Three wrestlers become Junior double champs with Greco titles

Photo: Billy Sullivan enjoyed his 2019 Junior Greco-Roman tournament experience when the native of Nevada won the 113-pound championship and earned Outstanding Wrestler honors. (G. Wyatt Schultz photo)

FARGO, N.D. — Three wrestlers — Andre Gonzales (106) of California, Anthony Echemendia (145) of Arizona and heavyweight Luke Luffman of Illinois — became double Junior winners as the trio  of freestyle champ won Greco-Roman championships Friday afternoon in the Fargodome to end the 49^thannual USMC Junior National Championships.

Luffman also helped the state of Illinois capture the team championship as he was one of 15 Illini wrestlers to earn All-American honors.

Three wrestlers — Brandon O’Brien (100) and Cade DeVos (160) of Iowa and Ridge Lovett (138) of Utah — came back to win Greco titles after the pair finished second in the freestyle tournament, which was held Tuesday in Fargo.

Meanwhile Billy Sullivan was named OW after the native of Las Vegas, Nev., did not give up a point in eventually winning the 113-pound championship.

Top 10 States

2019 USMC Junior Nationals Greco-Roman Championship Match highlights

100  — Brandon O’Brien (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) dec. Daniel Sheen (St. Charles, Illinois), 8-5 — In a rematch of the Junior freestyle final, won by Sheen, O’Brien turned the tables when he score a takedown and gut in the final 17 seconds to give the junior from Linn Mar High School his first national title. Sheen, who will be a sophomore from Montini Catholic, led 3-0 at the break and took a 5-4 lead on a takedown with 58 seconds left.

106  — Andre Gonzales (San Diego, California) Ryan Rowland (Oviedo, Florida), 5-2 — Gonzales, a junior at Poway High School and Junior freestyle champ, became a double winner when  won freestyle championship thanks in large part to a four-point takedown 21 seconds into the second period. This marked the second straight year that Rowland, a graduate from Hagerty High School who will now train at the Northern Michigan OTS program, finished second in the Junior Greco-Roman tournament.

113  — Billy Sullivan (Las Vegas, Nevada) won by TF over Sheldon Seymour (Troy, Pennsylvania), 12-0 (2:02)—  Sullivan, who will be a senior at the SLAM Academy, earned the dominating win with a pair of four-point takedowns in the first period again the 2018 Cadet Greco champ who will attend Lehigh this fall.

120  — Chayse La Joie (Gaylord, Michigan) won by TF over Anthony Molton (Lockport, Illinois), 12-2 (3:37) —Le Joie, a 2018 Greco champ and junior from Gaylord High School who finished third in the 2019 freestyle tournament, ended a dominating win over the 2019 freestyle champion on a four-point takedown 37 seconds into the second period.

126  — Camden Russell (Omaha, Nebraska) dec, Cael Swensen (Plymouth, Minnesota), 8-4 —Russell, a graduate of Millard West High who finished eighth in the freestyle tournament, trailed Swenson 3-0 at the break, but made the most of a passivity call against the junior from Wayzata High School a minute in the second period by scoring seven straight points.

132  — Haiden Drury (Yakima, Washington) dec.  Mosha Schwartz (Franktown, Colorado), 4-3 —Drury, who will be a senior at Toppenish High School, trailed 3-1 in the second period before scoring a takedown and exposure point in the final 36 seconds. Schwartz, a graduate of Ponderosa High who will attend Northern Colorado, took a 2-1 lead with 1:07 left in the first period.

138  — Ridge Lovett (Post Falls, Idaho) won by TF over Cade Lucio (Bakersfield, California), 10-0 (2:00) —For the second straight year, Lovett won a Greco title after finishing second in freestyle when the Nebraska signee ended the match on a four-point takedown.

145  — Anthony Echemendia (Tucson, Arizona) won by TF over  Edward Scott (DuBois, Pennsylvania), 10-0 (1:20) —Echemendia, the native of Cuba who spent the past year at Sunnyside High School, ended a magical Junior nationals as the 2019 freestyle champion opened the bout on a four-pointer 20 seconds into the match and needed just a minute more to become a double champ.

152 — James Burks (Omaha, Nebraska) won by TF over Cael Carlson (Pennock, Minnesota), 11-0 (1:59) —Burks, a member of the 2018 World Cadet team

Carlson finished 8^thin freestyle who will attend Northern State next fall, ended the dominating with on a four-pointer with one minute left.

160 — Cade Devos (Altoona, Iowa) dec. Ryan Cody (Longwood, Florida), 5-1 —DeVos, the 2019 freestyle runner-up and graduate of Southeast Polk who will attend South Dakota State, scored all his points in the first period with four coming off a takedown and two-point exposure turn.

