April
2, 2007: The Wrestling Mall, High School News
Pennsylvania Takes Home Junior
National Title from Virginia Beach
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – With three
individual champions, Pennsylvania won the state team
title in the NHSCA National High School Junior Wrestling
Championships, which concluded tonight at the Pavilion
Convention Center.
The All-American round capped a tournament
that saw the Juniors Championship set a record with 705
competitors. The finals featured an outstanding field,
with 19 of the 28 finalists owning at least one state or
National Prep championship in their careers. Three of the
finals matched multi-time state champions.
The National High School Seniors Wrestling
Championships resumed Saturday with 761 wrestlers from 46
states and Europe competing. That competition began with
the championship round of 16 and the opening consolation
rounds.
Pennsylvania, one of two states with three
finalists (Kansas was the other), won the Junior division
state team race with 218 points, with New York (195.5)
finishing second. Ohio was third with 188.5 points, with
New Jersey (156) finishing fourth and California and Utah
(133.5) tying for fifth place. Wrestlers from 47 states
entered the event.
Jordan Oliver (119) of Easton High led the
Pennsylvania charge, racking up nine takedowns in a 21-6
technical fall over Justin Solberg of Wahpeton (N.D.)
High, a match between a pair of two-time state champions.
Oliver was voted the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler after
recording a first-period pin, two technical falls and
three major decisions in six tournament matches. It is the
second straight year Oliver has earned the honor in the
event, having been the OW of the National Sophomores
Championships a year ago. Eric Albright (112) of Red Lion
High and Bobby Ward (130) of Nazareth High were the other
Pennsylvania wrestlers to claim titles. Ward, who didn’t
place in the state meet this year, beat another former
National Sophomores champion, two-time Iowa champion
Marshall Koethe of Akron-Westfield High, 6-2 for his
title.
Utah had two champions. At 103, Nate
Larsen of Bountiful Viewmont High, third in the state meet
this year, scored an escape and a takedown in the final 30
seconds to rally past California champion Gilberto Camacho
of Fresno Washington High, 3-2. At 135, three-time state
champion Jason Chamberlain of Springville High racked up
four takedowns in a 9-2 victory over Kansas champion Aldon
Isenberg of Gardner-Edgerton High.
Two-time Minnesota champion Jake Deitchler
(145) of Anoka High scored the only pin of the finals,
reversing Johnny Koepp of Dallas (Texas) Bishop Lynch High
to his back for a pin in just 45 seconds. That was
followed by a tense battle between two wrestlers who had
combined for six titles, two-time National Prep champion
Mario Mason of Blairstown (N.J.) Blair Academy and
four-time Alabama champion Kyle Cuthbertson of Scottsboro
High. Mason broke open a match that was tied at 1-1 on a
takedown with 53 seconds remaining and a five-point move
in the final 10 seconds for an 8-2 victory.
Seven of the 10 multi-time state champions
in the finals went down to defeat. Three-time Nebraska
champion Tyler Sackett (125) of Omaha Skutt High lost 8-6
to Jarrod Garnett of Bear (Del.) Caravel Academy. Two-time
state champions also fell at 171, where Cody Magrum of Oak
Harbor (Ohio) High lost 3-1 to three-time California
placewinner Hunter Collins of Gilroy High; at 189, where
Scott Elliott of Arkansas City (Kan.) High lost a wild
13-11 match to Ryland Geiger of Scappoose (Ore.) High; and
at 285, where Elijah Madison of Kansas City (Mo.) Oak Park
High escaped in the ultimate tie-breaker to beat Atticus
Disney of Andover (Kan.) Central High 3-2, his second
victory in as many between between the two this season.
Also winning titles were Jon Burns (140)
of Raleigh (N.C.) Cardinal Gibbons High, Bryan Bourne
(160) of Spencerport (N.Y.) High and Andrew Wilson (215)
of Anchorage (Alaska) East High. Keith Hynson of New
Castle (Del.) William Penn High, who finished fifth at
152, won the tournament’s Most Falls award with 3 falls in
a combined 3:03.
The National High School Juniors Wrestling
Championships is an open event, and is open to any
high-school wrestler completing his junior year. More than
three-quarters of the wrestlers qualified for their high
school state tournament at least once. More than half are
state placewinners, and nearly 20 per cent have won a
state title.
Founded in 1989, the National High School
Coaches Association is a not-for-profit 501c3 service
organization providing support and leadership programs for
the nation’s 500,000 high school coaches and 10 million
high school athletes.
Complete brackets can be accessed at
www.escapesports.com.
The NHSCA selects Coaches and Senior
Athletes of the Year in 20 boys and girls sports, and
sponsors more than two dozen national championship events
in 11 sports. The 18th annual National High School
Wrestling Championships attracted nearly 2,300 wrestlers
from all four grade levels to Virginia Beach, Va. later
this month, and the NHSCA conducted 16 championship events
in Virginia Beach, Va. last summer. The NHSCA, in
partnership with the NFL Coaches Association, conducted
the National High School Football Coaches Convention in
conjunction with U.S. Army All-American Bowl All-Star
Game. For a complete list of this year’s programs and
events, visit the NHSCA’s web site at
www.nhsca.com.
Founded in 1989, the National High School
Coaches Association is a not-for-profit 501c3 service
organization providing support and leadership programs for
the nation’s 500,000 high school coaches and 10 million
high school athletes.
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