Written by Jeff Breese

Photography by G. Newman Lowrance Photography

            The following is a recap of the high school action at the Brute-adidas Nationals, held April 3-5, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo.

Senior Tournament

Houlden wins Kansas clash

            The premier bout of the senior division was the finals of 155. Kansas 6A runner-up, Ryan Houlden faced Kansas 3A-2A-1A third-place finisher, Keegan Smith.

            Houlden won the battle of state place winners, 3-1, and was named the 12th grade Outstanding Wrestler. Houlden used a technical fall and a fall to reach the finals. Smith had a pair of decisions over both consolation finalists.

Aloha means success

            Punahou, Hawaii dominated the senior lower weights by winning three of the first four weights.

            Reid Oshiro traveled from Hawaii to become the champion at 122. Oshiro received a first-round bye, then had a 0:56 fall in the semifinals. Oshiro capped off his tournament with an 8-1 decision over Chad Deno of Michigan.

            Another Hawaiian, Maika Nagata took the title at 128. Nagata breezed through a four-man round robin.

            Arnold Toriumi completed the Hawaii trifecta when he won the tournament at 133. Toriumi won all four of his bouts by decision. He defeated the second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishers.

Other 12th-grade notes

            • Will Mascaro of Indiana stopped the run of Hawaii champions. Mascaro defeated Stephon Jenkins of Florida in the finals. The rest of the six-man round robin was made up of six Kansas competitors.

            • Missouri’s Taylor Powers reached the semifinals at 148 pounds without wrestling a bout. Powers lost his first bout by fall to James Tudor of Iowa. After shaking off the rust, Powers won his next two bouts to finish third. Tudor was defeated in the finals by Josh Weaver of Missouri.

            • Davin Morris of Florida dominated his opponents in the six-man round robin, including Curt Trimmell of Missouri. Morris defeated Trimmell 11-1 in the round robin, but had to squeak out a close, 9-7, win over Trimmell in the finals. Morris had built a big lead, but tried an ill-advised throw near the end of the bout that put Trimell back into the match.

            • South Dakota crowned a champion when Charles Fox defeated Missouri’s Jobi Hambrick, 10-7, in the 192-pound finals. Fox collected a forfeit, a decision and a fall on his way to the finals.

            • The Volunteer State of Tennessee also had a finalist when 288-pounder Andrew Severson reached the championship bout against Missouri’s Chris McMullin. Severson dropped his finals bout, but recorded two falls to reach the finals.

Junior Tournament

Florida’s Gordon pressures his way to 143-pound title

            The 11th Grade Division at the Brute-adidas Nationals was packed with talent. The bracket had ten competitors, six of those competitors had earned a state medal. Two wrestlers, Chase Gordon of Florida and Josh Howk of Missouri, emerged from the gauntlet to provide fans with an exciting and hard-fought final.

            Gordon, a Florida 3A state champion, needed overtime to defeat the two-time Missouri 4A medalist and returning Brute-adidas Nationals champion, Howk. Howk got on the board first midway the through the first period after using a strong left underhook to knock Gordon off balance and force him to turn down. Howk rode Gordon for the remainder of the first period.

            Gordon chose bottom for the second and quickly came free for one, making the score 2-1. Despite heavy hand fighting and several attacks and counter attacks by both wrestlers the score stayed 2-1 going to the third period.

            Howk went on the bottom for the final period, but struggled to fight off tilt attempts by Gordon. After giving up a few one counts Howk escaped with less than a minute to go in the bout. Gordon continued to go forward and push the action, but Howk nearly scored defensively on two occasions. Finally, Gordon snagged the right ankle of Howk and a scramble ensued. Eventually, Gordon was able to cut to a double to tie the bout at 3-3.

            The sudden-victory period began where the third period left off with the heavy hand fighting. After going out of bounds a couple of times, Howk tied up with Gordon and tried a headlock near the center of the mat. Gordon ducked the attempt and spun behind Howk as both wrestlers went to the mat.

