Future college & Senior-level stars close out prep careers with Junior women titles

Photo: California’s Janida Garcia (top) defeated Minnesota’s Skylar Little Soldier, a 16U national champion, to win the Junior National title at 132 pounds in women’s freestyle. Garcia was one of 18 All-Americans from California, who captured a 16^th team title in the 20^th anniversary of the event. (John Johnson photo)

By Mike Finn

Many of the wrestlers who won championships in the 2022 Junior Nationals women’s freestyle tournament in Fargo, N.D., have already competed on the World stage and are slated to start their future of college and Senior-level opportunities.

But it was important for many of them to wrap up their high school career Wednesday afternoon in the Fargodome.

This is the WIN cover from the 2021 Junior/16U Nationals event. Click on the cover to learn how you can subscribe to WIN in time to receive coverage of the 2022 Fargo championships.

That included Sterling Dias, a 2018 Cadet World bronze medalist and 2019 U17 World silver medalist. She will become one of the first college wrestlers from a Power-5 program at Iowa next fall, but first Dias became the first Nevada wrestler to win a Junior National championship with a victory at 100 pounds.

This group of seniors also included Florida’s Juliana Diaz, a three-time Florida state champ who will attend Missouri Baptist after winning a 117-pound championship.

That included Colorado native Sarah Savidge, who will join Life University and the U.S. Army National Guard, after she won a Junior title by technical fall at 127 pounds.

That included Utah’s Brooklyn Hays, who will join the Augsburg program in Minnesota after she defeated a 2021 16U national champion at 164 pounds.

Meanwhile, a pair of 2022 Junior National champions — Janida Garcia (132) and Skylar Hattendorf (138) — will be moving to train full-time at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., after representing California and Massachusetts at the Junior Nationals. Hattendorf, who actually lives in New Hampshire, earned the first-ever Junior women’s title for Massachusetts.

This year’s Junior Nationals in women’s freestyle marked the 20^th anniversary of the event that drew a record 948 athlete. Garcia was one of 18 All-Americans for California, which captured a 16^th all-time team championship.

Sabrina Nauss (bottom) was one of two wrestlers from Brighton (Mich.) High School to win Junior National titles as she pinned Alivia White of Washington at 180 pounds. (John Johnson photo)

The state of Michigan finished second in the team standings and featured three national champions, two from Brighton High School. One was Eliana Bommarito (225), who was the only 2021 Junior National champ to repeat. This fall, she will be joining the Indian Hills Community College program. The other was was 180-pound Sabrina Nauss, who also won a second-straight 16U national championship earlier this week and will be a junior at Brighton High School this winter.

The final Michigan wrestler to win a Junior National title was Mishell Rebisch (152), who will return for her junior season at Romeo High School after transferring from South Anchorage High School in Alaska.

The remaining Junior National champs will still compete on the high school level.

That included junior Clare Boon (106) of Palm Harbor University High School in Florida, who finished seventh in last year’s Junior Nationals; senior Alexandra Szkotnicki (112) of South River High School in Maryland, who became the state’s first Junior National champ since Olympic champion Helen Maroulis won a Fargo title in 2008; and sophomore Cadence Diduch (122) of Freeport, Ill., who finished second in this year’s 16U Nationals.

WIN Magazine will provide a more comprehensive look at all six tournaments in the upcoming issue, which will be printed on Aug. 2. Click here or call 888-305-0606 to subscribe to WIN Magazine.

2022 Junior National Women’s Freestyle

Top-10 Team Standings

2022  All-American Matches

Championship Matches

100 – Sterling Dias (Nevada) dec. Makennah Craft (Ohio), 9-4

106 – Clare Booe (Florida) won by TF over Aspen Blasko (Minnesota), 10-0 3:25

112 – Alexandra Szkotnicki (Maryland) dec. Aubre Krazer (Pennsylvania), 6-2

117 – Juliana Diaz (Florida) dec. Alexis Montes (Texas), 6-2

122 – Cadence Diduch (Illinois) won by TF over Emily Sindoni (New York), 12-2 2:57

127 – Sarah Savidge (Colorado) won by TF over Jordyn Fouse (Pennsylvania), 10-0 3:22

132 – Janida Garcia (California) dec. Skylar Little soldier (Minnesota), 6-4

138 – Skylar Hattendorf (Massachusetts) won by TF over Amitria Mcnack (Missouri), 10-0 1:33

144 – Sydney Perry (Illinois) dec. Clarissa Agostini (Michigan), 13-12

152 – Mishell Rebisch (Michigan) pinned Stella Steigler (Virginia), 4-4 1:57

164 – Brooklyn Hays (Utah) won by TF over Ella Pagel (Minnesota), 10-0 5:02

180 – Sabrina Nauss (Michigan) pinned Alivia White (Washington), 9-8 3:25

200 – Savannah Isaac (Ohio) dec. Sam Calkins (California), 3-2

225 – Eliana Bommarito (Michigan) pinned Dasia Yearby (South Carolina), 10-4 1:21

