Fargo 2023: Junior Men’s Freestyle Highlights

Photo: Leo Deluca of Morristown, N.J., outscored six opponents by a 72-1 margin in winning the 120-pound championship on Wednesday in the 2023 Junior Men’s Freestyle Nationals in Fargo, N.D. His title bout included a 12-0 technical fall over Oklahoma’s Beric Jordan. (John Johnson photo)

By Mike Finn

FARGO, N.D. — On a night that the states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin flexed their team muscles in the 2023 Junior Men’s Freestyle Nationals finals, it was a 120-pound wrestler from New Jersey who captured the most impressive individual honors Wednesday in the Fargodome.

For yes, the wrestlers from the Keystone State were impressive as Jax Forrest (126) and Vince Bouzakis (152) won individual championships and were among 19 All-Americans who helped Pennsylvania capture the state’s first team championship since 2016 … while Wisconsin produced five of the 15 Junior national champions: Haakon Peterson (106), Braeden Scoles (160), Noah Mulvaney (170), Connor Mirasola (195) and Koy Hopke (285).

But it was Leo Deluca who earned Outstanding Wrestler honors as the junior from Blair Academy and the No. 4 nationally-ranked wrestler by WIN at 120 dominated Beric Jordan (No. 3 at 113) from Stillwater, Okla., with a 10-0 technical fall in the 120-pound final.

These were just a few of the highlights from the 52^nd annual week-long event that also included Junior and 16U women’s freestyle tournaments and a 16U men’s tournament earlier in the week … and will later feature tournaments in 16U and Junior Greco-Roman divisions later this week.

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Here are some other highlights from the 2023 Junior Nationals in men’s freestyle:

• Four wrestlers won Fargo “Stop Sign” trophies for a second consecutive year, including two from Wisconsin: 106-pound champ Haakon Peterson, who won a 16U title at 94 pounds in 2022; and 195-pound titlist Connor Mirasola, who was first at 182 in Juniors last summer. The third champ was Iowa’s 138-pound champion Ryder Block (ranked No. 3 at 138) who defeated California’s Daniel Zepeda (ranked No. 6 at 132). The final returning champion was California’s Cody Merrill, who defeated another defending champ in Wisconsin’s Cole Mirasola (twin brother of Connor) in the 220-pound championship.
• Another past Fargo champ to capture a championship in 2023 was Arizona’s Kyler Larkin, who defeated Iowa’s Kale Petersen at 132 pounds. Larkin, the son of Eric Larkin (the former NCAA champ and Hodge Trophy winner from Arizona State) won a 16U men’s freestyle championship in 2021.
• 26 of the 30 Junior finals included wrestlers who were ranked by WIN and six of those matchups saw top-10 ranked wrestlers meet. Among the most notable of those meetings came at heavyweight where Wisconsin’s Koy Hopke (ranked No. 2 at 220) rallied to pin Idaho’s defending champ Aden Attao (No. 2 at 285). Other finals between highly ranked wrestlers saw Oklahoma’s Christopher Kiser (No. 8 at 113) rally to pin Pennsylvania’s Aaron Siedel (No. 3 at 106) at 113 pounds; Wisconsin’s Braeden Scoles (ranked No. 8 at 160) defeated New Jersey’s William Henckel (No. 6 at 152) at 160 pounds; and at 182 pounds where Iowa’s Tate Naaktgeboren (No. 3) decisioned Indiana’s Orlando Cruz (rated No. 7).
• Pennsylvania’s Vince Bouzakis, who defeated California’s Grigor Cholakyan at 152 pounds, is the younger brother of current Ohio State wrestler Nic Bouzakis, also a former Fargo champion. Their sister Jaclyn finished second in this year’s 16U women’s freestyle final that took place on Sunday night.
• Many of these Junior champions will soon be joining their college teams, including a pair who will wrestle at Illinois: Kannon Webster (a native of Washington, Ill.) who defeated New Jersey’s Cross Wasilewski at 145 pounds; and Scoles, the 160-pound champ from Kewaskum, Wisc.
• The 1596 wrestlers who competed in the Junior men’s freestyle tournament broke the Fargo record of 1585 (set in 2021).

Junior Men’s Freestyle All-American Results

Championship Matches

100 – Rocco Hayes (Illinois) dec. Kiyan Simon (Alabama), 9-0

106 – Haakon Peterson (Wisconsin) dec. Tyler Harper (Iowa), 6-4

113 – Christopher Kiser (Oklahoma) pinned Aaron Seidel (Pennsylvania), 4-4 1:34

120 – Leo Deluca (New Jersey) won by TF over Beric Jordan (Oklahoma), 12-0 3:36

126 – Jax Forrest (Pennsylvania) dec. JJ McComas-Rogers (Oklahoma), 7-4

132 – Kyler Larkin (Arizona) dec. Kale Petersen (Iowa), 8-0

138 – Ryder Block (Iowa) won by TF over Daniel Zepeda (California), 10-0 1:19

145 – Kannon Webster (Illinois) dec. Cross Wasilewski (New Jersey), 7-4

152 – Vince Bouzakis (Pennsylvania) dec. Grigor Cholakyan (California), 8-2

160 – Braeden Scoles (Wisconsin) dec. William Henckel (New Jersey), 9-4

170 – Noah Mulvaney (Wisconsin) won by TF over Chris Moore (Illinois), 14-1 3:06

182 – Tate Naaktgeboren (Iowa) dec. Orlando Cruz (Indiana), 10-4

195 – Connor Mirasola (Wisconsin) won by TF over Jersey Robb (Oklahoma), 10-0 5:04

