Illinois stopped short of comeback bid as Minnesota wins Junior Freestyle National Duals, 33-31

TULSA, Okla. – Freestyle finals wrapped up the 2017 Junior National Duals in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday afternoon with Minnesota Blue holding off a big Illinois comeback for a 33-31 win.

Minnesota Blue’s dominance in the first half of the dual proved to be enough to hold on for a team win. With the dual starting at 120 pounds, Minnesota and Illinois produced hard-fought battles, resulting in three decisions for Minnesota with wins from Patrick McKee (120), Jake Gliva (126) and Brent Jones (132).

Minnesota, clad in blue, picked up more momentum after that, earning three tech falls in the next four matches.

At 138 pounds, Jake Bergeland took an early 5-2 lead, thanks to a four-pointer and failed Illinois challenge. With continued pressure on Illinois’ Holden Heller, Bergeland owned a 10-4 lead at the break. In the second, he went on to score five more points for a 15-4 tech fall.

Alex Lloyd of Minnesota followed suit with a quick 11-0 tech fall over Jaime Hernandez, giving Minnesota Blue a 17-4 lead.

After a 13-6 decision form Alex Crowe of Minnesota at 152 pounds, teammate Peyton Robb recorded an early second-period tech fall against Alex Cramer. Leading 8-2 after the first, Robb brought Cramer above his head down to his opponent’s back for a giant five-pointer that ended the bout, 13-2.

Illinois came raging back at 172 pounds as Zach Braunagel sought to give Illinois its first win of the dual.

Braunagel led Minnesota’s Jake Allar, 10-4, after the first period, but the second period saw Allar score on a takedown and leg lace to close in 10-8. The two battled back and forth throughout the rest of the period. With 10 seconds left, Allar, who was down 14-10, notched a takedown and worked for a gut wrench. At the buzzer, Braunagel was hit with a caution and two for not opening up, giving Allar a 14-14 win on criteria.

After trailing 27-7, Illinois came back to win six of the last seven matches, which included four technical falls and a fall.

Cameron Caffey led the charge, taking out Minnesota’s Brandon Moen in a quick 12-0 tech fall, featuring two four-pointers for the Illinois 182-pounder.

At 190 pounds, Jack Jessen stunned two-time Minnesota state champion Daniel Kerkvliet with a trapped-arm gut that led to a 10-0 tech fall in 37 seconds.

Minnesota pumped the brakes on Illinois at 220 pounds. Despite losing the match, Minnesota’s Noah Ryan held Patrick Brucki of Illinois to a decision and was able to put up four points in the match, giving Minnesota a team point.

Anthony Cassioppi of Illinois made up for it, picking up a dominant pin over Trenton Rogich of Minnesota in 1:17. However, Minnesota responded at 100 pounds, recording a big 10-0 tech fall over Austin Nash to put the blue team up 32-23 and forcing Illinois to pick up two pins in order to win the dual.

The task was too tall for the Illinois team, who earned tech falls at 106 pounds from Dylan Ragusin and 113 pounds from Anthony Molton, thus giving Minnesota a 33-31 win and 2017 Junior Freestyle Duals national championship.

2017 JUNIOR NATIONAL DUALS
at Tulsa, Okla., June 24

GOLD/SILVER Results
1st Place - Minnesota Blue
2nd Place - Illinois
3rd Place - Ohio
4th Place - Oklahoma Outlaws Red
5th Place - Michigan Blue
6th Place - New Jersey
7th Place - Iowa Red
8th Place – Missouri

1st place match – Minnesota Blue defeated Illinois, 33-31
120      Patrick Mckee (Minnesota Blue) over Dack Punke (Illinois) Dec 12-5         
126      Jake Gliva (Minnesota Blue) over Joseph Melendez (Illinois) Dec 7-4         
132      Brent Jones (Minnesota Blue) over Savion Haywood (Illinois) Dec 11-8      
138      Jake Bergeland (Minnesota Blue) over Holden Heller (Illinois) TF 15-4       
145      Alex Lloyd (Minnesota Blue) over Jaime Hernandez (Illinois) TF 11-0         
152      Alex Crowe (Minnesota Blue) over Baylor Fernandes (Illinois) Dec 13-6     
160      Peyton Robb (Minnesota Blue) over Alex Cramer (Illinois) TF 13-2
170      Jake Allar (Minnesota Blue) over Zachary Braunagel (Illinois) Dec 15-14   
182      Cameron Caffey (Illinois) over Brandon Moen (Minnesota Blue) TF 12-0   
195      Jack Jessen (Illinois) over Daniel Kerkvliet (Minnesota Blue) TF 10-0          
220      Patrick Brucki (Illinois) over Noah Ryan (Minnesota Blue) Dec 8-4
285      Anthony Cassioppi (Illinois) over Trenton Rogich (Minnesota Blue) Fall 1:17          
100      Paxton Creese (Minnesota Blue) over Austin Nash (Illinois) TF 10-0            
106      Dylan Ragusin (Illinois) over Joesph Thompson (Minnesota Blue) TF 12-2  
113      Anthony Molton (Illinois) over Max Crowe (Minnesota Blue) TF 10-0