3^rd-Place Matches

100 – Gigi Bragg (Michigan) pinned Rianne Murphy (Indiana), 11-0 3:34

106 – Ava Ward (Missouri) dec. Chloe Dearwester (Ohio), 6-0

112 – Karlee Brooks (Arizona) won by TF over Cecilia Williams (Michigan), 10-0 5:04

117 – Bella Williams (Oklahoma) dec. Torieonna Buchanan (Indiana), 3-2

122 – Alyssa Randles (Idaho) won by TF over Zao Estrada (South Carolina), 12-2 3:43

127 – Alexis Janiak (Illinois) dec. Ella Jauregui (California), 6-4

132 – Alicen Dillard (Texas) dec. Zoe Griffith (New York), 6-0

138 – Netavia Wickson (Illinois) pinned Liv Wieber (Idaho), 11-0 1:05

144 – Maddie Kubicki (Missouri) dec. Nebi Tsarni (Maryland), 11-9

152 – Eduarda Rodrigues (California) won by TF over Johanna Forman (California), 10-0 3:40

164 – Shannon Workinger (Washington) pinned Yasmine kalilly Oliveira (Alabama), 4-0 0:44

180 – Katelyn Lewis (Wisconsin) pinned Isabella Renfro (Missouri), 4-0 1:06

200 – Riley Dempewolf (Indiana) dec. Madeline Welch (Texas), 2-1

225 – Rewa Chababo (Texas) pinned Kiara Ganey (Illinois), 5-1 1:10

5^th-Place Matches

100 – Mia Zuniga (Washington) pinned Avy Perez (California), 2-0 0:25

106 – Mikayla Garcia (California) dec. Jenavi Alejandro (Nevada), 7-5

112 – Kiely Tabaldo (California) won by TF over Avery Ashley (Texas), 10-0 2:35

117 – Isabella marie Gonzales (California) pinned Arieana Arias (California), 6-2 2:45

122 – Haylie Jaffe (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Alejandra Valdiviezo (California), 10-0 4:35

127 – Natasha Markoutsis (Illinois) won by TF over Jaclyn Dehney (Massachusetts), 10-0 2:54

132 – Taylor Fierbach-Graveman (South Dakota) won by injury default over Taydem Khamjoi (California)

138 – Alessandra Elliott (New York) won by injury default over Kryssceah Ravenelle (Rhode Island), 0-0 0:00

144 – Allyssa Johnson (North Dakota) pinned Caitlyn Davis (South Carolina), 9-4 3:44

152 – Genevieve An (Georgia) dec. Aspen Barber (Colorado), 9-4

164 – Piper Fowler (Tennessee) pinned Naomi Simon (Iowa), 12-1 4:56

180 – Maliya Castillo (California) dec. Tirza Twoteeth (Montana), 12-4

200 – Mariyah Brumley (Missouri) pinned Brooke Bennett (Missouri), 8-0 1:36

225 – Alysse Phillips (California) dec. Andrea Smith (Florida), 7-1

7^th-Place Matches

100 – Makenize Smith (Indiana) won by TF over Erin Hikiji (Hawaii), 16-6 3:00

106 – Jasmine Luedtke (Iowa) won by TF over Alexsys Jacquez (Colorado), 10-0 4:37

112 – Janessa George (Colorado) pinned Diana Gonzalez (California), 6-1 3:29

117 – Fernanda Lopez (Texas) pinned Kira Cole (Ohio), 5-2 5:50

122 – Anna Krejsa (Indiana) won by TF over Savannah Witt (Pennsylvania), 10-0 1:00

127 – Ayana Medina (Oregon) pinned Estella Gutches (Oregon), 4-0 1:05

132 – Ella Schmit (Iowa) pinned Camryn Brown (Connecticut), 10-2 4:31

138 – Nicole Poussier (Washington) pinned Gianna Dibenedetto (California), 7-6 5:02

144 – Elleni Johnson (Utah) pinned Savannah Gomez (California), 10-4 2:04

152 – Rose Cassioppi (Illinois) won by TF over Delise e Villa (California), 12-0 2:20

164 – Haley Ward (Missouri) won by TF over Jael Miller (Pennsylvania), 10-0 1:48

180 – Henlee Haynes (Florida) dec. Taylor Knox (Colorado), 14-7

200 – Ella Murphey (Tennessee) pinned Zoe Adam (South Dakota), 2-0 1:02

225 – Karla Padilla zepeda (Utah) pinned Ciara Monger (Colorado), 10-0 2:42