220 – Cody Merrill (California) won by TF over Cole Mirasola (Wisconsin), 11-0 3:44

285 – Koy Hopke (Wisconsin) pinned Aden Attao (Idaho), 9-9 5:32

Third-Place Matches

100 – Brady Byrd (Indiana) dec. Kole Davidheiser (Pennsylvania), 9-8

106 – Aydan Thomas (Oklahoma) dec. Nathan Rioux (Indiana), 12-4

113 – Mack Mauger (Idaho) pinned Davis Motyka (Pennsylvania), 5-2 2:57

120 – Seth Mendoza (Illinois) dec. Nathan Desmond (Pennsylvania), 4-2

126 – Dillon Campbell (Ohio) dec. Jake Hockaday (Indiana), 5-3

132 – Cooper Hilton (Tennessee) won by TF over Sergio Vega (Arizona), 11-0 4:20

138 – Landon Robideau (Minnesota) won by TF over Paul Kelly (California), 10-0 1:00

145 – Pierson Manville (Pennsylvania) dec. Jaxon Joy (Ohio), 3-0

152 – Zach Hanson (Minnesota) dec. Claudio Torres (Florida), 2-0

160 – Ethan Birden (Ohio) dec. Charlie Millard (Wisconsin), 6-0

170 – Adam Waters (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Jordan Chapman (New Jersey), 16-3 5:14

182 – Justin Rademacher (Oregon) pinned Hoke Poe (Georgia), 10-2 1:39

195 – Joey Novak (Minnesota) won by TF over Karson Tompkins (Texas), 18-7 5:01

220 – Coby Merrill (California) dec. Jay Henderson (Utah), 5-4

285 – Navarro Schunke (South Dakota) won by TF over Rocco Dellagatta (New Jersey), 16-6 3:49

Fifth-Place Matches

100 – Caden Smith (Virginia) dec. Alexander Diaz (Pennsylvania), 12-9

106 – Ezekiel Witt (Kansas) dec. Ayden Dodd (Ohio), 10-10

113 – Jake Knight (Iowa) dec. Dru Ayala (Iowa), 8-3

120 – Isaiah Cortez (California) dec. Ethan Rivera (Florida), 4-0

126 – Brady Roark (Missouri) dec. Adrian Meza (Arizona), 3-1

132 – Dalton Perry (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Matthew Botello (Massachusetts), 10-0 4:09

138 – Omar Ayoub (Ohio) won by TF over Kade Brown (Ohio), 13-2 4:45

145 – Alex Braun (Minnesota) dec. Logan W. Paradice (Georgia), 9-6

152 – Kody Routledge (Oklahoma) dec. Collin Gaj (Pennsylvania), 9-7

160 – Thor Michaelson (Washington) won by injury default over Nicholas Kunstek (Pennsylvania), 5-0 2:36

170 – Holden Garcia (Pennsylvania) dec. Ryan Burton (New Jersey), 7-5

182 – De’alcapon Veazy (Indiana) pinned Marco Christiansen (Minnesota), 8-1 4:24

195 – Tucker Hogan (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Kingsley Menifee (Virginia), 10-0 2:28

220 – Nick Nosler (Illinois) won by TF over Aidan Schlett (New Jersey), 12-1 3:30

285 – Nicholas Pavlechko (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Shilo Jones (Idaho), 10-0 1:50

Seventh-Place Matches

100 – Mason Brayfield (Missouri) dec.  Gabriel Rosales (Idaho), 8-4

106 – Damian Moreno (Arizona) won by TF over Erik Egstad (Missouri), 10-0 2:22

113 – Cadell Lee (Virginia) won by TF over Johnny Green (Ohio), 10-0 1:30

120 – Gauge Botero (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Jermaine Peace (South Carolina), 10-0 1:59

126 – Gage Walker (Oklahoma) won by TF over Benjamin Bast (Wisconsin), 13-2 1:49

132 – Tahir Parkins (Pennsylvania) dec. Carter Schmidt (Montana), 10-5

138 – Tyson Charmoli (Minnesota) won by TF over Carlos Stanton jr. (Arizona), 11-0 3:37

145 – Layton Schneider (Oklahoma) won by TF over Gavin Linsman (Missouri), 10-0 0:36

152 – Laird Root (California) pinned EJ Parco (California), 5-2 5:38

160 – Cory Thomas (Michigan) won by TF over Collin Guffey (California), 10-0 1:08

170 – Nicholas Fox (Iowa) dec. Angelo Posada (California), 8-2

182 – Peyton Westpfahl (Missouri) dec. Savoy New (North Carolina), 9-4

195 – Dillon Bechtold (Pennsylvania) dec. Aidan Ysaguirre (Arizona), 11-2

220 – Oscar Williams (Oklahoma) won by TF over Calvin Lachman (Pennsylvania), 10-0 3:34

285 – Richard Thomas (Oklahoma) dec.  Caleb Rodriguez (Florida), 9-3

Junior Men’s Freestyle Team Standings

Non-Scoring States: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, US Territory, West Virginia, Wyoming