By Rob Sherrill

FARGO, N.D — Just one year into his high school career, folks already are wondering what Michigan-standout Taylor Massa will do for an encore.

            His next one, that is.

            After becoming a Cadet Triple Crown winner last year as an eighth-grader, Massa became the first two-time winner of the award July 24, after taking his second straight double championship in the USA Wrestling Cadet National Championships at the FargoDome in Fargo, N.D.

            Massa (152), a state champion this year at St. Johns High, took out Jordan Rogers of Spokane (Wash.) Mead High, 4-2, 3-1 in the freestyle final to close out his week. Rogers also was a state champion this year as a freshman.

            It didn’t take long to triple the number of Cadet Triple Crown winners. In the next two finals, Jake Waste (160) of Anoka (Minn.) High and Devin Peterson (171) of Wisconsin Rapids (Wis.) Lincoln High also sealed the deal with victories over their own opponents.

            In the space of three matches, Massa, Waste and Peterson nearly doubled the list of Cadet Triple Crown winners — from four to seven. Make that eight overall, if you count Massa’s pair of Triple Crowns.

            Massa, voted the Outstanding Wrestler in the Greco-Roman tournament, survived an early scare when Rogers stopped a tilt and caught him on his back in the first period, the first time he had been on his back during the week. He also trailed 1-0 in the second period before rallying to win.

            Both of Waste’s final wins came against the same wrestler, Sam Brooks of Oak Park (Ill.) O.P.-River Forest High. The Triple Crown was redemption for Waste, who never took the mat at his high school state tournament after failing to make weight.

            Peterson, part of an outstanding freshman class at Wisconsin Rapids, was a state finalist this year.

            In addition to winning double titles at Fargo, the three also won the USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals, the initial leg of the Triple Crown, last spring.

            Nick Roberts (98) of Boswell (Pa.) North Star High joined Massa in repeating as a double Cadet National champion. Roberts, who won at 84 last year, was pushed to the limit in the freestyle final, a three-period struggle against Ohio eighth-grader Jered Cortez that saw the final two periods end in a clinch.                        

            Cortez won the toss and the start in the second period to extend the match to a third period. Roberts won the toss in the final period and was awarded two points after a scramble that survived a video review.

            The fifth and final double champion was Alex Dieringer of Port Washington (Wis.) High. After winning the Greco-Roman title at 130, Dieringer went up to 135 for the freestyle competition, pinning Steve Spearman of Erie (Pa.) McDowell High in the final.

            Wrestlers with chances to win double titles at 105 and 112 were derailed in their bids in the freestyle final, both times by the same opponent they defeated in the Greco-Roman final.

            Tyler Fraley of Colts Neck (N.J.) High pinned Virginia eighth-grader Joey Dance in the Greco-Roman final at 105. But Fraley, the Junior National freestyle champion at 98 a year ago, lost 2-0, 1-0 to Dance in the Cadet freestyle final.

            At 112, Michigan eighth-grader Ben Whitford ended Blairstown Township (N.J.) Blair Academy freshman Mark Grey’s bid to repeat as a double champion in a controversial finish. Grey appeared to have won the second period 1-0, but a protest concerning the operation of the time clock was upheld after a video review. Six seconds were put back on the clock and Grey, who already had had his hand raised, had to be summoned from the interview area to resume the match. Whitford then won the period with a last-second takedown, sending the match to a decisive third period, and threw Grey early in the period to set up a 5-3 victory. He was voted the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler.

            Michigan and team champion Illinois each had three individual champions. Jordan Wohlfert (140), Massa’s high school teammate at St. Johns, joined Whitford and Massa on the top step. Illinois, which outscored Pennsylvania 85-69, got titles from Edwin Cooper (130) of New Lenox Providence High and Crystal Lake Central High teammates Austin Marsden (189) and Gage Harrah (215).

