The 2013 Cadet National Duals: Who stood out?
By Rob Sherrill
The 2013 Cadet National Duals represented a coronation for Illinois, June 11-15, in Daytona Beach, Fla. They were drawn into the Pennsylvania Red team’s pool in both tournaments, and somehow managed to go 4-for-4 in their dual meets – first for the pool title, later for the overall title.
Let’s look at some of the individual weight classes. We’ve spotlighted wrestlers who were undefeated in the tournament while wrestling both styles. Not all weight classes had such a wrestler: 126, 132 and 220 did not. In our Fargo preview, some of these wrestlers were projected to the Cadet Nationals finals at the FargoDome later this month, and they are indicated with an asterisk (*).
Next week: We’ll project from the Junior National Duals to Fargo. Don’t miss it!
88 pounds
Unbeaten – Cade Olivas* (CA), 16-0; Taylor Day (OK), 7-0
Highlights – Only three of Olivas’ matches went the distance and only four opponents scored against him.
94 pounds
Unbeaten – Marcelino Madriz (CA), 6-0
100 pounds
Unbeaten – Ben Freeman (MI), 15-0; Jimmy Pawelski (IL), 11-0
Highlights – The wrestlers we projected to reach the freestyle final, Joey Prata (VA) and Colton Williams (TX), split, with Williams winning 8-7 in Greco-Roman and Prata scoring a pin in freestyle. They were the only losses of the week for the two
106 pounds
Unbeaten – Spencer Lee (PA), 14-0
Highlights – Lee didn’t allow a point. Daton Fix (OK), one of our projected freestyle finalists, allowed just six points in going 7-0 in that style.
113 pounds
Unbeaten – Dylan Udero (NM), 15-0
Highlights – Udero, an unbeaten big-class state champion from Las Cruces, won his final two Greco-Roman matches by decision, the only two of his 15 that went the distance. National Prep champion Jack Mueller (TX) didn’t allow a point until his final match in going 8-0 in freestyle.
120 pounds
Unbeaten – Taylor LaMont (UT), 14-0
Highlights – Only one of LaMont’s matches went the distance and he allowed a total of four points. Wrestling up a weight at 120, Chad Red (IN) beat Chris DeBien (TN), 5-3, in a freestyle matchup of projected finalists. Red split with Ethan Karsten (MO) and Cameron Coy (PA), the only two wrestlers to beat him during the week.
138 pounds
Unbeaten – Patricio Lugo (FL), 16-0; Conner Myers (MI), 15-0; Isaiah White* (IL), 9-0
Highlights – A battle of projected finalists resulted in the only close match for White, up a weight at 138 pounds, in a 3-1 victory over Jake Adcock (GA) in Greco-Roman. He allowed just seven points overall. All but one of the points Lugo surrendered came in a 12-6 victory over Trey Meyer (WA) in the third round of freestyle. Myers had just one match go the distance: a 10-9 nailbiter over Kaleb Young (PA) in freestyle.
145 pounds
Unbeaten – Larry Early* (IL), 9-0
Highlights – Also wrestling up a weight, Early beat Austin Kraisser (MD), 12-6 in a first-round freestyle match between projected finalists. Despite a pair of losses, Davis Ison (GA) scored a technical fall over Kraisser and lost a 6-6 criteria decision to Early in Greco-Roman.
152 pounds
Unbeaten – Taylor Lujan (GA), 14-0; Trace Carello* (IL), 5-0
Highlights – Maybe Carello’s selection as a potential finalist wasn’t such a shot in the dark after all: five matches, five technical falls. Lujan was similarly dominant, scoring technical falls in 12 of his 14 wins.
160 pounds
Unbeaten – Kamal Bey (IL), 10-0; Nick Reenan (TX), 6-0
Highlights – Bey scored nine technical falls and allowed just four points. Returning Cadet National All-American Reenan posted nearly an identical resume, scoring technical falls over all but one opponent and allowing four points.
170 pounds
Unbeaten – Jelani Embree (MI), 15-0
Highlights – Embree allowed just one point and didn’t have a match go the distance.
182 pounds
Unbeaten – Mason Litz* (MI), 15-0
Highlights – Litz was pushed in back-to-back freestyle matches: 15-14 over Drew Phipps (PA) and 4-4 on criteria over Kevin Mulligan (NJ). Roberto Rivera (GA), who went 13-1, split with the only wrestler who defeated him, Hunter Ritter (MD). Rivera scored a technical fall in Greco-Roman, Ritter a freestyle pin.
195 pounds
Unbeaten – Allen Stallings (IL), 9-0
Highlights – One of four Oak Park-River Forest wrestlers to go unbeaten, joining White, Early and Bey, Stallings was pushed just once, in a 14-10 Greco-Roman victory over Aaron Caballero (CA). Another Illinois wrestler, Cadet National All-American Tyler Johnson, went 6-0 in freestyle with three pins and three technical falls. Projected finalist Emilio Fowler (KS) lost by technical fall to Adolfo Sotolongo (FL) in his opening Greco-Roman match, then won his final 14 matches of the week. None went the distance.
220 pounds
Highlights – Projected Greco-Roman finalists Dallas Goodpaster (WA) and Mike Smith (MD) met in the third round of Greco-Roman, with Smith winning, 7-2. It was Goodpaster’s only loss on the week in 13 matches.
Heavyweight
Unbeaten – Shawn Streck (IN), 14-0
Highlights – A 3-2 victory over Donte Jiovanetta (FL) in Greco-Roman was the only match Streck, 7-0 in each style, wrestled that went the distance. His freestyle log: six pins and a win by forfeit.
