CADET NATIONAL FREESTYLE PREVIEW

 TEAM OUTLOOK

This is one of the strongest cadet national teams Ohio has ever fielded as there has been a surge of great young talent in this state both last year and this year.   Look for Ohio to finish in as one of the top two teams along with Pennsylvania.  I would be very surprised to see less than three national champions and ten All-Americans (and think the number could be as high as fifteen). 

(above): Logan Stieber returns after outscoring the field 101-1 last summer. Expect history to repeat itself. Photo Credit: Bob Tuneberg, Villager News

THE “LOCK”

Logan Stieber, Monroeville High School (Cadet 112)

The only wrestler who may be a more prohibitive favorite in Fargo this year than Taylor is Logan Stieber.  Last year, Stieber ransacked the field in a way that no incoming freshman ever has in a “core” weight class- in fact, it is nearly indisputable that he was the most dominant wrestler in Fargo.  So dominant was Stieber that only one PERIOD of one match went the distance, as Stieber outscored his competition 101-1. Stieber’s 7-0, 7-0 finals win over Chris Villalonga (ranked at the #6 112 in the nation this past year)  in a total of 2:46 of wrestling would project to a mind-boggling score of 30-0 in a six minute match! 

At FILA Cadets in April it was more of the same, with Stieber dominating Steve Mitcheff 1-0, 7-0, in the finals after defeating the nation’s #3 ranked 103 in Shane Young by a score of 6-0, 5-0 and a nationally ranked 112, Kyle Dake (a New York state champion at 112), by a score of 6-0, 2-1 (his closest freestyle bout of the past two years).  Along with Sammy White of Massillon Perry, New York state champ Kyle Dake looks to be Stieber’s most serious challenge this week by far.  Dake also gave David Taylor his toughest freestyle match at the cadet level.  There is some legitimate competition, but look for Stieber to roll through this tournament exactly as he did last year. 

OWS PICKS FOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONS:

(above): Jamie Clark is a heavy favorite to repeat as cadet national champion one year after going unscored upon in Fargo. Meanwhile, his nemesis Sam White (shown here in their state finals match) is on a collision course to meet Logan Stieber for the first time in over two years. Photo Credit: Bob Tuneberg, Villager News

Jamie Clark, Lakewood St. Edward, (Cadet 105)

Jamie Clark has not been defeated in freestyle in a very long time.   Clark has attended the FILA Cadet Nationals the last two years and Fargo last year while only once being pushed in freestyle- in fact, he was unscored-upon last year in Fargo. Clark’s presence at 105 has caused somewhat of an exodus to 98- but some quality challengers are present in this weight.  Most notably, Ryak Finch of Arizona was the one wrestler who has presented problems for Clark in freestyle in the last two years, defeating him in the first period and losing on criteria, 2-2, in the second (before Clark blew him out in the third period)  Finch, a rising freshman, also just defeated Clark in Greco (by far Clark’s worst style).  Other potential challengers here are Sean Dolan, Sean Boyle, Alan Waters, and perhaps, Sharky Slyter (runner-up to Clark last year), and incoming Ohio freshman Cam Tessari.   Truthfully, I am so convinced that Clark wins here I almost put him in the “lock” category.

Chris Phillips, Monroeville (Cadet 171)

Never has an upperweight in this state achieved so much acclaim before wrestling his first high school match.  A whirlwind attacker who is always in perfect position, Chris Phillips has shown he is ready to live up to the hype with outstanding performances at FILA Cadets and Disney Duals.  The level that Phillips is competing at is perhaps best shown by his results against two of the great young upperweights in this state- a win of (5-2, 6-0) over Riley Kilroy at FILA Cadets and an 11-6 win over Nick Mills (moving up a weight) at Disney.  Even though this is Phillips first year of freestyle competition, it would be very surprising to me if anyone in this weight were to even push him. 

With few wrestlers in a weight class like Cadet 171 having a national “track record” it is difficult to be certain who Phillips competition is.  Joel Bauman of Minnesota just dominated the Greco-Roman competition, so he would be an obvious starting point.  However, Bauman failed to place at his own state tournament, and little about his track record indicates a wrestler that can run with Phillips.  Only lack of freestyle experience and the fact that I know less about his competition prevents me from designating Phillips a “lock” (perhaps also not wanting to jinx this young wrestler)- but in truth, I think he is going to steamroll all comers in this weight class.

