Four champs help Team Iowa dominate Junior Nationals freestyle

By
Updated: July 19, 2022

Photo: Bradley Hill (top) fought off his Team Iowa teammate Kolby Franklin to win the 220-pound men’s freestyle championship at the 2022 U.S. Marines Junior National Championships in Fargo, N.D. This was the fourth title for Team Iowa, which dominated the team standings for an 11th all-time championship in the 51 years of the event. (John Johnson photo)

By Mike Finn

Four natives of Iowa — Nathanael Jesuroga (120), Ryder Block (138), Aiden Riggins (160) and Bradley Hill (220) — put an exclamation mark on the state’s 2022 Junior National freestyle team championship as all four won individual titles Tuesday afternoon in Fargo, N.D.

Together with nine other All-Americans, this Iowa team tallied 214 points — nearly 100 more than second-place Pennsylvania — and captured the state’s 11th all-time team championship and first since 2008. Only Illinois (14) has more all-time Junior freestyle team championships since the event was created in 1971.

This is the WIN cover from the 2021 Junior/16U Nationals event. Click on the cover to learn how you can subscribe to WIN in time to receive coverage of the 2022 Fargo championships.

Junior men’s freestyle was the third of six different tournaments that are being held in the 2022 Junior/16U Nationals. Junior women’s freestyle finals will be held Wednesday afternoon before the 16U and Junior Greco-Roman championships will be completed on Thursday and Friday. The 16U women’s and men’s freestyle tournaments were held on Sunday and Monday.

WIN Magazine will provide a more comprehensive look at all six tournaments in the upcoming issue, which will be printed on Aug. 2. Click here or call 888-305-0606 to subscribe to WIN Magazine.

The four Iowa champs tied the state’s Junior Nationals gold-medal haul of four from 1983 and the number of All-Americans was one short of the 14 tallied in 1978.

Two Iowa finalists, Kolby Franklin, a Pennsylvania transplant to Iowa City, lost to state teammate Hill (Bettendorf, Iowa) in the 220-pound championship.

Both Jesuroga (Pleasant Hill, Iowa) and Block (Waverly, Iowa)  won by 12-2 technical falls, respectively, over Michigan’s Caden Horwath and Ohio’s Ismael Ayoub while Riggins (Janesville, Iowa) won an exciting 15-8 match over California’s Nicco Ruiz.

Iowa’s 2022 Junior Nationals performance comes after many of these wrestlers helped Team Iowa win the Junior National Duals in June.

Michigan’s Joshua Barr, a future Penn State wrestler, rallied to beat Rocco Welsh of Pennsylvania at 170 pounds to earn a second-straight Junior freestyle title. (John Johnson photo)

Two other Junior freestyle champs — Missouri’s Hunter Taylor (113) and Michigan’s Joshua Barr (170) — repeated as Junior freestyle champions, while Idaho’s Mack Mauger (106) captured a Junior title one year after he won a 16U freestyle championship in 2021.

Mauger and his Idaho teammate Aden Attao (who won at 285 pounds) remain alive to win a Triple crown as does Alabama’s Cory Land who dominated 2021 Junior champion Kannon Webster, 11-0, in the 132-pound weight class. The trio, who won Junior folkstyle championships in April, are expected to compete in the Junior Greco-Roman tournament, which takes place July 21-22 in the Fargodome.

Kyle Dutton (top), one of two Junior champs from Liberty High School in Missouri, blanked California’s Beau Mantanona, 10-0, for the 145-pound title. He also earned Junior freestyle OW honors. (John Johnson photo)

Missouri also featured a second champion in Kyle Dutton (145), a teammate of Taylor at Liberty High School and who was named Junior Nationals Freestyle Outstanding Wrestler.

2022 Junior Men’s Freestyle

Top-10 Team Standings

Pl. State (Champs/AAs) Pts
1 Iowa (4/13) 214
2 Pennsylvania (1/8) 116
3 California (1/9) 115
4 Idaho (2/5) 99
5 Wisconsin (1/9) 84
6 New Jersey (0/7) 81
7 Minnesota (0/8) 79
8 Illinois (0/7) 78
9 Ohio (0/8) 77
10 Michigan (1/6) 71

 

Junior Freestyle All-American Matches

Championship Matches

100 – Tyler Garvin (Maryland) dec. Javaan Yarbrough (Ohio), 9-6

106 – Mack Mauger (Idaho) won by TF over Kolter Burton (Idaho), 11-1 5:08

113 – Hunter Taylor (Missouri) dec.  Deion Johnson (Illinois), 9-2

120 – Nathanael Jesuroga (Iowa) won by TF over Caden Horwath (Michigan), 12-2 5:21

126 – Mason Gibson (Pennsylvania) dec.  Luke Stanich (New Jersey), 7-6

132 – Cory Land (Alabama) won by TF over Kannon Webster (Illinois), 11-0 2:02

138 – Ryder Block (Iowa) won by TF over Ismael Ayoub (Ohio), 12-2 5:04

145 – Kyle Dutton (Missouri) won by TF over Beau Mantanona (California), 10-0 1:28

