USA dominates Pan American Cadet Freestyle with seven champions in Brazil

The USA Cadet freestyle team poses together with the team trophy after a dominant effort in Recife, Brazil. Photo courtesy of Matt Hampton.


RECIFE, Brazil – The United States closed out the Pan American Cadet Championships with a dominant effort in men’s freestyle on Sunday, crowning seven individual champions and winning the team title.


U.S. wrestlers who won Pan American Cadet freestyle gold medals were:

• Cody Phippen (Basehor, Kan.) at 42 kg

• Cade Olivas (Fontana, Calif) at 46 kg:

• Kaden Gfeller (Jones, Okla.) at 50 kg

• Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla) at 54 kg

• Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.) at 58 kg

• Mason Manville (Blairstown, N.J) at 69 kg

• Tyler Johnson (Oswego, Ill) at 85 kg


Fix, who won all four of his matches by technical fall and outscored his opponents 42-1 in a very competitive weight class, was awarded The Golden Wrestling Shoe upon being selected as Outstanding Wrestler of the competition.


Five weight classes in this competition were qualifiers for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), which will be held in Nanjing, China August 25-27. The weight classes which are YOG qualifiers in men’s freestyle are 46 kg, 54 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg and 100 kg. Only champions initially qualify their nation for the Youth Olympic Games. No nation may bring more than one athlete in each style to Nanjing.


With their victories, Olivas and Fix qualified the USA for YOG at 46 kg and 54 kg respectively. The American nominee for YOG at these weights will be determined at the FILA Cadet Nationals in Akron, Ohio later in May.


In addition to the seven champions, Team USA also had a silver medalist at 76 kg, Spencer Heywood (Heber City, Utah.), who finished with a 3-1 record in the tournament.


The United States won the team champion trophy in freestyle with 89 points. Venezuela was in second with 84 points and Canada took third place with 71 points.


For the United States, the men’s athletes all competed in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. Five of these talented athletes were able to leave Brazil as Cadet Pan American double champions: Olivas, Fix, Lee, Manville and Johnson.

PAN AMERICAN CADET CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Recife, Brazil, May 4


Men’s freestyle medalists


42 kg:

Gold – Cody Phippen (USA)

Silver – Cristian Carvajal (Venezuela)

Bronze – Brendan McKeage (Canada)

46 kg**

Gold – Cade Olivas (USA)

Silver – Oscar Tigreros Urbano (Colombia)

Bronze – Yogliber Delgado (Venezuela)

Bronze – Guillermo Bautista (Dominican Republic)

50 kg

Gold – Kaden Gfeller (USA)

Silver – Antoni Davila Puente (Venezuela)

Bronze – Alexander Fernandez Pena (Dominican Republic)

Bronze – Daniel Nascimento (Brazil)

54 kg**

Gold – Daton Fix (USA)

Silver – Eliezer Aular (Venezuela)

Bronze – Pablo Sotelo (Colombia)

Bronze – Julio Rodriguez Romero (Dominican Republic)

58 kg

Gold – Nick Lee (USA)

Silver – Jorwa Soto (Venezuela)

Bronze – Jeanderson Raposo (Brazil)

Bronze – Anthony Laramie (Canada)

63 kg**

Gold – Anthony Montero Chirinos (Venezuela)

Silver – Alexander Moore (Canada)

Bronze – Juan Sanchez (Colombia)

Bronze – Albaro Rudesindo Camacho (Dominican Republic)

69 kg

Gold – Mason Manville (USA)

Silver – Kendris Gil (Venezuela)

Bronze – Connor Neuls (Canada)

Bronze – Sebastian Rivera (Colombia)

76 kg**

Gold – Carlos Izquierdo Mendez (Colombia)

Silver – Spencer Haywood (USA)

Bronze – Arshdeep Gurm (Canada)

Bronze – David Parra (Venezuela)

85 kg:

Gold – Tyler Johnson (USA)

Silver – Luis Garcia (Mexico)

Bronze – Quirlam Tejedor (Colombia)

Bronze – Ameen Aghamirian (Canada)

100 kg**

Gold – Maximilano Garcia (Mexico)

Silver – Rafael Filho (Brazil)

Bronze – Brawil Sanz (Venezuela)

Bronze – Jimsher Singh Sidhu (Canada)


** - Weight class for Youth Olympic Games. Champions qualify their nation at that weight.

U.S. Men’s freestyle results


42 kg: Cody Phippen (Basehor, Kan.), 1st

WIN Christian Carvajal (Venezuela), 16-9

WIN Brendan McKeage (Canada), 15-6

WIN Hygor Brasil (Brazil), 11-0


46 kg: Cade Olivas (Fontana, Calif) , 1st

WIN David Oliveira (Brazil), 10-0

WIN Navdeep Singh Toor (Canada), 10-0

WIN Guillermo Bautista (Dominican Republic), 10-0

WIN Oscar Tigreros Urbano (Colombia), 16-7


50 kg: Kaden Gfeller (Jones, Okla.) , 1st

WIN Alexander Fernandez Pena (Dominican Republic), pin

WIN Antoni Davila Puente (Venezuela), pin


54 kg: Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla), 1st

WIN Daniel Andi Andi (Ecuador), 10-0

WIN Sebastian Gomez Paez (Mexico), 10-0

WIN Julio Rodriguez Romero (Dominican Republic), 11-0

WIN Eliezer Aular (Venezuela), 11-1


58 kg: Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.), 1st

WIN Jese Rivera (El Salvador), 10-0

WIN Anthony Laramie (Canada), 17-0

WIN Jorwa Soto (Venezuela), 10-0


63 kg: Taylor LaMont (Mapleton, Utah.), 5th

WIN Agustin Destribats (Argentina), 11-2

LOSS Anthony Montero Chirinos (Venezuela), 0-10

WIN 7 (Mexico), 4-2

LOSS Albaro Rudesindo Camacho (Dominican Republic), 6-13


69 kg: Mason Manville (Blairstown, N.J), 1st

WIN Walter Junior (Brazil), 10-0

WIN Sebastian Rivera (Colombia), pin

WIN Connor Neuls (Canada), 10-0


76 kg: Spencer Heywood (Heber City, Utah.), 2nd

WIN Antonio Loredo (Mexico), 12-4

WIN David Parra (Venezuela), 11-1

WIN Adan Perez Preciado (Ecuador), 11-0

LOSS Carlos Izquierdo Mendez (Colombia), 2-7


85 kg: Tyler Johnson (Oswego, Ill), 1st

WIN Ameen Aghamirian (Canada), pin

WIN Diego Chavez (Peru), pin

WIN Luis Garcia (Mexico)


100 kg: Michael Smith Jr. (Mt. Airy,M.D.), 7th

LOSS Jimsher Singh Sidhu (Canada), 2-10

Team Standings

1. USA, 89 pts.

2. Venezuela, 84 pts.

3. Canada, 71 pts.

4. Colombia, 61 pts.

5. Brazil, 47 pts.

6. Mexico, 36 pts.

7. Dominican Republic, 32 pts.

8. Peru, 18 pts.

9. Ecuador, 17 pts.

10. El Salvador, 9 pts.

11. Panama, 8 pts.

12. Chile, 7 pts.

13. Honduras, 7 pts.

14 Argentina, 7 pts.

15. Puerto Rico, 6 pts.

16. Guatemala, 5 pts.