52-50 by Minnesota for the Cadet Greco-Roman crown, Washington had 13 All-Americans (only Pennsylvania, with 14 in Cadet freestyle, had more in a tournament), and their 23 Cadet National All-Americans overall were just one fewer than the Keystone State. They also finished ninth in Junior Greco-Roman, and their 30 overall All-Americans allowed them to join Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Ohio in the 30-Plus Club.
Michael Mangrum (119) was a double Cadet champion and only Andrew Buck’s loss in the freestyle final at 171 kept Washington from becoming the only state with two double gold medalists.
Three high school programs that shined…
Brandon, Fla.
Coach Russ Cozart’s Eagles shattered the Fargo record books with their performance in the two Junior National tournaments.
Five Brandon wrestlers — Franklin Gomez (119), Cesar Grajales (135), Marco Toledo (152), Rocky Cozart (160) and David Craig (171) — all advanced to the Greco-Roman finals. Three, Gomez, Toledo and Craig, won titles. The five nearly led Florida to the team title single-handedly.
The Eagles weren’t finished. Gomez, Cozart and Craig again found their way to the freestyle finals, all three winning titles. Grajales added a third-place finish.
Brandon set the following records for a single school: most wrestlers in the finals of a Junior tournament (five); most wrestlers in the finals overall (eight); and most Junior Greco-Roman champions (three). Their two double champions tied a record.
It may be a long time before we see such a performance again.
Blairstown, N.J. Blair Academy
They’ve had better teams with more superstars. But in a year that was just average, by their standards, four Blair wrestlers managed to win titles at Fargo this week.
Adam Frey (130) dominated the Juniors, giving the freestyle-oriented Bucs a rare double champion. Two more Blair wrestlers won Cadet freestyle titles, Kellen Russell (125) and Mario Mason (135), showing the conditioning and full-mat intensity Blair is known for. Add in Connecticut champion Anthony Valles’ Cadet title at 98 and the number of titles won by past, current and future Blair wrestlers swells to five.
With five other Cadet or Junior freestyle All-Americans, including coach Jeff Buxton’s son, Tony, in the Cadets, any thoughts of Blair’s run of high-school national titles coming to an end any time soon seems remote.
Kansas City, Mo. Oak Park
Many schools contributed to Missouri’s Fargo success, but Oak Park wrestlers were the team’s heart and soul. The lower and middle weights are as tough as it gets. Sophomore-to-be Brent Haynes hasn’t yet won the state, but was a double Cadet All-American. Shane Nay (135) won the Cadet Greco-Roman title and Dylan Joiner (130) finished third as Oak Park made itself the favorite to win its seventh state title in a 12-year span.
Despite getting no point contributions from defending Junior freestyle champion Zack Bailey and former Cadet champion Scott O’Donnell, Mayabb has clearly shown that his Competitors Association Club is producing far more than those two proven stars. Both also return next season, when Bailey should be fully recovered from the shoulder injury he sustained at the Junior Duals.
Metcalf’s passing felt
The tragic death of former Davison (Mich.) High standout Chase Metcalf is being felt by those who knew and loved him.
“It’s really a tough time for all of us right now,” Davison coach Roy Hall said about Metcalf, killed in an automobile accident Sept. 8, less than two weeks after his 21st birthday. That morning, Hall was called out of his classroom at Davison Middle School and summoned to the high school to share the horrible news with his team.
“The kids were devastated, and to be honest, I’m not sure I handled it much better,” Hall said. “But kids are resilient. I think when it’s all said and done, we’ll be all right.”
Davison wrestling has been competitive for many years; Hall himself was one of the program’s former stars. But Metcalf helped put the Cardinals on the national wrestling map after his parents, Thomas and Lynn, moved the family to Davison from Goodrich, where Chase had finished third in the state as a freshman and sophomore.
Metcalf didn’t lose a match at Davison, going 111-0 and winning state titles as a junior and senior while becoming the program’s most visible face. His brother, Brent, now a freshman at Virginia Tech, followed in his footsteps with four state titles and three double Junior National crowns.
Last year, Chase Metcalf returned to the Davison program as part of Hall’s coaching staff.
“The thing I’ll miss most is his energy,” said Hall, whose team opens its season against Ohio power Lakewood St. Edward High. “He was a vibrant personality and full of life. He was great for the kids and (being a coach) was great for him.”
(Rob Sherrill is one of the top high school wrestling analysts in the country and a long-time columnist of W.I.N. He also publishes the “American High School Wrestling Yearbook”. To order a copy, e-mail him at centermatpress@hotmail.com.)
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