Hall recovers in time for first Junior National title 

By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor

Adam Hall was enjoying an exceptional off-season since earning his third Idaho state championship for Bonners Ferry High School last winter.

            The future Boise State wrestler won the NHSCA Senior Nationals in Pittsburgh in March, followed by a pair of championships in both freestyle and Greco at the Western Regional in Las Vegas in April. Then after graduating from high school, he felt pretty good about being in Colorado Springs preparing for the Junior Nationals in Fargo last month, other than a little homesick.

            But that all changed during his last three days of national camp before arriving in Fargo.

            “I started feeling under the weather,” Hall said. “I went to the doctor and had an upper respiratory viral infection. I was drained, coughing up stuff. I was getting chills. It was bad news as I was trying to get my weight down. It was a battle.”

            That didn’t help Hall, who settled for fifth in Greco-Roman two days before freestyle began in the Fargodome.

            It wasn’t until he met Oregon’s Ryan Smith in the 152-pound freestyle finals that the healthier Hall returned.

            “It wasn’t until yesterday and today that I started to feel like even close to 100 percent,” Hall said July 29 as he defeated Smith, 1-0, 6-2.

            In celebration, Hall did a “snow angel” after he collapsed to the mat.

            “This is the culmination of my season,” said Hall, who finished second to Cyler Sanderson in the 2005 final. “This is everything that I trained for.”

            It was a good tournament for the entire Idaho team as two other members — Kirk Smith at 171 and Clayton Foster at 189 — also won championships.

            Smith’s title came after he finished second as a Cadet in 2005 and runner-up in the 2006 Greco final.

            “I knew that in the back of my head that I’d have another shot at it,” said Smith, who was cheered on as “Kirk-ules” by Idaho teammates during the freestyle final. Smith, a senior at Centennial High School in Boise, was forced to wear his 2005 singlet after he found the 2006 version too tight.

            “It was weird,” he said. “The first day, the singlet wasn’t fitting me and starting to cut off the circulation in my legs.”

            Foster, meanwhile, might have gotten a break from the mat officials who ruled that Colorado’s Sonny Yohn did not score a takedown after riding the Idaho wrestler on all fours during a 30-second period.

            While many thought Foster had lost part of his base when an elbow touched the mat, he was awarded the period and went on to win 0-1, 1-0, 4-1 for the 189-pound championship.

            “I was ahead by one and there was no way I was going to let him break me down,” said Foster, adding that he felt no ill effects heading into the third period. “I’ve trained hard. Idaho has a hard wrestling camp and I went to J Robinson’s (Intensive Camp).”

Caught by Connor

            One wrestler who was not as fortunate to recover from a near-fatal wrestling situation was Missouri’s Donte Butler, who fought out of a cow catcher in the final 30 seconds of the first period in his 112-pound final with Delaware’s Connor McDonald.

            While McDonald did not get the pin, he eventually dominated Butler, 5-0, 6-0, and credited his throw against the very quick Missouri wrestler.

            “When you get a cow catcher and hook it up tight, it pretty much sucks the air out of anybody,” said the two-time Delaware state champion from Suzzex Central High School. “When I sucked him under, I don’t think he was expecting it.

            “I took him down for one, which left him antsy and moving his feet. He likes to tie-up and I didn’t want to because I know he’s a real big upper-body guy. I managed to get his head underneath. When I faked a shutdown, he kind of pulled up, which gave me just enough room to suck the underhook in there and go hip-to-hip.”

Battle of champions

            Colorado’s 125-pound Tyler Graff may have been the leading candidate for O.W. honors considering the 2005 Cadet Nationals champ (112) had defeated 2005 Junior Nationals champion Mike Grey of New Jersey, 4-1, 3-2, in an eighth-round match and Greco-Roman champion Shawn Jones, 4-3, 1-2, 3-0, in a round-robin match.

            But that excitement changed when he met another returning Cadet champion: Washington’s Michael Mangrum, who won the 119-pound freestyle title in 2005, and shut down Graff, 3-0, 1-0, for the 2006 championship.

            Mangrum, who met Graff several times in past years, was aware of his opponent’s success in Fargo.

            “I just try to wrestle the best that I can and don’t let it affect me,” he said. “I try to get that stuff out of my head before the match.”

            The victory also helped Mangrum, a double winner in 2005, forget about finishing third in Greco-Roman in 2006.

            “(Juniors) was a lot harder and a lot more brutal than Cadets,” he said. “If this was Cadets, I might have doubled up again.”

            After securing the freestyle championship, Mangrum did several flips on the mat and eventually jumped into the arms of his father, Carl Mangrum, who has coached his son since Michael was two years old.

            “Over the years, he’s grown immensely,” said Carl of his son. “He’s a great kid, always focused. He’s just one of those kids who does what he’s supposed too do. I never have to worry about him being out of practice. When I say practice is at 3 p.m., he’s there at 3, no matter if there’s a party going on or kids are going to the lake.”

Lone star again

            In 2005, Luke Ashmore became the first wrestler from Texas to win a Cadet National champion. In 2006, the senior from Dallas’ Bishop Lynch High School became his state’s first Junior Nationals champion when he beat Minnesota’s Jake Deitchler, 6-0, 4-0.

            “I thought last year was a big deal to win Cadets, now this makes Cadets look like nothing,” said Ashmore, who rallied from losing a third-round match to reach the finals. “I’m happy that I won both.”

One for the little guys

            Pennsylvania’s 98-pound Junior freestyle champion John Prezzia knows he has some growing to do if he wants to wrestle some day in college. But the sophomore from South Side Beaver High School felt it was time to make coaches take notice as he defeated Ilinois’ Jon Morrison in the finals.

            “The college guys may not be looking at the little guys in particular but they are there,” said Prezzia, who missed Fargo last year after having shoulder surgery. “Some of the guys we’ve idolized are now coaches and watching. It’s an awesome feeling.”

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