Manville named OW at Cadet Nationals freestyle

Photo: Carson Manville (right), used this throw to end his 132-pound Cadet Nationals freestyle championship match over Aiden Medora Monday afternoon in the Fargodome. Photo by G. Wyatt Schultz

July 17, 2017

FARGO, N.D. — No matter how big the world is and the opportunities it presents for some of today’s finest high school wrestlers, there is no place like home … in the dome.

Carson Manville proved that Monday afternoon in the Fargodome — just two weeks after the freshman-to-be from Shakopee, Minn., won both the freestyle and Greco-Roman Pan-American championships, July 7-9, in Buenos Aires, Argentina — as the Minnesota state champ shut out Aidan Medora of Wisconsin to claim the 132-pound Cadet freestyle championship.

“It’s important (to wrestle here) because some day I want to wrestle in the Olympics,” said Manville, who was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Cadet freestyle tournament. “I want to go as far as I can.”

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Manville is the younger brother of Mason Manville, a member of the 2017 United States World Greco-Roman team, who also had past success at this annual event in North Dakota. Carson said he’s learned a lot from his older sibling.

“I just learned you have to be smart all the time and no matter what stick to your game plan,” said Carson.

The Cadet freestyle Nationals are just one of six different tournaments that will take place in the Fargodome this week. Tomorrow, the Junior National freestyle tournament and Cadet women’s freestyle will finish its competitions while finals in Junior Women’s freestyle and in Cadet and Junior Greco-Roman are taking place later this week.

Manville was among three wrestlers competing in the Cadet freestyle finals, who have World-level tournaments on their mind in Fargo. The other two are members of the 2017 Cadet World Greco-Roman team who won freestyle championships: Dylan Ragusin of Elk Grove, Ill., at 100 pounds and Ashton Sharp of Kansas City, Mo., at 195 pounds.

The young American stars accomplished their feats differently as Ragusin jumped out to a 6-0 lead before holding on to edge Andrew Chambal — a 2016 Cadet World Team member — by a 6-5 margin.

“It’s important to get more matches against the toughest competition in this country,” said Ragusin, who will be a sophomore at Montini Catholic, where he won an Illinois state high school title last winter. “Coming here is a way to prove I’m one of the best in the country.”

Sharp, meanwhile, had to rally from a 4-0 deficit to beat Matt Cover, 6-4, on the strength of a four-point throw with a minute left.

“(Cover) got deep in on my leg and it was kind of a last-ditch effort,” said Sharp, who will also wrestle in the Cadet National Greco-Roman tournament later this week as the 2017 Cadet Folkstyle champion also hopes to claim a Triple Crown honor.

“The Triple Crown has always been a dream to me, but I never thought it was there for me until this year,” said Sharp. “Now I want to go get it.”

Sharp is one of three Cadet wrestlers still eligible to claim a Triple Crown honor. The others are 113-pounder Noah Surtin of Glen Carbon, Ill., who won by a 12-2 technical fall over Nick Masters of Georgia; and 145-pound Alex Facundo, who defeated another Cadet Folkstyle champ Michael Weber of Montana, 6-5, after trailing 4-0.

A growth spurt forced Facundo to wrestle at 145 pounds after winning the Cadet Folkstyle championship at 138 pounds in April.

“A year and a half ago, I was a 112-pounder,” said Facundo, who will be a freshman at Davison High School in Michigan this fall. “Over this summer, I gained something like five inches. I tried to wrestle at 138 at the Michigan state freestyle tournament and just couldn’t get down there.”

With three individual champions, Illinois captured the team championship with 84 points (to out-distance Ohio and Pennsylvania, as 12 states claimed at least one of the 17 individual titles). Missouri, which finished sixth, also claimed three individual championships.

For the first time in history, the state of Kentucky saw a wrestler win a Cadet national championship as Zeke Escalera of Morganfield won by tech fall over Matthew Ramos of Lockport, Ill.

“It’s amazing,” said Escalara, who will be a freshman at Union County High School this fall. “I look up to many of the guys from Kentucky who wrestled before me. You have to have great coaches, great parents who did a lot for me. I’ve been surrounded by a lot of people who have done great things for me.”

United States Marine Corp Cadet Nationals – Men’s Freestyle

Championship Matches

88 — Drake Ayala (Fort Dodge, IA) dec. Chance Lamer (Corvallis, OR), 14-10

94 — Jett Strickenberger (Monument, Colo.) dec. Carter Young (Bixby, OK), 10-4

100 — Dylan Ragusin (Elk Grove Village, IL) dec. Andrew Chambal (Millington, MI (Michigan), 6-5

106 — Zeke Escalera (Morganfield, KY) won by TF over Matthew Ramos (Lockport, IL), 11-0 6:00

113 — Noah Surtin Glen Carbon, IL (Illinois) won by TF over Nick Masters (Acworth, GA), 12-2 4:34

120 — Ryan Sokol (Inver Grove Heights, MN) won by TF over Dominick Serrano (Greeley, CO), 14-4 2:47

126 — Joshua Saunders (St. Louis, MO) dec. Ryan Franco (Fresno, CA), 8-0

132 — Carson Manville (Shakopee, MN) won by TF over Aidan Medora (Milwaukee, WI), 11-0 3:17

138 — Fidel Mayora (Melrose Park, IL) dec. Kevon Davenport (Pontiac, MI), 3-0

145 — Alex Facundo (Essexville, MI) dec. Michael Weber Forsyth, MT (Montana), 6-5

152 — Carter Starocci (Erie, PA) dec. Aaron Gandara (Somerton, AZ), 7-2

160 — Robert Kanniard (Belmar, NJ) won by TF over David Key (Snellville, GA), 17-6 4:13

170 — Albert Ferrari (Allen, TX) dec. Abe Assad (Carol Stream, IL), 11-3

182 — Devin Winston Kansas City, Mo.) dec. Jacob Logan (New Rochelle, NY), 5-1

195 — Ashton Sharp (Kansas City, MO) dec. Matthew (Cover Bay Village, OH), 6-4

220 — Braxton Amos (Mineral Wells, WV) dec. Luke Luffman (Urbana, IL), 10-2

285 — Nash Hutmacher (Oacoma, S.D.) won by TF over Louden Haga (Mineral Wells, W.V.), 19-8 4:26

TEAM STANDINGS