By Rob Sherrill

FARGO, N.D. — After being pinned with the 98-pound title virtually within his grasp a year ago, Jade Rauser made sure this year’s title — and Junior division history — didn’t escape him this time.

            Rauser, a two-time Montana state champion from Townsend and Broadwater County High, swept Jack Hathaway of Iowa City (Iowa) West High, 6-0, 3-0 in the 105-pound USA Wrestling ASICS/Vaughan Junior National freestyle finals, July 25.

            Rauser won the first leg of the Triple Crown — the USA Folkstyle Nationals — in April and became one of just two wrestlers to win Junior National double titles at the FargoDome in Fargo, N.D. This is the third year that Juniors have had a chance to win the Triple Crown. The Junior division was added to the Folkstyle Nationals in 2007.

            The only other wrestler to earn a double title came at the next weight class — 112 — where two-time Arizona champion Ryak Finch of Safford High dominated the field in both tournaments. His opponent in both finals was Jade Rauser’s twin brother, Valyen. Finch won both matches with quick technical falls.

            Another pair of talented twins, Andrew (140) and Dylan Alton (145) of Mill Hall (Pa.) Central Mountain High, repeated as Junior National freestyle champions, prevailing in tough three-period finals and shared the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler award. The Penn State University commitments have now combined to win a total of eight Junior and Cadet National titles in Greco-Roman and freestyle.

            Pennsylvania, which won the Junior freestyle team title, won three straight individual titles. Josh Dziewa of Holland Council Rock South High preceded the Altons by taking the 135-pound title.

            Illinois, which took the Junior Greco-Roman team title, and Pennsylvania won their events by the identical score of 71-48. Illinois, which also took the Cadet freestyle crown, prevailed over Florida, while Pennsylvania outscored Minnesota. Arizona also earned its first top-five finish in any event, taking fifth in Greco-Roman.

            Washington matched Pennsylvania with three freestyle champions. Derek Garcia (152), a Cadet National Greco-Roman champion in 2007, beat Joey Cozart of Brandon (Fla.) High, 6-0, 7-1. Garcia, who graduated from Sedro Woolley (Wash.) High in just three years, nevertheless will return to play football and wrestle in his senior season while taking college courses on-line. He trained at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this summer.

            Also taking titles were Ruben Navejas (98) of Kent Kentwood High and Boise State University-recruit Jake Swartz (189) of Auburn High.

            Two states claimed a pair of champions: Ohio, with Ty Mitch (119) of Aurora High and Jeremy Johnson (HWT) of Broadview Heights Brecksville High, and Minnesota also had two champions with University of Minnesota-recruits David Thorn (125) of Albertville St. Michael-Albertville High and Tony Nelson (215) of Cambridge-Isanti High.

            Illinois’ dominating Greco-Roman run featured four champions, Ellis Coleman (135) of Oak Park-River Forest High, Josh Castellano (145) of Bensenville Fenton High, Mark Stenberg (171) of Lockport High — all of whom will move on to the USOEC program at Northern Michigan — and Josef Rau (215) of Chicago St. Patrick High. None of the four won a state title during their high school careers.

            Kendrick Sanders (152) of Homestead (Fla.) South Dade High not only won his third straight Greco-Roman title, and his second Junior crown, but he also repeated as the Outstanding Wrestler award winner. In a rare match of defending champions, Sanders, the 145-pound champion last year, rolled past defending 152-pound champion Kalvin York of New Glarus (Wis.) High with a 6-0, 6-0 technical fall. Sanders launched York with a spectacular five-point throw to seal the deal.

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

            98 pounds: After losing 1-0, 1-0 to Concord (Calif.) DeLaSalle High freshman Joey Moita in the Greco-Roman final, Navejas dropped the first period of the freestyle final to Max Soria of Kings Park (N.Y.) High, then rebounded with two wins in a 0-2, 1-0, 4-1 victory. Soria finished third in the Division 1 state tournament at 96 pounds as a junior, while his twin brother, Mike, was the state champion. Mike finished 2-2 in both tournaments. Navejas’ freestyle pool wins included a revenge 6-0, 6-1 victory over Moita, who finished seventh, in the fifth round. Michael Dauterive of Texas and Manny Marin of California also were double All-Americans; 37 Junior wrestlers accomplished that feat.

            105 pounds: Jade Rauser didn’t allow a point in either final, also beating Chris Bostic of Tucson (Ariz.) Flowing Wells High 2-0, 7-0 in the Greco-Roman final. He allowed only two points in each tournament, two of those coming in a 6-0, 0-2, 5-0 technical fall over Hathaway, the weight’s other double All-American, in the second round of the Greco-Roman round robin — also the only period he lost during the week. He also met defending 98-pound double champion Jake Bellis of Bloomington (Ill.) High, in the final Greco-Roman round robin match, shutting him out 6-0, 3-0. Bostic needed only four wins to reach the final, and was unscored upon.