152 – Cody Chittum (Tennessee) won by TF over Ty Whalen (New Jersey), 13-3 2:58

160 – Aiden Riggins (Iowa) dec.  Nicco Ruiz (California), 15-8

170 – Joshua Barr (Michigan) dec.  Rocco Welsh (Pennsylvania), 8-5

182 – Connor Mirasola (Wisconsin) dec.  AJ Heeg (Oklahoma), 3-0

195 – Cody Merrill (California) dec.  Rylan Rogers (Idaho), 7-1

220 – Bradley Hill (Iowa) dec.  Kolby Franklin (Iowa), 10-7

285 – Aden Attao (Idaho) dec. Dillan Johnson (Illinois), 9-6

3rd-Place Matches

100 – Jayden Rinken (Iowa) won by TF over Tyler Harper (Iowa), 14-4 3:49

106 – Dru Ayala (Iowa) dec.  Damian Moreno (Arizona), 11-8

113 – Nathan Desmond (Pennsylvania) pinned Michael Olson (Minnesota), 6-0 1:43

120 – Alan Koehler (Minnesota) won by TF over Braeden Davis (Michigan), 12-2 3:17

126 – Drew Gorman (Georgia) pinned Coleman Nogle (Maryland), 4-0 0:37

132 – Grigor Cholakyan (California) won by TF over Nash Singleton (Oregon), 18-7 4:10

138 – Pierson Manville (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Easton Taylor (Kansas), 10-0 3:44

145 – Zach Hanson (Minnesota) dec.  Joel Jesuroga (Iowa), 3-2

152 – Jude Swisher (Pennsylvania) dec.  William Henckel (New Jersey), 9-5

160 – Braeden Scoles (Wisconsin) dec. Rafael Hipolito (Virginia), 9-7

170 – Lorenzo Norman (New Jersey) dec. Lucas Condon (California), 9-5

182 – Tate Naaktgeboren (Iowa) dec. Ryder Rogotzke (Minnesota), 8-8

195 – Wyatt Voelker (Iowa) dec. Hayden Walters (Oregon), 2-1

220 – Sawyer Bartelt (Florida) won by TF over Max Agresti (Delaware), 11-0 3:48

285 – Ethan Vergara (Florida) dec. Emmanuel Ulrich (Pennsylvania), 6-0

5th-Place Matches

100 – Caden Smith (Virginia) won by TF over Isaac Stewart (Montana), 10-0 1:39

106 – Dedrick Navarro (Idaho) won by TF over Gage Singleton (Oregon), 12-2 1:14

113 – Daniel Guanajuato (Arizona) won by injury default over Brandon Morvari (Minnesota)

120 – Kael Lauridsen (Nebraska) won by TF over Kenneth Hendriksen (Tennessee), 10-0 1:52

126 – Max Gallagher (New York) won by forfeit over Aden Valencia (California), 0-0

132 – Luke Simcox (Pennsylvania) dec.  Omar Ayoub (Ohio), 8-6

138 – Tucker Cell (Kansas) pinned Layton Schneider (Oklahoma), 4-2 0:35

145 – Caleb Meunier (Wisconsin) dec. Dylan Gilcher (Michigan), 15-8

152 – Ethan Stiles (Illinois) won by TF over Boeden Greenley (North Dakota), 12-0 0:53

160 – Jed Wester (Minnesota) won by forfeit over J Conway (Indiana)

170 – Noah Mulvaney (Wisconsin) won by TF over Tyler Lillard (Ohio), 15-5 4:24

182 – Timothy Mcdonnell (California) dec. Garrett Wells (Oklahoma), 16-8

195 – Cole Mirasola (Wisconsin) dec. Camden Mcdanel (Ohio), 16-14

220 – Dylan Russo (Ohio) won by forfeit over Kail Wynia (Minnesota)

285 – Parker Ferrell (Virginia) won by TF over Max Acciardi (New Jersey), 10-0 1:07

7th-Place Matches

100 – Reid Foster (Iowa) dec. Che Jenkins (Arizona), 14-12

106 – Abram Cline (California) won by TF over Ethan Ward (California), 11-0 4:00

113 – Layne Kleimann (Utah) pinned Anthony Ruzic (Illinois), 16-8 5:54

120 – Vincent Kilkeary (Pennsylvania) dec. Gylon Sims (Illinois), 13-6

126 – Shane Corrigan (Wisconsin) dec. Dillon Campbell (Ohio), 13-11

132 – Jaxon Joy (Ohio) won by TF over Cael Keck (Missouri), 10-0 1:28

138 – Kole Brower (Illinois) pinned Casper Stewart (New York), 12-4 3:27

145 – Gavin Drexler (Wisconsin) won by TF over Q’veli Quintanilla (Washington), 10-0 1:20

152 – Charlie Millard (Wisconsin) won by TF over Jeremiah Price (North Carolina), 12-0 3:35

160 – Brendon Abdon (Florida) won by TF over Jasiah Queen (New Jersey), 10-0 1:47

170 – Simon Ruiz (New Jersey) dec. Omaury Alvarez (Georgia), 18-13

182 – Justin Rademacher (Oregon) won by TF over Blake Jouret (Kansas), 12-1 1:43

195 – Jack Darrah (Missouri) won by TF over Remy Cotton (Michigan), 10-0 3:44

220 – Caden Ferris (Michigan) won by TF over Max Ramberg (Wisconsin), 11-1 5:59

285 – Jacob Walker (Iowa) dec. Elijah Novak (Minnesota), 7-5