(above): Look for the rising sophomore from St. Ignatius to capture the cadet national freestyle crown this week. Photo Credit: Bob Tuneberg, Villager News

David Habat, St. Ignatius, (Cadet 145)

Last summer, David Habat arrived in Fargo as one of the most ballyhooed rising freshman of the past ten years.  The two-time Junior High State Champion had dominated the middle school ranks for two years and pushed Division I state runner-up Jedd Moore hard at freestyle states.  However, Habat finished a lackluster 1-2 at the Fargodome. 

Do not look for a repeat of history.  With 20/20 hindsight, Habat lost two close matches to All-Americans (the last on third-period criteria) while inexplicably competing at much higher weight than necessary (145 lbs).  Back at a more appropriate weight of 135 lbs. for the high school season, Habat was brilliant right from the get-go at the Ironman- where he defeated eventual Division III state champion Casey Thome and returning state place-winner Ryan Kemmerer of Pennsylvania (twice), while losing only to national champ Chris Diaz and Max Shanaman (Blair Academy) in finishing fourth place.  Habat never looked back, wracking up brilliant wins over Tony Jameson, Marcel Clopton (twice), and Andrew Gasber on his way to a third-place state finish. 

Simply put, Habat is the total package- and was the best freshman middleweight this writer has ever seen in Ohio.  A tremendous scramble with a blazingly fast ankle pick, Habat can wrestle on the mat as well as he can on his feet. 

However, before he is anointed the new national champion, some question marks remain.  Habat was hampered by injury in the post-season and this is the first time he has competed since finishing third in the state tournament.  However, I look to the fact that Habat defeated Andrew Gasber fairly easily last season, and Gasber was fifth in the cadet freestyle nationals a year ago.  Now, Habat will be a year older, and have grown into the 145 lb. weight.  In my view, there are simply very few wrestlers his age who can compete with his athleticism, power, and poise. One exception may be Brandon Rolnick of New Jersey.  Rolnick was National Prep runner-up this past year, and really put his name “on the map” nationally there when he defeated defending junior national champ Luke Ashmore of Texas at that tournament.   In the “Class Rankings” compiled at www.revwrestling.com, Habat was rated as the #5 freshman in the nation and Rolnick the #9 frosh.  It is noteworthy, perhaps, that as eighth-graders Habat finished fifth in the same weight class at the “Cliff Keen Kick-Off Classic” that Rolnick finished second in (not certain whether they ever wrestled).  In addition, Tyler Sheridan of California recently upset Rolnick at the Cadet Duals and must be considered a legitimate contender here.  Also in this weight is two-time Pennsylvania state place-winner Kemmerer (whom Habat beat in the aforementioned Ironman bouts). Nevertheless, I look for Habat to win a series of close matches, culminating in a down-to-the-wire victory over Rolnick, to capture the cadet national title.

PROJECTED ALL-AMERICANS

The following are OWS Picks for All-American Status at the Cadet Nationals in the freestyle competition:

Gus Sako/Hunter Stieber, St. Edward/Monroeville (Cadet 98)

Some are projecting an All-Ohio final here.  While I hope this turns out to the case, in my view there are about five wrestlers in this weight who stand a nearly equal chance of winning, and at the end of the day, I don’t see either Ohio wrestler in the finals.  My pick at this weight is incoming freshman Jesse Thielke of Wisconsin.  Thielke finished third at FILA Cadets, where he was beaten badly by Jamie Clark.  However, what is interesting to me is that the wrestler who very nearly defeated Clark at that tournament (Ryak Finch) was beaten by Thielke by a convincing 7-1, 2-1 margin.  That suggests to me that perhaps the gap between Thielke and Clark is not that large.  Thielke also won by fall against Cam Tessari, now considered an All-American contender at 112.  At the end of the day, Thielke finished second in a pool that a defending cadet national champ (Ryan Mango), a cadet national runner-up (Sharky Slyter), and Tessari could not place in.

This is perhaps thin evidence, but I consider it relevant to note that at Cadet Duals, Thielke defeated the wrestler that Hunger Stieber beat to win FILA Cadets (Robert Deutsch, who will be Blair Academy’s 103 next year) by a more decisive margin (5-0, 4-0) that what Stieber did (6-3, 2-1).   Pennsylvania youth legend Nico Megaludis is my choice here for runner-up.  Megaludis has lost very, very few matches in his life and a source that knows these wrestlers very well says he will have the slightest of edges over Stieber. 

