Burks and Manville find redemption in winning Cadet National freestyle titles

Photo: Jakason Burks (top) scored a technical fall over Daniel Cardenas to win the 113-pound Cadet Nationals freestyle championship and Outstanding Wrestler honors Monday afternoon in the Fargodome. Photo by G. Wyatt Schultz

(Editor’s Note: WIN Magazine is in Fargo, N.D., all week for the 48^th Annual U.S. Marines Cadet/Junior National championships. WIN will provide comprehensive coverage of the national tournament in WIN’s next issue, which will be printed on Aug. 7. Click here to subscribe to WIN or call 888-305-0606.)

By Mike Finn

FARGO, N.D. — Jakason Burks and Carson Manville may have failed to place for the United States at this summer’s recent Cadet Greco-Roman World Championships. But the duo accomplished more than winning championships in the freestyle competition of the U.S. Marines Cadet Nationals today in the Fargodome.

Burks, a native of Omaha, Neb., and Manville, from Kingston, Pa., both won by technical falls over Daniel Cardenas (10-0) and John Martin Best (14-4) at 113 and 145 pounds, respectively, in the Fargodome.

Those dominating victories earned Burks the Outstanding Wrestler award in the Cadet Freestyle Nationals, while Manville kept his dream alive of winning titles in both freestyle and Greco-Roman competition for a second consecutive year in this 48^th annual national tournament. (The Cadet Greco-Roman finals will be held Thursday afternoon in the Fargodome.)

“This feels good,” said Burks, who lost his only bout at 112 pounds at the World Championships, which were held July 2-8 in Zagreb, Croatia, but captured all six matches over two days in Fargo, out-scoring his competition by a combined 58-5 margin. “I had not wrestled freestyle in a long time. Everyone thinks I just wrestle one style. Now I’ve proven I can win in any style.”

Manville, meanwhile, turned a deadlocked 4-4 bout into a 16-4 rout in just 1:52 of his bout with Best, who Manville defeated to make the Cadet Pan-American team this spring.

Carson Manville (top) scored the final 12 points to tech John Martin Best 16-4 and win the 145-pound Cadet National freestyle championship. (G. Wyatt Schultz photo)

“I got to my go-to move, pretty much a cross-grip, jump to the other side, snapped him down, got in a leg lace and he was done,” said Manville, who won both Cadet freestyle and Greco-Roman titles while representing the state of Minnesota. He eventually moved to Pennsylvania, where he won a Prep National championship for Wyoming Seminary this past spring.

At the 2018 Cadet Worlds, Manville split two matches.

“At first it was hard getting back from the Worlds,” said Manville before explaining why he chose to compete in Fargo two weeks later. “I wrestled here again because I won this last year. I want to leave here with four stop signs (championship trophies). I want to see how many I can get in a row.”

Another Cadet, who reached the freestyle finals for a second straight and came out on top this year was Dominick Serrano (of Windsor, Colo.), who defeated Michael Burnett of Ohio, 5-1, for the 126-pound championship.

“I just played it smart,” said Serrano, who led 4-0 at intermission. “Last year was a tough (finals) loss. Unfortunately, bad things happened to me, but I didn’t use that against myself. I came back and didn’t want to lose again.”

There are three wrestlers who not only can become double champions, when Greco-Roman competition begins Wednesday, but could also leave Fargo as Triple Crown winners after they also won Cadet Folkstyle championships this past March in Cedar Falls, Iowa:

• 88-pound Mason Gehloff of Waseca, Minn., who defeated Jore Volk, 8-1;
• 94-pound Maxximus Martinez of Norwalk, Calif., who beat Carter Fousek (Iowa), 6-2;
• 100-pound Jordan Williams of Tulsa, Okla., who edged Alex Almeyda (N.J.), 6-4.

A fourth wrestler, who entered Monday’s Cadet freestyle finals as a Cadet folkstyle champion was Chris Island of Vacaville, Calif. But his Triple Crown chance ended when Nathaniel Deasey of Chandler, Ariz., pinned Island in 57 seconds. Island had pinned Deasey in 47 seconds of their Folkstyle Nationals championship.

The tournament will continue tomorrow with Junior Freestyle championship matches beginning at 1 p.m. CDT.

That will be followed with Junior Women finals on Wednesday (1 p.m.), Cadet Greco championships on Thursday (1 p.m.) and Junior Greco-Roman title bouts on Friday afternoon (3 p.m.)

US Marines Cadet Nationals

Freestyle Championship Matches

July 16, 2018 • Fargo, N.D.

88 — Mason Gehloff (Minnesota) dec. Jore Volk (Minnesota), 8-1

94 — Maxximus Martinez (California) dec. Carter Fousek (Iowa), 6-2

100 — Jordan Williams (Oklahoma) dec. Alex Almeyda (New Jersey), 6-4

106 — Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) dec. Yusief Lillie (Washington), 12-11

113 — Jakason Burks (Nebraska) won by TF over Daniel Cardenas (Colorado), 10-0 3:23

120 — Jesse Ybarra (Arizona) dec. Caleb Rathjen (Iowa), 4-2

126 — Dominick Serrano (Colorado) dec. Michael Burnett (Ohio), 5-1

132 — Joshua Edmond (Michigan) dec. Ryan Franco (California), 10-5

138 — Travis Mastrogiovanni (New Jersey) won by TF over Luke Geog (Ohio), 10-0 4:17

145 — Carson Manville (Pennsylvania) won by TF over John Martin Best (West Virginia), 16-4 1:52

152 — Tate Picklo (Oklahoma) won by TF over Manuel Rojas (Michigan), 10-0 3:24

160 — Quayin Short (Minnesota) won by TF over Connor O’Neil (New Jersey), 10-0 6:00

170 — Luke Stout (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Sam Skillings (Wisconsin), 12-2 4:13

182 — Rocky Elam (Missouri) dec. Nathan Haas (California), 5-2

195 — Noah Pettigrew (Georgia) dec. Kolby Franklin (Pennsylvania), 12-7

220 — Nathaniel Deasey (Arizona) pinned Chris Island (California), 8-2 0:57

285 — Hayden Copass (Illinois) won by TF over Colby Whitehill (Pennsylvania),10-0

Top 10 States Standings for Cadet Freestyle