Reader wins double title; New Jersey edges Ohio

By Rob Sherrill, W.I.N. High School Editor

FARGO, N.D. — Last year, it was future Virginia Tech standout Brent Metcalf closing his high school career with a double title.

            This year, Iowa State-recruit Jonathan Reader became the second wrestler from powerful Davison (Mich.) High in as many years to end his career that way, ending years of Fargodome disappointments by becoming the only wrestler in the Asics/Vaughan Junior National Championships to win both Greco-Roman and freestyle titles, July 22-29.

            Wrestling in one of the nation’s toughest weight classes (160 pounds) this year,  Reader won both titles in three-period marathons. He won a 1-1 showdown over three-time Utah state champion Talan Knox of Salt Lake City Brighton High in the final period in the Greco-Roman final. The first two periods had gone 6-0 to Reader and 3-0 to Knox, who is headed for the U.S. Olympic Education Program at Northern Michigan University.

            Reader was voted the Outstanding Wrestler in the freestyle tournament after rallying from a 1-0 opening-period loss to five-time North Dakota champion Scott Glasser of Bismarck High. Reader won a 1-1 decision to set up a classic third-period comeback. After falling behind 3-0, Reader scored a reversal to get on the scoreboard, then gut-wrenched Glasser twice, holding his shoulders to the mat the second time long enough to score a pin 54 seconds into the period.

            Iowa completed its domination of the Greco-Roman team competition, sweeping the two titles by outscoring runner-up Florida, 53-43.            

            The freestyle team race, meanwhile, couldn’t have been any closer. New Jersey, with a 14-13 edge in All-Americans, led Ohio by a single point, 59-58, heading into the finals round and came away with the same margin of victory, 66-65, to put its name on the Acordia Cup.

            Idaho stole a bit of the thunder from the top two, leading all states with three freestyle champions: Adam Hall (152) of Bonners Ferry High, Kirk Smith (171) of Boise Centennial High and Clayton Foster (189) of Kamiah High.

            The Outstanding Wrestler award in the Greco-Roman tournament went to the 112-pound champion, Eric Grajales of Brandon (Fla.) High. Grajales beat Donte Butler of St. Louis (Mo.) Sumner High 5-5, 5-2 in the final after scoring two pins and five technical falls in seven matches in pool competition.

            Let’s move on to the individual weight classes. Here’s a rundown of what happened in each.

            98 pounds: Nathan Furches of Derby (Kan.) High, the runner-up to Grajales in the Cadet National Greco-Roman final a year ago, gave up only two points in five matches in winning the Greco-Roman title. State qualifier Jon Morrison of Orland Park (Ill.) Carl Sandburg High ended Furches’ bid for a double title with a three-period victory in the fourth round of the freestyle competition.

            Morrison then lost 1-1, 1-0 to Class AA state champion John Prezzia of Hookstown (Pa.) South Side Beaver High in the final. Furches, Brian Reisenauer of North Dakota, Ridge Kiley of Iowa, Jacob Farber of Ohio and Cody Dill of New York all earned All-America honors in each style.

            105 pounds: Justin Forrest of Peculiar (Mo.) Raymore-Peculiar High kept his state’s Greco-Roman momentum going by taking the title, 6-0, 5-1, over New Jersey state champion Fred Santaite of Allendale Northern Highlands High.

            Santaite reached the freestyle final as well, but again had to settle for second place, falling in three periods to Ben Sergent of Troy (Ohio) Christian High. Sergent also blocked Forrest’s bid for a double title with a 2-1, 1-0 victory in the fourth freestyle round. Forrest needed a pair of three-period wins en route to the Greco-Roman final. Forrest and Andrew Long of Iowa, the 84-pound Cadet Nationals double champion a year ago, were double All-Americans.

            112 pounds: Selected the Junior National Greco-Roman Wrestler of the Year by USA Wrestling, Grajales lost just one period en route to the freestyle title, adding a seventh-place freestyle finish. Butler, who has four top-three finishes at Fargo the past two years, reached both finals but, like Santaite, finished second twice.

            After finishing sixth in Greco-Roman, Connor McDonald of Georgetown (Del.) Sussex Central High garnered some Outstanding Wrestler votes with his march to the freestyle title. He had three pins and three technical falls in pool competition and blanked Butler 5-0, 6-0 in the final.

            Grajales again beat Butler, who has yet to win the rapidly-improving Missouri state tournament in three tries, in three periods in the freestyle fifth round before running out of gas, losing back-to-back matches to California’s Boris Novachkov, third in both tournaments, and Nebraska’s Andy Pokorny, fifth in both tournaments, and needed a special-match pin over Delaware’s Luis Burgos to get back into the medals. Butler beat Novachkov in both tournaments, both in three periods.

            119 pounds: Two of the nation’s top juniors, Cadet Greco-Roman champion Nikko Triggas of Moraga (Calif.) Campolindo High and Asics First Team All-American Zach Sanders of Wabasha-Kellogg (Minn.) High, were impressive in winning the Greco-Roman and freestyle titles, respectively. Triggas had to go three periods in four of his final five matches to win his title, one of those over Sanders in the seventh round.

            Sanders finished sixth after losing to fellow double All-American John Trumbetti of Montvale (N.J.) St. Joseph Regional High in the round robin. It was smooth sailing for Sanders in freestyle, however. He didn’t lose a period until the final against Old Dominion-recruit James Nicholson of Des Moines (Iowa) Roosevelt High. Clearly the aggressor throughout, Sanders won the last period 3-0 over Nicholson, who beat Triggas, the weight’s third and final All-American, 3-1, 4-3, in the eighth round.