Sako defeated Stieber fairly handily at the Copley Freestyle tournament.  I see their next match-up being closer but have no reason to believe that the winner will change.  It could very well come to pass that Sako will make it back-to-back titles for St. Edward here. Also very much in the thick of things here will be Evan Silver of Maryland, yet another highly acclaimed rising freshman.  

Projected Finishes: Sako- 3rd place,  Stieber- 4th place.  Either could get hot and be a finalist. 

Cam Tessari, Monroeville (105)

Tessari is another member of that outstanding group of young wrestlers from Monroeville that you will be hearing a lot about in the near future.  At FILA Cadets, Tessari failed to place- but that is very deceptive as he actually defeated a defending cadet national champ (Mango) and cadet national runner-up (Slyter) but was in one of the toughest brackets that tournament has ever seen.   Originally Tessari was entered at 112 lbs., but as I was about to post this article I see he has dropped to 105 lbs.   Look for Tessari to capture a mid-to-low place.

Projected Finish:  6th place.

Sam White/Jerome Robinson, Massillon Perry/St.Ignatius (Cadet 112)

White simply continues to exceed expectations every time he competes.  Known only to me as one of Ohio’s best backup (to Danny Genetin) prior to Fargo last year, White made a name for himself by finishing fourth place at the cadet freestyle 105 lb. weight class.  White then established himself as co-favorite for the state title by knocking off Jamie Clark in the M.I.T. finals, and did it again, in a double overtime epic, to capture the state title.  Since the season, White has continued to excel, completely dominating Team USA’s 103 at the Dream Team Dual (with what seemed to be a half-dozen snap-downs) and also posting a 1-0, 1-0 win over Jerome Robinson at freestyle states. 

White’s wins over Jamie Clark (who lost to Stieber 8-7) beg the question as to whether he is ready to challenge Stieber for the title here.  In my view, the answer is simply “no”.  While White may be fairly close to Stieber in folkstyle, the gap is fairly large in freestyle in my view.  To put it in perspective, last year the two wrestlers who beat White at Fargo Nicky Gordon and Chris Villalonga, defeated him by a combined score of 20-1.  By contrast, Logan Stieber defeated Gordon and Villalonga by a combined score of 24-1.  I think White may have closed the gap somewhat but I would be surprised to see this match be close (though I do not think it will be the standard Stieber “double tech” either).   I am aware of only one meeting between Stieber and White (though I would bet there have been many more than that), which was won by Stieber via fall (at the 2005 junior high state tournament).  In addition, for a variety of reasons, I feel that Ohio wrestling fans really did not see Stieber at his best at Ironman.

This will be Robinson’s first year in Fargo (like Gus Sako, Robinson is a young freshman).  However, with White being one of the top three, and Robinson being only a hair behind him, I think he’s ready to go.  Robinson also has an explosive style on his feet- which generally translates well to freestyle.  Besides the trio of Stieber, White, and Dake, the only wrestler I’d rank ahead of Robinson is New Jersey State Champion Frank Cagnina (whom Jamie Clark defeated 3-2 in the Super Eight Duals at St. Edward).

Projected Finishes: Sam White- 3rd place, Jerome Robinson- 5th place.  Either stands a great chance to be a finalist if they are not in Stieber’s pool

Nick Sulzer, Lakewood St. Edward (Cadet 130)

There are three outstanding competitors here that I think are the class of this weight, and a half-step ahead of Nick Sulzer.  Dylan Alton, Derek Garcia, and Lee Munster were all rated among the top 15 freshman in the nation this year by Rev Wrestling and all have extensive freestyle credentials.  Munster and Garcia are already state champions and Alton won the FILA Cadet Nationals this spring in Akron (over Colin Johnston, the lone wrestler to defeat Collin Palmer this year).  Munster may be one of the most underrated wrestlers in the nation.  Among the wrestlers he has beaten are former two-time cadet national champion Anthony Valles of New Jersey, 2x state champion Destin McCauley of Minnesota,two-time state champion Tyler Caldwell of Kansas, and (closer to home) Kyle Lang of Brecksville. 

The question mark for Sulzer is how he will handle the increase in weight from 112 to 130.  The answer, based on his performance at Central Junior Regionals (where he beat Jacob Vaughan, Tommy Pretty, and Garrett Henry) is “very well”.  Look for Sulzer (who finished 4-2 in Fargo a year ago) to be the next best wrestler in this weight after the “big three”.

