The 2013 Junior National Duals: Who stood out?

By Rob Sherrill

By now, you know that the Junior National Duals represented a coronation for Illinois at the team level. They beat Michigan teams in a pair of closely-contested finals to complete a 4-for-4 team title sweep.

Now, let’s look at some of the individual weight classes. We’ve already projected some of these wrestlers to the finals at the FargoDome. Being the Junior Division, several weight classes – 113, 126, 138, 145 and 195 – didn’t have an unbeaten wrestler across both styles. Let’s take a closer look at those who did.

100 pounds

Unbeaten – Brandon Carroll (SC), 15-0

Highlights – Despite the fact that more than half of his wins — eight — were by forfeit, Carroll had no trouble winning on the mat, picking up three pins and four technical falls. Jimmy Pawelski of Illinois, who was 11-0 in the Cadet National Duals, won all three of his Junior freestyle matches.

106 pounds

Unbeaten – Joey Cisneros (CA), 14-0; Miguel Silva* (IL), 10-0

Highlights – Defending Junior freestyle champion Silva won all five matches in that style by technical fall, and only one of his 10 matches went the distance. Cisneros scored technical falls in 11 of his 14 wins.

120 pounds

Unbeaten – Taylor LaMont* (UT), 14-0; Kaid Brock* (OK), 14-0

Highlights – Projected finalists in Greco-Roman and freestyle, respectively, LaMont and Brock showed why. Brock scored 10 technical falls in his 14 wins. Had there been an OW awarded in the Junior Duals, LaMont would have run it in a runaway. Not only did he dominate with nine pins — more than any other wrestler — and four technical falls, but he represented the only loss on the record of two standouts during the week: Tommy Pawelski of Illinois and Ke-Shawn Hayes of Missouri in in Greco-Roman. Both wins came by technical fall.

132 pounds

Unbeaten – Jacob Rubio (TX), 15-0; Zac Hall (MI), 11-0

Highlights – Rubio, who had plenty of quality wins last summer, had nine technical falls. Hall’s wins included a 10-2 victory over California standout Zahid Valencia.

145 pounds

Highlights – Three projected finalists, Matthew Moody of Georgia and Brooks Robinson of Utah in Greco-Roman and Bryce Brill of Illinois in freestyle, all were unbeaten in their style.

152 pounds

Unbeaten – Anthony Valencia (CA), 11-0

Highlights – He had an up-and-down season, but with three pins and seven technical falls, Valencia was all up at the Duals.

160 pounds

Unbeaten – Mark Hall (CO), 10-0

Highlights – The three-time Minnesota state champion from Apple Valley High School had eight freestyle wins. Eight were by technical fall.

170 pounds

Unbeaten – Chandler Rogers* (WA), 12-0

Highlights – Rogers allowed just 10 points, posting three pins and six technical falls as he posted a 7-0 freestyle record. Bo Nickal of Texas didn’t allow a point in eight freestyle matches, raking up eight technical falls.

182 pounds

Unbeaten – Preston Lehmann (ND), 16-0; Glenn Climmons (GA), 10-0; Levi Eck (KS), 8-0

Highlights – No other weight had three unbeatens. After shaking off the cobwebs in a 9-7 opening victory over Isaiah Zimmer of New York in his first Greco-Roman match, Lehmann was unstoppable, racking up eight pins and seven technical falls in his final 15 wins. Climmons, who recorded seven technical falls, had a tough opening freestyle draw. He had to get past Junior All-American Jeremy Sweany of California, 11-8 — wrestling up a weight at 195 — and projected finalist Nick Corba of Ohio, 4-3 in his first two matches. Eck had a pin and five technical falls in posting four wins in each style.

220 pounds

Unbeaten – Roy Nash (UT), 16-0; Roland Ziberman (NY), 11-0

Highlights – If projected finalists Kyle Snyder of Maryland and J’Den Cox of Missouri show up at this weight class, the party’s over. Nash had his coming-out party last summer and he’ll be in the hunt after recording three pins and 13 technical falls; though he did allow some points. Ziberman had two pins and four technical falls in seven Greco-Roman wins, and allowed just six points overall.

Speaking of Cox, he pinned six of his seven freestyle opponents.

285 pounds

Unbeaten – Adam Coon (MI), 14-0

Highlights – The heavyweight from Fowlerville, Mich., and Junior Schalles Award winner had seven pins and six technical falls, allowing just a single point.