            Howk tried to hit a switch after falling to the mat, but two points had already been awarded. Howk’s corner immediately went to the scorer’s table to express their objections. After a short conference at the table the call stood as called, and Gordon took the decision and the title, 5-3.

            After falling behind in the first period, Gordon took a specific approach to his match.

            “I just said what would Brent Metcalf do? So, I just kept going forward and I felt him break a little bit. I finally got the takedown and my pressure in overtime forced him into a desperate move,” Gordon said.

            Gordon, the 11th grade Outstanding Wrestler, was impressed with the strength of the Brute-adidas Nationals.

            “I thought the level of competition was strong, especially since NHSCAs were this weekend. My first match was tough, I drew a two-time state champion, which I didn’t know until after the bout,” Gordon said.

            The state champion that Gordon knocked off was Danny Floyd of Kansas. Floyd battled back from that first-round loss to take third in the weight.

11th-grade notes

            • The 11th grade 106-pound bracket was a small four-man round robin, but it had some drama. Isaac Cairo of Kansas and Hart Buchanan of Georgia rolled through their opponents to set a showdown that Cairo took 6-4 in sudden victory.

            • Nate Morgan of Nebraska used four bonus-point victories to win the 115-pound championship. Morgan had two technical falls in the preliminary rounds then a major decision in the semis. He completed his day with a 13-3 major decision over Justin Taubenheim of Nebraska in the finals. Taubenheim had two falls and a technical fall en route to the finals.

            • Logan Welch of Missouri was pushed to the limit in his semifinal bout against Garrett Kuhlman of Kansas. Welch came away with a 5-4 win and moved on to win the 122-pound title, 15-4, over Ethan Cooper of Iowa. Kuhlman never recovered from the loss and dropped to sixth place.

            • Tyler Thompson, a 288-pounder from Iowa, worked hard for a short amount of time to win his weight class. Thompson had an eight-man bracket and received a bye in the first round. He then won his semi-final and final bouts by fall.

            • Alan Taylor of Nebraska needed only 6:19 to record three falls and become the champion at 192.

            • Bishop Lynch’s Cody Bye reached the finals at 148 and confused more one than one tournament worker when his bout sheets were returned to the head table.

            • Schuyler Radke of Iowa lost in the opening round. He bounced back from the loss and went on a five-match winning streak before losing in the consolation finals to Cullen Demarest of Kansas. Demarest and Radke both were defeated by eventual champion Michael Minske of Minnesota.

            • Michigan’s Josh Syverson battled for a 4-3 opening-round win over Cody Wildin of Kansas. Syverson dropped his next bout, but worked his way back to the consolation finals. Wildin did his part to earn a rematch with Syverson in the consolation finals, but Syverson again was victorious, this time by fall in 1:22.

Sophomore Tournament

Big man, big offense

            The finals bout at 192 pounds looked like a great match up. Josh Braselton of Missouri had come through the top half of the bracket with three falls. Braselton had even pinned the eventual third-place finisher, Tyson Sutton of Nebraska. Florida’s Jay Taylor reached the finals with two falls in a combined four minutes and a 22-10 major decision.

            Instead of being the match of the tournament, Braselton’s and Taylor’s bout came to a quick and decisive end. Taylor picked up a fall in just 3:33, adding Braselton to his list of victims and became the 10th grade Outstanding Wrestler.

            Taylor used a very active offense and made an uncharacteristically high amount of legs attacks for a wrestler of his weight. He used those attacks to jump out to an early lead. Taylor continued his leg attacks in the second period and forced Braselton into a scramble. Braselton reached over the top of Taylor and locked between his legs while trying to fend off a single attempt. Taylor was able to sit back into Braselton and secured a pin without ever completing the takedown.

            Taylor attributes his attacking style to the work he puts in off the mat.