            The Greco-Roman tournament featured one of the tightest team races in recent years, with Wisconsin, on the strength of eight wins from its 11 All-Americans in the All-American round, scored 61 points to close out Minnesota (58) and Illinois (57), which each had 13 All-Americans.

            Wisconsin rolled out the heavy artillery in the finals, as Dieringer and Peterson were joined by Zak Benitz (140), Peterson’s high school teammate at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln, and Brad Dolezal (145) of Marshfield High as champions. Just two points separated the three teams at the start of the session.

            Let’s move on to the individual weight classes. Here’s a rundown of what happened in each.

            84 pounds: Often the property of one or a small group of wrestlers, the wealth was spread around this time. After losing 6-1, 6-0 to Dylan Akers, a freshman at Flower Mound (Texas) High next year, in the Greco-Roman final — his only loss of the week — Valdosta (Ga.) High freshman Darshawn Sharpe breezed through the freestyle tournament, going 7-0 and winning the title 5-2, 9-7 over freshman Billy Rappo of Holland (Pa.) Council Rock South High, the fourth member of his family to compete at Fargo. Sharpe’s seven wins included a 6-0, 4-1 revenge win over Akers in the round robin. Akers finished sixth and was joined by Nkosi Moody of Illinois and Jarred Oftedahl of Minnesota as double All-Americans, a feat accomplished by 51 Cadet wrestlers.

            91 pounds: Missouri wrestlers took turns dominating this weight class. Ozark High freshman Colton Howell took the Greco-Roman title, losing just one period and recording three technical falls en route to a 6-0 record, and added a seventh-place finish in the freestyle tournament. Freestyle specialist Brad Perkins, who will be a freshman at Kansas City Oak Park High, didn’t allow a point until the last period he wrestled, when he closed out a 7-0, 5-3 final victory over Phillip Laux of Pekin (Iowa) High. His 7-0 record included three technical falls and a pin. Laux also finished third in the Greco-Roman tournament, and Jacob Schmitt of Michigan and Brandon George of Utah also earned double All-America honors.

            98 pounds: Sixth in the AA state tournament this year as a still-undersized high school freshman, Roberts was once again at a weight class suited to him…and for the second straight year, he didn’t lose a match, finishing 8-0 in each tournament. He had one close call in Greco-Roman, losing 8-1 in the opening period of his first round-robin match to Arthur Carmona of Brawley (Calif.) High before taking the match with victories of 7-6 and 1-0. The only other points he allowed were in the second period of his 4-0, 5-4 final victory over Sam Brancale of Eden Prairie (Minn.) High.                         Prior to the freestyle final, Cortez made his own Outstanding Wrestler bid with four technical falls and just two points surrendered in eight matches prior to the finals — the same number surrendered by Roberts in seven bouts.

            105 pounds: Fraley and Dance were the story with their back-to-back finals matches. Fraley made a strong OW bid of his own in the Greco-Roman meet. His victory by pin over Dance was his second of the meet in eight matches, and he also added four technical falls.             Dance, meanwhile, needed some help to get into the finals after losing 2-0, 1-0 to Skylar Wood of Kansas City (Mo.) Park Hill High in the seventh round. But he pinned Alex Calandrino of Howell (Mich.) High in the first round-robin bout and Calandrino stunned Wood 4-3, 1-0 in the next round to send Dance to the finals. Both were unbeaten prior to the freestyle final, Dance finishing with a 10-0 record. Derek Elmore of Machesney Park (Ill.) High, eighth in the Greco-Roman tournament, moved up to 112 for the freestyle meet and not only finished fourth, but won the tournament’s Most Falls Award with six pins in 4:42.

            112 pounds: Like 105, this was a two-man race, but it wasn’t until the second period of the freestyle final that Whitford raised the stakes on the drama meter. Until his match-tying takedown following the protest, it appeared that Grey had done just enough to win once again. Whitford also forced a third period in the Greco-Roman final by winning the second period 1-0, only the third point Grey surrendered in nine matches, before Grey scored a fall in the third period. Whitford pinned two-time state champion Eric Devos of Waverly (Iowa) W.-Shell Rock High in the freestyle pool final, while Grey was scored upon just once in eight pool matches.

