Defending champs Clark, Stieber & Alton unbeaten after day one of Cadet freestyle

Fargo Special Section

FARGO, N.D. - The first day of the Accelerade Cadet National Championships was an action-packed day, which has brought most of the weight classes to the point where the All-American candidates have been identified.

All three returning Cadet freestyle wrestlers were undefeated in their pools on the first day, Jamie Clark of Ohio at 105 pounds, Logan Stieber of Ohio at 112 pounds and Andrew Alton of Pennsylvania (135).

Clark had five wins, while Stieber and Alton both had seven wins. One of Clark's victims was returning Cadet runner-up Sharky Slyter of Kansas in the seventh round, 6-0, 3-0. One of Stieber's wins was over 2007 Cadet National Greco-Roman champion Dylan Ness of Minnesota, 9-3, 7-0.

Alton has already has clinched a spot in the gold-medal finals, having already clinched the victory in the roundrobin in the pool.

Clark battles Efrain Aguilar of Washington in the next round. Steiber faces Frank Cagnina of New Jersey in the first match on Wednesday morning.

Slyter is still alive in his weight class in this double-elimination format. The other two returning runners-up, Josh Kindig of Pennsylvania (119) and Chris Villalonga of New Jersey (105) were unbeaten, both with 7-0 records.

A number of returning All-American suffered losses, including who lost twice and were eliminated. The All-Americans who have been knocked out include Nicky Gordon of Pennsylvania, who placed third a year ago. Gordon lost in the fifth round to Joseph Waltko of Pennsylvania, 1-5, 1:39 then lost to Luke Vaith of Minnesota by pin in 41 seconds.

Other returning All-Americans with two losses who are out of the tournament include Damonte Riley of Illinois (112), Joe Roth of Illinois (112), Allen Tate of Illinois (119) and Josh Warner of Idaho (135).

Returning All-Americans still in the draw, but with one loss are Brenan Lyon of Michigan (84), Jeff Vesta of Kansas (91), Zack Zimmer of California (98), Joshua Kremmier of Colorado (112), Derek Olson of Wisconsin (130), Brock Gutches of Oregon (135) and Austin Meys of New York (152).

All of the 2007 Cadet National Greco-Roman champions who are entered in the tournament are still alive in the tournament except Dylan Ness of Minnesota (112) and Evan Craig of Pennsylvania (285).

One of the 2007 Cadet champions, Dirk Cowburn of Pennsylvania at 145 pounds, has already earned a spot in the championship finals by winning his pool.

Three FILA Cadet National champions are undefeated after their first day of action: Hunter Stieber of Ohio (98), Tony Ramos of Illinois (119) and Dylan Alton of Pennsylvania (130).

The championship finals of the Cadet freestyle tournament will be held at 2:30 p.m. The Junior freestyle tournament begins at 9:00 a.m.