            112 pounds: Finch, a Junior National runner-up in both styles this year, was pushed only once in his 17 matches at Fargo. That came in the sixth round of the Greco-Roman tournament against four-time Wyoming champion Tyler Cox of Gillette Campbell County High — a match in which Finch needed three periods to prevail, 6-0, 4-5, 3-0. He allowed a grand total of six points in his other 16 matches and was in high gear in freestyle, not winning a period by less than four points in piling up a 9-0 record. Rauser, too, was dominant in pool competition, going 14-0 and dropping only three periods. Tanner Moon of Alabama was a double All-American for the second straight year and Jeff Vesta of Kansas also accomplished the feat, taking the Most Falls award in freestyle with six in 8:27.

            119 pounds: Mitch, a two-time state champion, denied two-time double champion Ryan Mango of St. Louis (Mo.) Whitfield School a third double crown, scoring a third-period takedown in the final round-robin match for a 6-2, 0-1, 1-0 victory. Mitch lost in three periods to two-time Indiana champion Camden Eppert of Anderson Highland High earlier in the round robin, but his win over Mango gave the two four round-robin points — and Mitch the finals berth on the head-to-head win. He scored both his points on clinches in his 1-0, 1-0 victory over Pennsylvania champion Nico Megaludis of Murrysville Franklin Regional High. Mango allowed just four points en route to a 9-0 Greco-Roman record. The other two double All-Americans met in the second round of the Greco-Roman tournament, and Jerry Huff of Broomfield (Colo.) High, fifth in the state tournament this year, made a 0-1, 1-0, 2-2 victory over three-time Missouri champion Alan Waters of Kansas City Park Hill High stand up to reach the final.

            125 pounds: Two-time California champion David Klingsheim of Brentwood Liberty High became a double All-American and did it the hard way, moving up a weight class to 130 and finishing fifth after taking the Greco-Roman title at this weight.                         Klingsheim dropped only one Greco-Roman period — the first of a 0-4, 4-0, 1-0 victory over Cadet National Greco-Roman champion Aaron Runzo of Virginia Beach (Va.) Floyd E. Kellam High — and allowed just three points in his other eight matches as he went 9-0 overall. He prevailed 7-0, 3-2 over Patrick Myers of Cresson (Pa.) Penn Cambria High, who didn’t place in the AA state tournament, but had two pins and three technical falls in pool competition and also became a double All-American. Four-time state champion Thorn didn’t drop a period in 10 matches and allowed only 10 points.

            130 pounds: The weight’s only double All-American, Justin LaValle of Apple Valley (Minn.) High, was pushed only once in a 9-0 run to the Greco-Roman final. That came in the sixth round, where Kade Moss of South Jordan (Utah) Bingham High took the first period before LaValle rebounded to win, 0-1, 1-0, 2-1. They were the only two points he allowed as he racked up four pins and two technical falls.

            Illinois state champion Nick Dardanes of Oak Park-River Forest High took the first period from Cashe Quiroga of Indianapolis (Ind.) Lawrence North High, but the Purdue recruit rallied, dominating the final two periods in a 1-2, 6-0, 5-0 victory. There might have been a third set of twins in the finals, but Quiroga denied Dardanes’ twin brother, Chris, a finals berth when he scored a 3-0, 1-0 victory in the final round robin match.

            135 pounds: Josh Kindig of Schuylkill Haven Blue Mountain High, who lost to Dylan Alton in both Junior National finals at this weight last year, finished third in Greco-Roman, then moved up to 140 for the freestyle competition and advanced to the finals, this time losing to Andrew. Coleman, who did not advance past the quarterfinals in any of his four trips to the Illinois state tournament, had no such trouble in the Greco-Roman competition. He scored technical falls in eight of his nine matches, including the final, and allowed just two points.

            Only Kindig, in the final round-robin match, slowed him down, and even then just briefly in a 1-0, 6-0 win. Dziewa, ruled ineligible for the state tournament last year after a transfer, lost in the eighth round to Simon Kitzis of Kingston (Pa.) Wyoming Seminary, and lost the first period 6-0 to Ryan Nieman of Midland (Mich.) Bullock Creek in the round robin before scoring a technical fall of his own with victories or 8-1 and 7-0. He also had to rally in the first period of the final and used a clinch to beat three-time Kansas champion C.J. Napier of Columbus High 3-3, 1-0. Dan Osterman of Michigan was the other double All-American.

            140 pounds: Up a weight from 135, Kindig breezed through his freestyle pool with five pins and three technical falls in eight matches. Alton found the going a little rougher, but his final three opponents were highly-ranked Chris Villalonga of Blairstown (N.J.) Blair Academy, returning Cadet Triple Crown winner Dylan Ness of Bloomington (Minn.) Kennedy High, the weight’s only double All-American, and Ukrainian native Nazar Kulchytskyy, a senior next year at Prairie du Chien (Wis.) High. He won the bouts in tight two-period struggles.                                                             Two-time Nebraska champion RaVaughn Perkins of Omaha North High dominated the Greco-Roman tournament. He did not have a match — even a period — go the distance as he racked up four pins and six technical falls, allowing just five points overall.