3rd place match – Ohio defeated Oklahoma Outlaws, 40-23
120      Dylan D`Emilio (Ohio) over Rhett Golowenski (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) Dec 9-6
126      Drew Mattin (Ohio) over Reece Witcraft (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) Fall 4:35
132      Daton Fix (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) over Hunter Kosco (Ohio) TF 10-0       
138      Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) over Mitch Moore (Ohio) Dec 1-1            
145      Brik Filippo (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) over Sam Dover (Ohio) Dec 8-7       
152      Connor Brady (Ohio) over Dustin Plott (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) TF 10-0   
160      Jaden Mattox (Ohio) over Caleb Wise (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) Dec 13-6
170      Georgio Poulas (Ohio) over Christian Bahl (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) TF 10-0
182      JT Brown (Ohio) over Alex Kauffman (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) Dec 7-6     
195      Anthony Perrine (Ohio) over Dan Baker (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) Fall 0:19           
220      Jared Campbell (Ohio) over Bear Hughes (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) Dec 10-6
285      Kevin Vough (Ohio) over Trenton Lieurance (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) Dec 8-0
100      Jackson Cockrell (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) over Kyle Rowan (Ohio) Dec 14-8
106      Cael Woods (Ohio) over Studd Morris (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) TF 14-4    
113      TJ Long (Oklahoma Outlaws Red) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

5th place match – Michigan Blue defeated New Jersey, 37-27
120      Rayvon Foley (Michigan Blue) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf     
126      Dominic LaJoie (Michigan Blue) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf  
132      Zach Sherman (New Jersey) over Drew Martin (Michigan Blue) TF 10-0    
138      Ben Freeman (Michigan Blue) over Malcolm Robinson (New Jersey) TF 10-0
145      Travis Tavoso (New Jersey) over Ethan Woods (Michigan Blue) Fall 0:31   
152      Cam Amine (Michigan Blue) over Nick Polumbo (New Jersey) Dec 8-6      
160      Andrew Merola (New Jersey) over Tylor Orrison (Michigan Blue) TF 10-0
170      Brady Schulz (Michigan Blue) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf      
182      Leo Tarantino (New Jersey) over Lane Allen (Michigan Blue) TF 10-0         
195      Brandon Whitman (Michigan Blue) over Jacob Cardenas (New Jersey) TF 11-0     
220      Lewis Fernandez (New Jersey) over Tyler Moore (Michigan Blue) TF 10-0
285      Austin Emerson (Michigan Blue) over Parker Fox (New Jersey) Dec 6-1     
100      Wil Guida (New Jersey) over Riley Bettich (Michigan Blue) Dec 8-2           
106      Reece Fry (Michigan Blue) over Nick Kayal (New Jersey) Dec 7-2   
113      Ben Kamali (Michigan Blue) over Ryan Zimmerman (New Jersey) TF 10-0

7th place match – Iowa Red defeated Missouri, 40-32
120      Bryce West (Iowa Red) over Cody Phippen (Missouri) Inj 3:54        
126      McGwire Midkiff (Iowa Red) over Connor Brown (Missouri) TF 13-2          
132      Cameron Valdiviez (Missouri) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf     
138      Michael Millage (Iowa Red) over Josh Steele (Missouri) Dec 16-9  
145      Triston Lara (Iowa Red) over Alex Rivera (Missouri) TF 12-2           
152      Taylor Brown (Missouri) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf  
160      Brett Heil (Missouri) over Jacob Krakow (Iowa Red) TF 14-4           
170      Ben Sarasin (Iowa Red) over Kellen Ekern (Missouri) TF 10-0          
182      Jeremiah Kent (Missouri) over Anthony Sherry (Iowa Red) TF 10-0
195      Joel Shapiro (Iowa Red) over Brett Campbell (Missouri) Fall 2:33   
220      Jake Boyd (Missouri) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf        
285      Max Darrah (Missouri) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf    
100      Daniel Kimball (Iowa Red) over Alex Flerlage (Missouri) TF 12-2    
106      Jarod Kadel (Iowa Red) over Jackson Shea (Missouri) Fall 1:12       
113      Aden Reeves (Iowa Red) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

BRONZE/COPPER Results
1st Place - Kansas Blue
2nd Place - Nebraska Blue
3rd Place - Minnesota Red
4th Place - Georgia Blue
5th Place - North Dakota-Blue
6th Place - Utah Blue
7th Place - Oregon
8th Place - Texas Blue
1st Place Match
Kansas Blue defeated Nebraska Blue 45-21.
3rd Place Match
Minnesota Red defeated Georgia Blue 41-27.
5th Place Match
North Dakota-Blue defeated Utah Blue 38-30.
7th Place Match
Oregon defeated Texas Blue 38-33.

RED/BLUE Results
1st Place - Washington
2nd Place - Pennsylvania
3rd Place - Indiana Gold
4th Place - Florida
5th Place - Colorado
6th Place - South Dakota
7th Place - North Carolina
8th Place - Tennessee
1st Place Match
Washington defeated Pennsylvania 38-34.
3rd Place Match
Indiana Gold defeated Florida 39-29.
5th Place Match
Colorado defeated South Dakota 35-35.
7th Place Match
North Carolina defeated Tennessee 38-32.

GREEN/YELLOW Results
1st Place - Iowa Blue
2nd Place - Texas Red
3rd Place - Arkansas
4th Place - Kansas Red
5th Place - Nebraska Red
6th Place - North Dakota Red
7th Place - Michigan Red
8th Place - Georgia
1st Place Match
Iowa Blue defeated Texas Red 63-5.
3rd Place Match
Arkansas defeated Kansas Red 39-30.
5th Place Match
Nebraska Red defeated North Dakota Red 29-28.
7th Place Match
Michigan Red defeated Georgia 34-19.

PURPLE/GREY Results
1st Place - Oklahoma Outlaws Blue
2nd Place - Louisiana
3rd Place - South Carolina
4th Place - Indiana Blue
Round 1
Oklahoma Outlaws Blue defeated South Carolina 44-17.
Louisiana defeated Indiana Blue 38-32.
Round 2
Oklahoma Outlaws Blue defeated Louisiana 58-12.
South Carolina defeated Indiana Blue 34-31.
Round 3
Oklahoma Outlaws Blue defeated Indiana Blue 61-7.
Louisiana defeated South Carolina 37-33.