            119 pounds: Kavon Jones of Omaha (Neb.) North High, twice third in the state tournament, treated the crowd to a cartwheel and back flip after winning the Greco-Roman title, 3-2, 1-0 over Tyler Goodwin of Baltimore (Md.) Mount St. Joseph High. Jones pinned Kevin Norstrem of Brandon (Fla.) High, one of two double All-Americans, in the pool final to reach the finals after the two had split the first two periods. Goodwin, the other double All-American, matched Jones’s 8-0 pool record and finished eighth in the freestyle tournament. All three periods of the freestyle final ended with a clinch, with Squire, third in this tournament last year, winning the toss the final two periods in a 0-1, 1-0, 1-0 win over Brandon Sorensen, a freshman next year at Denver (Iowa) High.                        

125 pounds: State qualifier Zane Richards of Carbondale (Ill.) High started a powerhouse week by becoming his state’s only Greco-Roman champion, shutting out Kameron Hamley of Belcourt (N.D.) Turtle Mountain Community High, 1-0, 1-0. The only point Richards surrendered in eight matches came in a 2-0, 1-1 seventh-round victory over Horan, and Richards and Horan were the weight’s only double All-Americans. But Wilbourn used his athletic ability to beat both en route to his freestyle title, turning back Richards in the sixth round, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0.

            130 pounds: For the second straight year, Dieringer moved up a weight class for the freestyle tournament and for the second straight year, either matched or exceeded his Greco-Roman finish.  Dieringer was unbeaten in 17 matches during the week and dropped just two periods, coming back from an opening loss against two-time Idaho champion Casey George of Lewiston High to win the Greco-Roman title. Cooper used his feared stepover to score a mini-upset over fellow state champion Jason Tsirtsis of Crown Point (Ind.) High. He hit one in each period, the second in the final five seconds, for a 4-2, 2-1 victory. Tsirtsis was unscored on in eight pool matches and Cooper surrendered just four points in nine pool bouts.

            135 pounds: The weight’s only double All-Americans, Oliver Pierce, a freshman at Allen (Texas) High next year, and Dan Dick of Inver Grove Heights (Minn.) Simley High, met in the Greco-Roman final, with Pierce outlasting Dick in three periods, 0-1, 1-0, 2-0. A two-time Kids Triple Crown champion, the victory gave Pierce a shot at becoming a fourth Cadet Triple Crown champion. But he had to settle for a fourth-place freestyle finish after Dieringer handed him his first loss of the week — 3-1, 1-0 in the seventh round.

            140 pounds: Wohlfert, state runner-up to St. Johns teammate and Michigan State-recruit Dan Osterman, showed — not once, not twice, but four times — that it’s never over until it’s over. Things didn’t look good for him after he was pinned by Greco-Roman placewinner Brady Massaro of Severna Park (Md.) High in the third round. Then he won five straight to reach the finals, surviving a pair of first-period losses, to Gabriel Moreno of Urbandale (Iowa) high in the fifth round and Tre Miller Scott of Harrisburg (Pa.) Central Dauphin East High in the seventh round. He had to dig deep in the final after Brian Brill of Mill Hall (Pa.) Central Mountain High rolled out a tight lace for an 11-5 first-period victory. All he did was shut Brill out the final two periods, 4-0 and 3-0. Benitz, one of three double All-Americans, had a pair of pins and a pair of technical falls in pool competition.

            145 pounds: After losing 3-0, 2-0 to Dolezal in the Greco-Roman final — the only periods he lost all week in 18 matches — Justin Koethe of Iowa City (Iowa) West High came back to win the freestyle title, getting by Dominic Prezzia of St. Clairsville (Ohio) High 1-0, 1-0. For his part, Dolezal built a 9-0 record in his Greco-Roman title run, losing a period only in the second round, but elected to go up a weight for freestyle. He was eliminated in the sixth round. Fourth in the state tournament, Prezzia’s only lost period prior to the finals came in the fifth round to Jesse Baldazo of Brentwood (Calif.) Liberty High, eighth in the Greco-Roman tournament.

