16U Greco titles make Peterson & Raney double winners; Bouyssou makes Rhode Island history

Photo: A second-period takedown helped Haakon Peterson (right) of Wisconsin blank Cole Welte of Nebraska, 4-0, for the 94-pound Greco-Roman championship on Thursday afternoon, which made him a double 16U title winner this week in Fargo. He won the 94-pound freestyle crown on Monday. (John Johnson photo)

By Mike Finn

A pair of wrestlers — Wisconsin’s Haakon Peterson and Kentucky’s Jaydin Raney — became Fargo double winners as 16U wrestlers — and Rhode Island’s Gabriel Bouyssou made history by becoming the first wrestler from his state to win a 16U Greco-Roman national championship Thursday afternoon in Fargo, N.D.

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.

Only one more day remains in the week-long U.S. Marines Junior/16U Nationals with the Junior Greco-Roman tournament to end Friday afternoon in the Fargodome. This comes after men’s and women’s freestyle tourneys on the Junior and 16U level took place between Sunday and Wednesday.

WIN Magazine is in Fargo to cover this year’s event, which began in 1971, and will provide comprehensive coverage in the next issue of WIN that will be printed on Aug. 2. Click here or call 888-305-0606 to subscribe to WIN.

Peterson, who also won a 16U Greco-Roman national championship in 2021, blanked Cole Welte of Nebraska, 4-0, to win the 94-pound title in Greco. This came three days after the 15-year-old native of Hollandale, Wisc., won a freestyle championship at 94.

Raney scored a last-second takedown to beat Declan Koch of Wisconsin, 3-1, to win the 113-pound pound Greco title. This came after the native of Mayfield, Ky., won the 106-pound 16U freestyle title on Monday. Raney also got a chance to celebrate with his twin brother Jordyn Raney, who won the 120-pound Greco-Roman championship. This is the first year that Kentucky crowned two champs in any style/age group.

Two other young men — Wisconsin’s Caleb Noble and Minnesota’s Bryce Burkett — who each lost a freestyle final earlier this week at this year’s Junior/16U Nationals in Fargo, avenged those setbacks with Greco-Roman titles.

Noble, a freshman from Pleasant Prairie, Wisc., overcame a five-point throw by Tanner Tran of Tennessee to win the 88-pound championship, 9-7.  This came after he lost 7-6 in the freestyle final on Monday against Mac Crosson of Iowa.

Burkett, a sophomore from Watertown, Minn., meanwhile avenged a freestyle championship loss to Jarrell Miller of Ohio, with a 3-0 victory over Miller in Greco-Roman.

Rhode Island’s Gabriel Bouyssou (left) received his first Fargo “Stop Sign” from Sandy Stevens after winning the 138-pound 16U Greco-Roman championship. (John Johnson photo)

Bouyssou, a native of Hope, R.I. and junior from Scituate High School, became just the second Rhode Island wrestler to win a championship at this annual event — joining Patrick Feeley, who won a 98-pound Junior freestyle title in 2002 — when he used a big throw to beat Minnesota’s Alex Braun, 12-5, in the 138-pound title bout.

California won its sixth all-time 16U Greco-Roman championship, and first since 2001, when the state featured three champs — Aliaksandr Kikiniou (145), Coby Merrill (182) and Nicholas Sahakian (220) — among its 14 All-Americans.

Wisconsin finished second in the team standings and also had three individual champs with Tristan Steldt (160) joining Noble and Peterson. Colorado and Missouri joined Kentucky with two champs. Thomas Verrette (126) and Billy Greenwood (132) won back-to-back titles for Colorado, while Missouri’s champs were Brennan Carey (195) and Sampson Stillwell (285).

2022 16U Greco-Roman National Team Standings

2022 16U Greco-Roman All-American Matches

Championship Matches

88 – Caleb Noble (Wisconsin) dec. Tanner Tran (Tennessee), 9-7

94 – Haakon Peterson (Wisconsin) dec. Cole Welte (Nebraska), 4-0

100 – Lincoln Sledzianowski (Florida) won by TF over Hudson Loges (Nebraska), 8-0 1:32

106 – Jeremiah Wachsmuth (Oregon) dec. Ryker Graff (Iowa), 6-0

113 – Jayden Raney (Kentucky) dec. Declan Koch (Wisconsin), 3-1

120 – Jordyn Raney (Kentucky) dec. Amryn Nutter (Wisconsin), 6-3

126 – Thomas Verrette (Colorado) dec. Elias Navida (California), 2-0

132 – Billy Greenwood (Colorado) won by TF over Nathaniel Askew (Georgia), 10-2 4:00