            145 pounds: The double champion at 135 a year ago, Dylan Alton jumped over his brother, Andrew, to 145 this year. He beat two-time Oklahoma champion Justin DeAngelis of Jenks High 6-0, 3-1 and three-time Minnesota champion Destin McCauley of Apple Valley High 1-0, 2-0 in the round robin after dominating the rest of the pool with two pins and five technical falls, allowing just three points. His 6-0, 2-3, 3-1 final victory over Vlad Dombroskiy of Sacramento (Calif.) Natomas High was the last of four straight three-period matches for the former California state champion.                         Castellano used his experience to prevail in three periods over two-time Arizona champion Kory DeBerry of Tucson Sunnyside High, only a junior next year, 0-1, 3-0, 2-1. Castellano met the weight’s only double All-American, three-time Nevada champion Steven Hernandez of Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High, in the second round, and recorded a 1-1, 2-1, 1-0 victory that stood up the rest of the way.

            152 pounds: Repeat Greco-Roman champion Sanders truly earned his repeat Outstanding Wrestler selection. He racked up two pins and four technical falls — the last of the four coming in the final — and allowed a grand total of three points, two fewer than last year, in posting a 9-0 overall record. York also was outstanding, allowing just six points in nine pool matches, though he did drop the opening period of his seventh-round match to Cozart, the weight’s only double All-American.

            Cozart then won his first eight freestyle matches, and even with a three-period loss to Brandon Rolnick of Lawrenceville (N.J.) School in the final round robin, he advanced to the final on points. But Garcia, who allowed just five points in going 9-0, scored his fifth technical fall of the tournament in the final to go along with two pins.

            160 pounds: A pair of graduated two-time state champions, Boise State-recruit Brock Gutches of Central Point (Ore.) Crater High and Iowa-recruit Derek St. John of Iowa City (Iowa) West High, took the respective titles. Gutches, a cousin of former freestyle World champion Les Gutches, allowed just two points in an 8-0 Greco-Roman run that included four technical falls and a 3-1, 6-0 victory over Ronnie Balfour of Tulsa (Okla.) Union High. St. John and his finals opponent, two-time South Dakota champion Robert Kokesh of Wagner High, each had four pins in pool competition, with St. John prevailing 4-2, 4-1 in the final.                         University of Oklahoma-recruit Kyle Detmer of Wichita (Kan.) Bishop Carroll High, the weight’s only double All-American, lost 7-0, 1-0 to Gutches in the Greco-Roman pool final, but earned revenge in freestyle with a 2-1, 3-1 victory that eliminated Gutches in the seventh round.

            171 pounds: Repeating as Junior National freestyle champions and winning for the third straight year at Fargo was double All-American Ethen Lofthouse of Hyrum (Utah) Mountain Crest High. He had a pin and seven technical falls in building a 9-0 freestyle record, allowing just four points. He breezed past two-time Illinois champion Lee Munster of Fox Lake Grant High, 5-1, 4-0.

            New York champion Tyler Beckwith of Greene High, also a double All-American, was a factor in both tournaments, beating Lofthouse in three periods in the sixth round of the Greco-Roman tournament to advance to the final and handing Munster his only period loss in freestyle, 10-7 in the first period of the seventh round, before Munster roared back for his fifth technical fall, 6-0, 8-0.

            189 pounds: A double All-American for the second straight year, Swartz posted a 9-0 record and lost just one period in becoming his state’s third Junior freestyle champion, and his only loss of the week came in the seventh round of the Greco-Roman tournament, 4-0, 3-0 to fellow double All-American Tyler Lehmann of Apple Valley (Minn.) High. That victory put Lehmann, also the winner of the Most Falls award with six in 5:55, in the finals. But Andrew Campolattano of Bound Brook (N.J.) High, already a two-time state champion as a sophomore and a double Cadet National champion a year ago, scored a spectacular first-period pin to earn his fourth Fargo title.

            Swartz’s freestyle final opponent, Max Huntley, who attended Blair Academy last year after winning a Virginia state title at Stafford Colonial Forge High, used a 5-5, 7-0 victory over Lehmann in the sixth round to advance to the freestyle final.

            215 pounds: Only a 189-pound state qualifier, Rau became one of the weight’s three double All-Americans, prevailing in the close matches in Greco-Roman. In beating Idaho-champion Trevor Rupp of Pocatello High 1-1, 1-0, 1-0 in the final, 10 of the 17 periods he wrestled ended 1-0 or 1-1, and he was 9-1 in those periods. Nelson also lived on the edge in freestyle, surviving first-period losses in each of his first two matches and going the distance in nine of his 10 bouts, capped by a 3-1, 2-1 victory over Derrick Borlie of Winchester (Va.) Millbrook High.

            Borlie gained momentum as the tournament went on, allowing only three points the final five pool rounds.

            Heavyweight: After going the distance in seven of his eight pool matches, Ohio University-recruit Johnson ended the week under the FargoDome with an unexpected exclamation point — a first-period fall over one of the weight’s three double All-Americans, fellow state champion Jake Kettler of Anoka (Minn.) High.

            Kettler advanced to the finals by pinning Greco-Roman champion Niko Bogojevic of Superior (Wis.) High, also a double All-American, in the pool final. Bogojevic had shut out Kettler 6-0, 1-0 in the fifth round of the Greco-Roman tournament, and surrendered just one point in seven bouts. n