            152 pounds: How impressive was Massa? He won all six of his Greco-Roman pool matches by technical fall, allowing just one point, and only the second period of the final against Illinois champion Dylan Reel of Washington High — 1-0 — went the distance. His freestyle pool record: 7-0, two pins, five technical falls and just two points allowed. Reel advanced to the final with a three-period win over Rogers in the second round of the round robin. Rogers lost to fellow double All-American William Baker of St. Anthony (Minn.) High in three periods in the fifth round, but prevailed over Baker and Cody Allala of Hopewell (Va.) High on points after the three split their matches. Bubba Scheffel of Maryland and Kyle Crutchmer of Oklahoma made it five double All-Americans; only 105 had as many.                         160 pounds: Waste lived on the edge, but came out on top. He had to survive three three-period struggles to reach the Greco-Roman final. He was on the ropes again in freestyle after losing in three periods, 0-1, 3-0, 0-3, to Crutchmer, up from 152, in the sixth round. But, needing a bonus-point win in his final round-robin match, he came through with a second-period pin against Jeff Koepke of Arlington Heights (Ill.) Hersey High, who would have advanced to the finals on points with a loss and score. Brooks also had to overcome a loss — 6-2, 2-0 to New Yorker Mitchell Wightman in the fifth round — and did so with three straight wins.

            171 pounds: Only one of Peterson’s eight Greco-Roman matches went the distance, a three-period 7-0, 2-5, 1-0 classic over his freestyle final opponent, Lucas Sheridan of Concord (Calif.) DeLaSalle High, who finished third. He racked up two pins and five technical falls the rest of the way, allowing only one point. He added a pin and three more technical falls in freestyle, dropping a pair of periods. Sheridan, who had four pins and two technical falls en route to the freestyle final, lost only to Peterson in 16 matches.

            189 pounds: The wealth was spread here, with Skyler Carroll of Livingston (Mont.) Park High, seventh in both styles, the weight’s only double All-American. Idaho state champion Tanner Hall of Meridian High had a pin and three technical falls to start the Greco-Roman tournament, then survived four tense matches, two going three periods, to wrap up the title. That included a 1-0, 0-2, 7-0 final victory over Zack Rutt of LeCenter (Minn.) High, a former Kids Triple Crown winner. Marsden, knocked out of the Illinois state tournament series by illness prior to the sectional, recorded four pins and a fourth-round victory over Hall en route to the freestyle final.

            215 pounds: Eighth-grader Brooks Black of Dover, Pa., who is home schooled, rebounded from a 1-0 first-period loss to take the Greco-Roman title over Josh Marchok of Schaumburg (Ill.) High. He dropped a period in each of his final two matches, but finished 8-0. Marchok and Illinois-teammate Luke Miller of Libertyville High were two of the weight’s double All-Americans. Harrah, third in state this year, had three pins and three technical falls in his first six matches before settling for a 4-3, 5-0 victory over Miller in the final round-robin match that advanced him to the final. In the final, he reversed a loss for third place in the FILA Cadet Nationals with a 2-1, 0-3, 3-2 victory over Nick Tavanello of Wadsworth (Ohio) High, also third in the state as a freshman.

            Heavyweight: It was feast or famine for Greco-Roman champion Orry Elor of Pleasant Hill (Calif.) College Park High. He had two pins — and 12 periods that ended 1-0 – in his 8-0 run to the title. He finally opened it up, though, in the final against one of the weight’s three double All-Americans, Caleb White of Neola (Iowa) Tri-Center High, winning 1-0, 4-0. Minnesota state runner-up Donny Longendyke of White Bear Lake High, third in the Greco-Roman tournament, lost just one period in going 8-0 and winning the freestyle title.