            “I have been working a lot with my strength coach on my foot speed. I do a lot of jumping rope,” Taylor said.

            Taylor, along with many of his Florida Jets teammates, was following up the tournament with a trip to Las Vegas for the USA Wrestling Western Regional.

10th-grade notes

            • Tyler Swope of Iowa used five first-period pins to win the 288-pound class. His quickest fall came in 1:14.

            • Kansas’ Gage Knudson took home his third straight Brute-adidas title recording three falls in his five-man round robin. Knudson was pushed by Leo Beck of Kansas. Beck dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to Knudson in the round robin.

            • Kevin Powell dominated the 106-pound weight class with two falls and a technical fall. The only bout the Illinois native didn’t win by bonus points was the finals against Kalen Bonilla of Kansas.

            • The finals bout at 115 was a Missouri showdown between Josh Suedmeyer and Mitchell Bradley. Suedmeyer pinned his way to the finals, but was stopped by Bradley, 12-6.

            • Derrick Walvern of South Dakota reached the quarterfinals before losing to Kale Newell of Kansas. Walvern won three more bouts and totaled three falls and a technical fall to finish third. Newell lost in the semifinals and finished sixth.

            • Brody Grothus of Iowa easily took the title at 148. Grothus had three major decisions and two falls, including an 11-3 victory in the finals.

Freshmen Tournament

Bolling & Meeks steal show

            Nebraska state champion Connor Bolling was the highlight of 106-pound weight class. Bolling earned two first-period falls in his first two bouts, before being challenged in the semifinals by Indiana’s Jarred Brooks. Bolling still held Brooks scoreless, but had to wrestle a full six minutes for a 4-0 win.

            The semifinal bout on the bottom side of the bracket paired Jake Goodwin, a National Prep medalist from Texas, against Dmitry Loftis of Missouri. Loftis jumped out to a 6-2 lead, but was thrown to his back late in the match. Goodwin believed that he had given Loftis an escape before hitting the throw, but no escape was awarded and the throw only netted three back points. Loftis held on for the 6-5 win.

            After knocking off the National Prep All-American, Loftis was expected to challenge Bolling. However, Bolling did not get the memo and pinned Loftis in the second period. For his efforts, Bolling was named the age group’s Outstanding Wrestler.

            Another outstanding performance was given by John Paul Meeks of Iowa. Meeks won his third straight Brute-adidas Nationals championships. Meeks had two technical falls on his way to the title.

            Meeks took an even keel approach to winning his third title and when asked could not pick a title that was his favorite.

            “They were all about the same. I just tried to stay focused on winning,” Meeks said.

9th-grade notes

            • The 288-pound weight class was never in doubt. Kansas’s Jordan Brown rolled through the five-man round robin, winning three of his bouts by fall. Brown’s quickest fall was in 0:19.

            • Missouri’s Josh Harlan wrestled only three matches to win the championship at 218. Harlan was an unstoppable force recording three falls in 9:11. Harlan’s quarterfinal and semifinal opponents wrestled back to face each other in the third-place bout. Dustin Rosborough of Illinois took the third place bout 6-2.

            • Kyle Brown and Chris Pittman of Missouri wrestled a memorable finals bout at 174. Brown walked away with a 12-10 victory. Combined Brown and Pittman had three falls en route to the finals. Just like at 218, Brown’s quarterfinal and semifinal opponents wrestled for third place. Joe Heard of Nebraska earned a fall in :41 in that bout.

            • Colorado’s Connor King easily took the title in the 163-pound weight class. Three of King’s wins were bonus-point victories. His only regular decision came in the semi-finals against eventually consolation champion, Conor Hovey of Nebraska.

            • Landon Stroud of South Dakota and Jared Reis of North Dakota both pinned their way to the semifinals. The semifinal showdown between them went to overtime and Reis earned a 5-3 victory. Reis left no doubt in the finals winning 16-1.

            (Jeff Breese is the webmaster of Intermat.com.)