Projected Finish: 4th place.   Knocking off any of the big three of Alton, Munster, or Garcia would be a huge achievement.

Riley Kilroy, Padua (Cadet 160): Like with Phillips at 171, it’s very difficult to really ascertain at this point whom the top challengers will be for Kilroy as not many wrestler in these weights have long national track records.  However, simply put, there aren’t many upperweights at the cadet level who are as physical or as talented as Kilroy.  At the FILA Cadets in Akron (against wrestlers who could be up to a year older than those he will be facing this week) Kilroy won his first three bouts before falling to an Indiana State Champion (despite outscoring him 14-10) and then to the vaunted Chris Phillips (5-2, 6-0).  Perhaps as a result of his match-up with Phillips, Kilroy decided to drop to 160 to take a shot at the title there.

Kilroy’s toughest obstacle (and one which he is unlikely to overcome in his initial trip to the Fargodome) is Ethan Lofthouse of Utah.  Already a two-time state champion, Lofthouse finished third in this tournament a year ago, including a win over David Habat.  I would also tend to give Michael Evans of Pennsylvania- one of the nation’s top freshman middleweights this year- the edge over Kilroy.

Projected Finish: 4th place.  In a higher weight like this, at the cadet level, there are some very good competitors who are still unknown.

“ON THE BUBBLE”

The following wrestlers are “on the bubble” for All-American status- with the right draw and a hot weekend, they could garner All-American honors, but there is little to no margin for error. 

Johnny DiJulius/Ty Mitch  Walsh Jesuit/Aurora (98)

Mitch was third at FILA Cadets- and DiJulius has historically beaten him, which would seem to bode well for the chances of both.  However, DiJulius is very “green” when it comes to freestyle (this is his first year, in fact) and Mitch will find the competition at 98 lbs. much stiffer than that competition at 92.5 in the FILA Division.  Hunter Stieber “double teched” Mitch at FILA Cadets, and there are about five wrestlers who are considered to be very comparable to Stieber “on paper” in this loaded weight. In short, Mitch and DiJulius will both need to bring their “A-Game” to garner All-American honors.  I’d look for one of the two to possibly make it but would be surprised to see both make All-American this year.

(above): State Champion Cody Garbrandt will try his hand at freestyle in the cadet division, while his state finals opponent Zach Neibert will seek his first All-American finish in the junior division. Photo Credit: Bob Tuneberg, Villager News

Cody Garbrandt/Scott Mattingly, Claymont/Uniontown Lake (Cadet 125) 

The biggest question mark I have for these two is that fact that this is freestyle.  Were the competition folkstyle, I’d feel that this duo stood a decent chance against anyone in the field- but there are a number of comparably-skilled wrestlers who are much more freestyle-savvy here.  Still, it would surprise me if at least one of the two did not grab All-American honors.

Adam Hogue, Blair Academy (Cadet 152)

This is not a misprint- Hogue, of Blair Academy, hails from Twinsburg, Ohio.  Once again, it is difficult to know where Hogue fits as there are many “unknowns” in this weight- but comparing the physical Hogue to wrestlers who have made All-American at the cadet level previously at this weight, I think he stands at least a 50-50 chance.

Greg Isley/Jeremy Johnson (Sylvania Southview/Brecksville) (Cadet 189/275)

These two names may not be well-known to you now, but they will be.  State Qualifier Isley will start next year ranked in the top three at 189 in Division I (possibly #1 should he have a big weekend), and the previously unknown Johnson will start in the top six (in what will be an extremely weak Divison I heavyweight class).  Traditionally, these are two very weak weights at the cadet level and this year does not look to be an exception.  I think both stand at least a 50% chance of grabbing All-American honors. 

DARKHORSE CONTENDERS

The following are the list of wrestlers I think that are most likely to be this year’s surprise All-American at Cadet Nationals.  Once again, “on paper” they may not be favored to make it onto the podium, but I’d look for these guys to make some noise in the bracket. 

David Bolger, Strongsville (Cadet 112)

Brad Wukie/Pierce Harger/Tucker Armstrong/Dalton McHenry (Cadet 130)

Anthony Salupo, Lakewood St. Edward (Cadet 135)

Cody Coomes, Marion Pleasant (Cadet 152)

Vincenzo Cardone, (Toledo St. Francis Desales) (Cadet 189)

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