Fargo finale set with Junior Greco championship bouts

FARGO, N.D. – The Junior Greco-Roman quarterfinals and semifinals were wrestled in the morning session of the final day of the U.S. Marines Corps Cadet and Junior National Championships, setting up for Friday afternoon’s championship bouts.

Some highlights from the morning session included Junior Women’s Freestyle runner-up Sage Mortimer of Utah winning her 100-pound blood-round match to become the first female to earn All-American status in Greco-Roman in the history of the event. Later today, Mortimer will wrestle for seventh.

Returning to the finals are 2017 Junior Greco national champions Anthony King at 106, Jack Jessen at 182 and Anthony Cassioppi at 285. All three hail from Illinois.

Jessen and Cassioppi seek the prestigious USA Wrestling Triple Crown honor, which comes when a wrestler wins folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman national titles in the same year.

Should he win the heavyweight title this afternoon, Cassioppi will become only the second wrestler in history to win two Junior Triple Crowns. The first to do it was Adam Coon.

In addition to Jessen and Cassioppi, Lucas Davison of Indiana (195) and Luke Luffman of Illinois (220) look to double up on Fargo titles after winning their freestyle brackets earlier this year.

Two returning champions fell in the morning session, including Brenden Garcia of Colorado at 113 and Brandon Kaylor of Washington at 120.

There were three past age-group World Team members that advanced to the finals, counting 2017 Junior World silver medalist Cevion Severado of Missouri, 2017 Cadet World Team member Ridge Lovett of Idaho at 132 and 2018 Cadet World Team members Brenden Chaowanapibool of Washington at 106 and Luffman.

Looking to redeem finals losses from last season are 2017 Greco nationals runners-up Peyton Omania of California at 152 and Tyler Dow of Wisconsin at 160.

Someone to keep an eye for in the finals is at 100 pounds, where Christian Tanefeu of North Dakota advanced to the championship bout after only taking up wrestling only four months ago. He went to his first wrestling practice on March 15.

He will face Eli Griffin of Oklahoma in the finals.

After a slight schedule change, the Junior Greco finals will begin at 2 p.m. CT on Flowrestling.

2018 USMC CADET AND JUNIOR NATIONALS

at Fargo, N.D.

Finals pairings
100: Christian Tanefeu (North Dakota) vs. Eli Griffin (Oklahoma)
106: Anthony King (Illinois) vs. Brenden Chaowanapibool (Washington)
113: Paxton Creese (Minnesota) vs. Ryan Rowland (Florida)
120: Cevion Severado (Missouri) vs. Chayse La Joie (Michigan)
126: King Sandoval (Virginia) vs. Austin Almaguer (Washington)
132: Delon Kanari (Illinois) vs. Ridge Lovett (Idaho)
138: Dawson Sihavong (California) vs. Kyle Parco (California)
145: We Rachal (Illinois) vs. Cael Carlson (Minnesota)
152: Peyton Omania (California) vs. Tyler Eischens (Minnesota)
160: Tyler Dow (Wisconsin) vs. Donnell Washington (Illinois)
170: Christopher Foca (New Jersey) vs. Alex Cramer (Illinois)
182: Jack Jessen (Illinois) vs. Zachary Braunagel (Illinois)
195: Lucas Davison (Indiana) vs. Guillermo Escobedo (California)
220: Luke Luffman (Illinois) vs. Jace Punke (Illinois)
285: Anthony Cassioppi (Illinois) vs. Austin Emerson (Michigan)