Fargo Junior Greco features 16 champs from 2021, including four at 120

Photos: These four wrestlers all won Greco-Roman championships in the 2021 Junior/16U Nationals and hope to also win a Junior Greco title at 120 pounds next week at this annual event in Fargo, N.D. They include (from left) Arizona’s Davian Guanajuato, Anthony Ruzic of Illinois, Minnesota’s Austin Laudenbach and Kael Lauridsen of Nebraska. (WIN file photos)

By Mike Finn

None of the six tournaments in the 2022 Junior/16U Nationals features more returning champions than the Junior Greco-Roman event that will wrap of this year’s week-long championships, July 21-22, in Fargo, N.D.

There are 16 wrestlers — five from last year’s Juniors and 11 from the 16U Nationals in 2021 — who earned the biggest Fargo “stop sign” last July. That includes four young men who will vie for the 120-pound title in 2022: Arizona’s Davian Guanajuato, who won the 113-pound Junior title in 2021, and three 2021 16U winners in Anthony Ruzic (106) of Illinois, Minnesota’s Austin Laudenbach (113) and Kael Lauridsen (120) of Nebraska.

Meanwhile, there are a trio of former champs wrestling at 145 and 195 pounds this year, and a pair of 2021 titlists wrestling at 126 pounds. Check out the complete list of returning champs in the 2022 Junior Greco-Roman tournament.

2021 Junior Greco-Roman champs returning in 2022

• Kolter Burton (Idaho), 100 in ’21, competing at 106 in ‘22
• Ray Ray Harris (California), 106, competing at 126
• Davian Guanajuato (Arizona), 113, competing at 120
• Q’veli Quintanilla (Washington), 138, competing at 145
• Wyatt Voelker (Iowa), 195, competing at 195

2021 16U Greco-Roman champs moving to Junior Greco in 2022

• Mack Mauger (Idaho), moving from 94 to 100
• Layne Kleimann (Utah), moving from 100 to 113
• Anthony Ruzic (Illinois), moving from 106 to 120
• Austin Laudenbach (Minnesota), moving from 113 to 120
• Kael Lauridsen (Nebraska), staying at 120
• Mason Gibson (Pennsylvania), staying at 126
• Pierson Manville (Pennsylvania, staying at 145
• Zach Hanson (Minnesota), moving from 132 to 145
• Liam Scrivanich (Pennsylvania), staying at 160
• Cody Merrill (California), moving from 182 to 195
• Sawyer Bartelt (Florida), staying at 195

WIN MAGAZINE WILL BE IN FARGO NEXT WEEK AND WILL PROVIDE COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF THE EVENT IN THE NEXT ISSUE, WHICH WILL BE MAILED AUG. 2. CLICK HERE OR CALL 888-305-0606 TO SUBSCRIBE.

This is the 50^th anniversary of Greco-Roman competition at the Junior Nationals, which was introduced in 1972, one year after only Junior freestyle took place in 1971 in Iowa City, Iowa. Both styles later moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa (1983-90), Warrensburg, Mo. (1991) and St. Paul, Minn. (1992) before finding a current home in Fargo in 1993.

Preliminary numbers indicated that 1,324 wrestlers from 47 states will compete in this year’s Junior Greco-Roman tournament. That would break the record of 1,044 Junior Greco wrestlers in last summer’s Nationals. The source for these numbers can be found in Jason Bryant’s MatTalk Online Fargo Almanac. (https://mattalkonline.gumroad.com/l/fargoguide)

A record 7,100 wrestlers are slated to compete in this year Junior/16U Nationals, which begins this Saturday in the Fargodome.

The following is a schedule for all six tournaments in 2022. Click on tourney to view preview of that event.

The following are the All-American matches from the 2021 Junior Nationals in Greco-Roman.

Championship Matches

100 – Kolter Burton (Idaho) pinned Jeremy Oani (California), 7-0 1:39

106 – Ray Ray Harris (California) pinned Elias Navida (California), 4-2 3:35

113 – Davian Guanajuato (Arizona) dec. Benjamin Aranda (Illinois), 7-7

120 – Max Black (Colorado) dec.  Jett Strickenberger (Colorado), 3-1

126 – Jeremy Bockert (Alaska) won by TF over Gable Porter (Iowa), 11-1 1:21

132 – James Dalrymple (Tennessee) dec.  Anthony Aniciete (Nevada), 4-0

138 – Q’veli Quintanilla (Washington) dec.  Kyle Boeke (Minnesota), 6-3

145 – Tyler Antoniak (Nebraska) dec.  Jack Milos (Illinois), 9-4

152 – Nick Hamilton (Nebraska) dec.  Cale Anderson (Wisconsin), 2-1

160 – Manuel Gaitan (California) pinned Caden Young (Wisconsin), 4-4 1:27

170 – Evan Canoyer (Nebraska) dec.  Jared Stricker (Wisconsin), 5-5

182 – Deanthony Parker (Illinois) won by TF over Michael Altomer (New York), 10-0 1:12