170  — Angel Garcia (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) dec. Lance Runyon (Pleasant Hill, Iowa), 7-0 —Garcia, who will be a senior at Mariana Bracetti High School, scored four of his points in the first period to blank Runyon, a graduate of Southeast Polk who will attend the University of Northern Iowa this fall.

182  — Christopher Foca (Hackensack, New Jersey) won by TF over Jacob Anderson (Anchorage, Alaska), 10-0 (0:42) —Foca, who finished 7^thin freestyle in 2019 and was a 2018 Greco runner-up, ended any doubt when the graduate of Bergen Catholic and future Cornell wrestler ended the bout on a four-pointer.

195  — Vincent Baker (Roswell, Georgia) won by TF over Artem Loginov (Los Angeles, California), 13-2 (4:19)— Baker, the future Duke wrestler who finished 5^thin freestyle, led 5-0 after the first period and scored the final five points for the championship.

220 — Jace Punke (Washington, Illinois) won by injury default over  Braxton Amos (Mineral Wells, West Virginia)— A knee injury prevented Amos, the freestyle champion from competing against Punke, who repeated as a Junior Greco-Roman champion.

285  — Luke Luffman (Urbana, Illinois) won by TF over  Spencer Trenary (Rolfe, Iowa), 10-0 (3:40) —One year after Luffman lost in the 2018 Greco final after winning a freestyle championship, the future Illinois wrestler became a double winner in 2019 by blanking Trenary, who finished fourth in freestyle.

Semifinals

100  Daniel Sheen (Illinois) VPO1 Christan Forbes (Oklahoma), 12-8

100 Brandon O’brien (Iowa) VPO1 Kaleb Casey (Wisconsin), 14-7

106  Ryan Rowland (Florida) VSU Chad Bellis (Illinois), 11-0 3:00

106  Andre Gonzales (California) VPO1 Quade Smith (Utah), 8-3

113 Sheldon Seymour (Pennsylvania) VSU1 Nathan Rubino (Nebraska), 15-4 3:36

113  Billy Sullivan (Nevada) VSU Christian Decatur-luker (North Carolina), 10-0 3:31

120  Chayse La joie (Michigan) VFA Jakason Burks (Nebraska), 12-4 3:53

120 Anthony Molton (Illinois) VSU1 Cooper Flynn (Tennessee), 11-1 2:45

126  Cael Swensen (Minnesota) VFA Tj Long (Oklahoma), 4-0 1:36

126  Camden Russell (Nebraska) VPO1 Brody Norman (Illinois), 5-3

132  Haiden Drury (Washington) VPO1 Kellyn March (South Dakota), 12-10

132  Mosha Schwartz (Colorado) VPO1 Tarrell Wallace jr (Florida), 12-8

138  Ridge Lovett (Idaho) VSU1 Antonio Segura (Colorado), 14-4 5:18

138  Cade Lucio (California) VPO1 Joshua Saunders (Missouri), 7-3

145 Anthony Echemendia (Arizona) VFA Luke Odom (Illinois), 4-0 1:53

145  Edward Scott (Pennsylvania) VFA Chance Mclane (Montana), 5-4 1:50

152  Cael Carlson (Minnesota) VFA Kaden Reetz (Wisconsin), 4-0 1:22

152  James Burks (Nebraska) VFA Aaron Gandara (Arizona), 11-4 3:24

160  Cade Devos (Iowa) VPO1 Weston Milnes (Colorado), 11-2

160  Ryan Cody (Florida) VSU Adrian St.germain (Washington), 11-0 2:20

170  Lance Runyon (Iowa) VFA Dajun Johnson (Wisconsin), 7-1 4:37

170  Angel Garcia (Pennsylvania) VPO1 Nevan Snodgrass (Ohio), 9-7

182 Christopher Foca (New Jersey) VPO Josh Labarbera (Illinois), 8-0

182  Jacob Anderson (Alaska) VPO1 Jackson White (Missouri), 13-4

195  Artem Loginov (California) VPO1 Matthew Kaylor (North Dakota), 11-6

195 Vincent Baker (Georgia) VSU Jonovan Smith (California), 11-0 4:50

220  Jace Punke (Illinois) VSU Cody Fisher (Iowa), 10-0 1:29

220 Braxton Amos (West Virginia) VPO1 Cade Lautt (Kansas), 8-1

285  Luke Luffman (Illinois) VPO1 Nash Hutmacher (South Dakota), 5-3

285 Spencer Trenary (Iowa) VPO1 Donovan King (Michigan), 8-8