            125 pounds: It’s not often a double Cadet National champion is an underdog, but Michael Mangrum of Auburn (Wash.) Riverside High played the role perfectly in the freestyle final, shutting out Tyler Graff of Loveland (Colo.) High, 3-0, 1-0, in a battle of two of the nation’s top sophomores. Graff impressively marched to the finals, beating Greco-Roman champion Shawn Jones of Blackfoot (Idaho) Snake River High in three periods in their final round-robin match.             Mangrum wasn’t bad himself, pinning five of his nine pool opponents. Jones repeated as Greco-Roman champion without losing a period, picking up five technical falls in pool competition and beating two-time Washington champion Kelly Kubec of Lake Stevens High, 8-4, 3-2, in the final. Mangrum and Kubec also earned double All-America honors.

            130 pounds: Never before a Fargo place-winner, Jeff Rau of Council Bluffs (Iowa) Lewis Central High rebounded from a fourth-round loss to Trenton Washington of Nebraska with five straight victories and the Greco-Roman title, 2-2, 4-3, over returning finalist Josh Strait of Arimo (Idaho) Marsh Valley High.

            Every point was important in the freestyle finals and two-time National Prep champion Kellen Russell of Blairstown (N.J.) Blair Academy and the Cadet National champion a year ago, did his part. His 6-0, 2-0 shutout win over Old Dominion-recruit Adam Koballa of Bedford (Ohio) St. Peter Chanel High gave New Jersey a split of two head-to-head finals bouts against Ohio. Russell scored five technical falls in his first six matches, allowing just five points in the tournament.

            135 pounds: A spectacular throw capped a 4-1, 9-0 final victory for Boise State-recruit Eli Hutchison of Soldotna (Alaska) Skyview High over Austin Enoch of Redmond (Ore.) High in the Greco-Roman final. A four-time Alaska state champion, Hutchison also started the freestyle tournament 5-0, but was injured against eventual finalist Willie Saxton of Rayland (Ohio) Buckeye Local High and defaulted a round short of All-America status. Saxton won the opening period of the freestyle final against two-time Oklahoma champion Jamal Parks of Tulsa Union High before Parks rallied with a pair of 2-1 victories and the title. Parks allowed only seven points in nine tournament matches, shutting out three-time New Mexico champ Vicente Varela of Rio Rancho High, 5-0, 2-0, in the seventh round.

            140 pounds: A year ago, Luke Ashmore became the first Texas wrestler to win a Cadet National freestyle title. This year, the Dallas Bishop Lynch High product lived life on the edge throughout, but came up with the Junior freestyle crown. Ashmore rebounded from a third-round loss to Tommy Abbott of Wilmington (Del.) St. Mark’s High to win seven in a row, pinning four-time Ohio champion Lance Palmer of Lakewood St. Edward High to steal a finals berth and shutting out double All-American Jake Deitchler of Anoka (Minn.) High, 6-0, 4-0, for the title.

            Esai Dominguez of Omaha (Neb.) Craighton Preparatory School took the Greco-Roman title, 1-1, 2-1 over Jonathan Drendel of West Aurora (Ill.) High, who upset Deitchler in three periods in the seventh round. Eric Cubberly of Ohio also was a double All-American.

            145 pounds: Two tough juniors, Trevor Hall of Battle Ground (Wash.) High and Albert White of Chicago (Ill.) St. Rita High, prevailed in the Greco-Roman and freestyle tournaments, respectively. A two-time state champion, Hall allowed only four points in the tournament and won a pair of coin tosses in a 1-1, 1-1 finals victory over another fast-developing junior, three-time Colorado champion Kevin LeValley of Limon High.

            The three-time Illinois champion White, a Junior National finalist two years ago as a freshman, also was in complete command, allowing only six points in 10 tournament victories. Hall, Chris Hacker of Oklahoma and J.P. O’Connor of New York also earned double All-America honors.

            152 pounds: Asics First Team All-American Adam Hall once again proved himself more mentally tough than the rest of the field, going 11-0 and prevailing 1-0, 6-2 over two-time Oregon champion Ryan Smith of Prineville Crook County High in a freestyle final battle of double All-Americans. The Boise State recruit got to the finals with back-to-back round-robin victories over Darrion Caldwell of Rahway (N.J.) High and Sean Nemec of St. Edward, both in three periods.                       Three-time Arizona champion Kyle DeBerry of Tucson Sunnyside High raced through a loaded pool to reach the Greco-Roman final, but ran into a buzz saw as Robert Kellogg of Sioux City (Iowa) North High, who didn’t place in the state meet this year, scored a dominating 3-0, 7-2 title win. DeBerry and Caldwell also were double All-Americans.

            160 pounds: Reader’s log for the week: 16 victories in 17 matches, with the only loss a three-period defeat at the hands of Cadet National Greco-Roman champion Michael Chaires of Albany (N.Y.) Christian Brothers Academy in the sixth freestyle round. But Chaires had lost to Lehigh-recruit Alex Caruso of Watchung Hills (N.J.) High in the fourth round, and when Reader followed his loss with a pin over Caruso, he was in the finals. Reader didn’t have a match go the distance until the Greco-Roman pool final.

            The University of Minnesota-bound Glasser, meanwhile, survived a loaded pool that saw him beat the likes of Matt Epperly of Christiansburg (Va.) High, Mike Benefiel of Lombard (Ill.) Montini High, Jason Welch of Walnut Creek (Calif.) Las Lomas High and David Rella of Cuyahoga Falls (Ohio) Walsh Jesuit High, wrestlers with a combined total of 10 state titles. Chaires and Chris Bullins of Mayodan (N.C.) McMichael High also earned double All-America status.

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