138 – Gabriel Bouyssou (Rhode Island) dec. Alex Braun (Minnesota), 12-5

145 – Aliaksandr Kikiniou (California) dec. Hunter Sturgill (Tennessee), 4-1

152 – Tristin Greene (Ohio) dec. Kaleb Shine (Montana), 7-0

160 – Tristan Steldt (Wisconsin) pinned Angelo Posada (California), 4-0 0:28

170 – Bryce Burkett (Minnesota) dec. Jarrel Miller Jr. (Ohio), 3-0

182 – Coby Merrill (California) dec. Adam Waters (Pennsylvania), 3-1

195 – Brennan Carey (Missouri) won by TF over Michael Mocco (Florida), 9-0 0:33

220 – Nicholas Sahakian (California) dec. Rylan Kuhn (Missouri), 3-1

285 – Sampson Stillwell (Missouri) dec. Wyatt Schmitt (Illinois), 8-1

3^rd-Place Matches

88 – Christopher Swann (Georgia) dec. James Hemmila (Illinois), 7-1

94 – Saxton Scott (Idaho) dec. Kole Davidheiser (Pennsylvania), 10-7

100 – William Phillips (Tennessee) dec. Boden Banta (Idaho), 5-3

106 – Tyler Dekraker (Virginia) dec. Evan Sanati (Virginia), 5-0

113 – Isaiah Cortez (California) won by TF over Connor Fiser (Iowa), 9-0 2:29

120 – Christian Fretwell (Florida) dec. Billy Townson (California), 7-4

126 – Gauge Botero (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Brock Weiss (Pennsylvania), 15-6 1:51

132 – Nolan Fellers (Iowa) pinned Draven Mccall (Florida), 4-0 0:24

138 – Elvis Solis (Florida) won by injury default over Landon Desselle (Tennessee)

145 – Benjamin Smith (Maryland) dec. Gabriel Delgado (Nevada), 8-6

152 – Damarion Ross (Iowa) dec.  Gianni Maldonado (Florida), 2-1

160 – Aidan Squier (New Jersey) won by TF over Bekhruz Sadriddinov (Pennsylvania), 13-3 3:10

170 – Gavin Blondeaux (Nevada) dec. Hudson Rogers (Idaho), 5-2

182 – De’alcapon Veazy (Indiana) dec. Artem Skyba (Pennsylvania), 6-4

195 – Aiden Cooley (Texas) dec. Cole Carter (Alabama), 5-1

220 – Mason Ellis (Alabama) dec. Jay Henderson (Utah), 7-5

285 – Evan Gratz (Wisconsin) pinned Lee Smith (Illinois), 8-1 1:37

5^th-Place Matches

88 – Daniel Goodwin (Colorado) won by TF over Carter Kendrick (South Dakota), 9-0 0:46

94 – Rider Seguine (Idaho) won by TF over Brock Johnson (Kansas), 9-0 1:35

100 – Lawson Eller (Minnesota) won by forfeit over Revin Dickman (Indiana)

106 – Kody Tanimoto (Texas) dec. Vincent Luttrell (New Mexico), 6-2

113 – Edwin Sierra (California) dec. Brodie Christmas (Alabama), 8-5

120 – Elijah Cortez (California) won by TF over Maximus Riggins (Iowa), 9-0 2:41

126 – Phoenix Contos (Ohio) dec. Kaden Allen (Kansas), 12-6

132 – Tre Haines (Washington) dec. Tyson Sherlock (Maryland), 4-1

138 – Kane Naaktgeboren (Iowa) pinned Tucker Stangel (Iowa), 12-5 3:59

145 – Ryder Yoshitake (California) pinned Alexander Smith (Indiana), 11-4 1:28

152 – Banks Love (Utah) dec. Claudio Torres (Florida), 7-6

160 – Anthony Gutierrez (Illinois) dec. Macon Ayers (Virginia), 6-1

170 – Brent Slade (Iowa) dec. Nicholas Ronchetti (Illinois), 6-4

182 – Karson Tompkins (Texas) won by forfeit over Cittadino Tuttle (Minnesota)

195 – Jason Singer (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Behlen Waugh (Ohio), 8-0 1:04

220 – Melvin Whitehead (Nevada) won by forfeit over Koen Mattern (Washington)

285 – Caleb Rodriguez (Florida) won by TF over Brayden Hill (Kansas), 9-1 3:36

7^th-Place Matches

88 – Jose Cordero (Tennessee) won by TF over Mason Brayfield (Missouri), 10-1 2:26

94 – Nathan Rioux (Indiana) won by TF over Jaron Bensinger (Michigan), 8-0 0:57

100 – Tas Storer (California) dec. Gavin Pardilla (Illinois), 5-0

106 – Liam Neitzel (Wisconsin) dec. Chase Mills (Minnesota), 5-0

113 – Moses Mendoza (California) dec. Wyatt Medlin (Illinois), 6-4

120 – Cooper Hilton (Tennessee) dec. Jacob Herm (Wisconsin), 7-6

126 – Gage Walker (Oklahoma) pinned Chase Van hoven (Virginia), 11-0 2:24

132 – Garrett Reece (Colorado) won by TF over Giosue Hickman (Arizona), 9-1 2:38

138 – Logan w. Paradice (Georgia) won by TF over Jayden Haueter (Minnesota), 9-0 3:09

145 – Emil Necula (Georgia) won by TF ov rer Kyle Lew (Texas), 8-0 0:26

152 – Waylon Cressell (North Dakota) dec. Leister Bowling (Colorado), 10-5

160 – Brenton Russell (Indiana) pinned Tyrel Miller (Ohio), 6-3 0:41

170 – Jake Stacey (Tennessee) dec. Luke Hancock (Kansas), 5-4

182 – William Ward (North Dakota) dec. Brock Hacker (Georgia), 3-0

195 – Jake Conroy (Pennsylvania) won by TF over Mark Marin iii (California), 9-0 4:00

220 – James Bechter (Ohio) won by TF over Jayden Tadeo-gosal (California), 8-0 0:49

285 – Connor Aney (Washington) dec. Naimana Filivaolelei (Utah), 7-4