195 – Wyatt Voelker (Iowa) dec.  Ryan Cody (Florida), 7-5

220- Alex Semenenko (New York) dec. Andrew Blackburn-forst (Illinois), 16-10

285 Ryan Boersma (Illinois) pinned Aden Attao (Idaho), 13-2 4:31

3^rd-Place Matches

100 – Andrew Fox (Utah) dec. Cole Rogers (Montana), 12-7

106 – Michael Longo (Connecticut) won by TF over Christian Forbes (Oklahoma), 10-0 2:49

113 – Alan Koehler (Minnesota) dec. Kyison Garcia (Utah), 5-3

120 – Kannon Webster (Illinois) dec. Jonathan Gurule (New Mexico), 5-1

126 – Carter Stephenson (Colorado) dec. Wilfried Tanefeu (North Dakota), 5-1

132 – Joseph Airola (Colorado) dec. Ethan Fernandez (New Jersey), 8-1

138 – Weston Dalton (Colorado) dec. Ramon Ramos (Arizona), 8-6

145 – Matthew Rodriguez (California) dec. Gunnar Hamre (Wisconsin), 10-5

152 – Paniro Johnson (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Derek Raike (West Virginia), 11-0 3:00

160 – Robert Weston (Georgia) dec. Alaa Elkerm (New Jersey), 5-5

170 – Derek Matthews (Idaho) won by TF over Caden Ernd (Illinois), 12-0 1:41

182 – Clayton Whiting (Wisconsin) won by TF over Dante Roggio (Idaho), 10-0 0:44

195 – Caden Rogers (Pennsylvania) dec.  Tom Culp (Illinois), 4-3

220 – Kalob Runyon (Iowa) dec. Ashton Davis (Tennessee), 6-4

285 – Matthew Moore (Colorado) pinned Keith Miley (Missouri), 4-1 2:28

5^th-Place Matches

100 – Vincent Biondoletti (Florida) pinned Isaac Stewart (Montana), 14-8 4:23

106 – Brandon Morvari (Minnesota) won by TF over Ethan Grimminger (California), 12-2 3:00

113 – Kenneth Hendriksen (Texas) won by TF over Kaleb Casey (Wisconsin), 15-4 3:26

120 – Christian Tanefeu (North Dakota) won by TF over Paul Kelly (California), 12-2 2:11

126 – Teegan Vasquez (Montana) dec. Keith Smith (Nebraska), 5-2

132 – Nash Singleton (Oregon) won by TF over Christopher Martino (Idaho), 11-0 0:45

138 – Stevie Barnes (Iowa) won by TF over Koy Buesgens (Minnesota), 10-0 4:35

145 – Ivan Morris (Colorado) pinned Cael Rahnavardi (Iowa), 5-2 1:06

152 – Thor Michaelson (Washington) won by injury default over Jordan Williams (Oklahoma), 0-0 0:00

160 – Aaron Dobbs (Wisconsin) pinned Erik Gibson (Pennsylvania), 5-2 1:06

170 – Joseph Jens (Illinois) dec. Codei Khawaja (Indiana), 4-1

182 – Adam Ahrendsen (Iowa) pinned Jared Simma (Kansas), 7-3 1:06

195 – Nicholas Casad (Indiana) won by injury default over Gabe Sollars (Indiana), 0-0 1:00

220 – Joshua Howell (Indiana) won by TF over Gary Powell (Ohio), 10-0 1:02

285 – Jacob Barnes (Oregon) pinned Aiden Lacoma (Virginia), 4-0 0:39

7^th-Place Matches

100 – Ian Werner (Alaska) dec. Jaymz Young (Illinois), 8-1

106 – Marco Tocci (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Tyler Washburn (Florida), 19-8 5:26

113 – Nolan Wertanen (Michigan) pinned Dominic Dealtonaga (California), 5-4 1:16

120 – Yusief Lillie (Washington) dec. Mitchell Neiner (Washington), 7-5

126 – Tristan Bremer (Idaho) pinned Kyle Rice (Idaho), 2-1 2:40

132 – Walker Bents (Minnesota) dec. Elijah Paulson (Minnesota), 7-2

138 – Ashton Miess (Wisconsin) dec. Alec Peralta (California), 7-4

145 – Richard Fedalen (Maryland) dec. Conor Goucher (Washington), 7-4

152 – Daniel Wask (New Jersey) dec.  Michael Kilic (Georgia), 15-6

160 – Matthew Rogge (Wisconsin) pinned Gaetano Console (Illinois), 5-2 4:00

170 – Bradley Gillum (Illinois) dec. Adrian Artsisheuskiy (New York), 11-6

182 – Drake Buchanan (Indiana) dec. Asher Ruchti (Oregon), 14-8

195 – John Gunderson (Wisconsin) dec. Eli Sheeren (Texas), 11-0 4:05

220-  Crew Howard (Iowa) pinned Ghee Rachal (Illinois), 4-4 2:01

285 – Hayden Simpson (Oklahoma) pinned Tristan Kemp (Massachusetts), 4-2 0:36