USMC 16U Nationals: men's freestyle day one recap

2018 16U National champion Jordan Williams of Oklahoma tosses his opponent. Williams went 4-0 on the day. Photo by John Sachs. Tech-Fall.com.

Day one in Fargo, N.D., has come to a close. 16U men’s freestyle has made its way through the round of 16 and the quarterfinals are set.

For the most part, everything went par for the course. However, Evan Bates of Indiana did pull off the upset of the day when he defeated returning champion Noah Pettigrew of Georgia 4-1 in the opening round at 195 lbs. 

2018 16U men’s freestyle national champion Jordan Williams of Oklahoma avoided a scare in the round of 16 when he defeated Garrett Grice of Nebraska 6-5. Williams was trailing on criteria with less than 10 seconds left, but secured a step out point to go win.

On the top half of 120 lbs., Nicolar Rivera of Wisconsin, another returning national champion, went 3-0 with three tech falls. If Rivera and Williams both win their next two matches, it will be a battle of returning champions for the 120 lbs. title. 

“If I just wrestle normal, I can take him,” Rivera said of a possible match with Williams.

Jore Volk, a runner-up at this tournament a year ago, is putting on a show at 100 lbs. The Minnesotan has put up four 10-0 tech falls. 

Tate Picklo of Oklahoma is doing the same thing at 170 lbs. Picklo, a returning national champion, has outscored his opponents 32-0 en route to making the quarterfinals.

2018 16U Naitonal champion and FloWrestling’s No. 4 ranked heavyweight in the nation, Hayden Copass, is taking care of business at 285 lbs. The Illinois native is 3-0 with a pin and two tech falls.

Nine wrestlers are still eligible for USA Wrestling’s Triple Crown Award after day one. Those wrestlers are: Drew Heethuis of Michigan, Carter McCallister of Missouri, Jordan Williams of Oklahoma, Hunter Garvin of Iowa, Mitchell Mesenbrink of Wisconsin, Clayton Whiting of Wisconsin, Andrew Wenzel of Illinois, Wyatt Voelker of Iowa, and Hayden Copass of Illinois.

Wrestling gets back underway tomorrow at 9 a.m. CST. All results, brackets, match replays, and live streaming can be found on FloWrestling.com.

2019 USMC JUNIOR/16U NATIONALS
At Fargo, N.D., July 12-19

16U men’s freestyle quarterfinal pairings

88
Kolby Warren (Missouri) vs. Alan Koehler (Minnesota)
Hunter Taylor (Kansas) vs. Benjamin Bast (Wisconsin) 
Braden Tatum (Kansas) vs. Braeden Davis (Michigan)
Caleb Thoennes (Minnesota) vs. Cael Alderman (Kansas) 

94
Tristan Stafford (Arkansas) vs. Dillon Campbell (Ohio) 
Drew Heethuis (Michigan) vs.  Codie Cuerbo (Ohio) 
Cael Hughes (Oklahoma) vs. Coleman Nogle (Maryland) 
Jaden Pepe (Pennsylvania) vs. Paul Kelly (Arizona) 

100
Kai Owen (Florida) vs. Koy Buesgens (Minnesota)
Jore Volk (Minnesota) vs. Kannon Webster (Illinois)
Quintin Wolbert (Wisconsin) vs. Christian Forbes (Oklahoma) 
Caden Horwath (Michigan) vs. Reid Nelson (Minnesota) 

106
Jacob Van dee (Pennsylvania) vs. Mitchell Neiner (Washington) 
Carter Mccallister (Missouri) vs.  Alec Hunter (Wisconsin) 
Sean Seefeldt (Ohio) vs. Pablo Castro (Ohio) 
Evan Tallmadge (New Jersey) vs. Greyson Clark (Wisconsin) 

113
Wilfried Tanefeu (North Dakota) vs. Brennen Cernus (Ohio) 
Brady Hankin (Colorado) vs.  Nash Singleton (Oregon) 
Levi Haines (Pennsylvania) vs. Kenneth Crosby (Colorado)
Brock Bobzien (California)  vs. Gabe Whisenhunt (Oregon) 

120
Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) vs. Hunter Garvin (Iowa) 
Zeke Seltzer (Indiana) vs. Jacob Mann (Missouri) 
Zachary Espalin (Arizona) vs. Brennan Van hoecke (Florida) 
Rocco Welsh (Pennsylvania) vs. Jordan Williams (Oklahoma) 

126
Ismael Ayoub (Ohio) vs. Derrick Cardinal (Minnesota) 
Nic Bouzakis (Florida) vs. Francisco Ayala (Washington)
Kyren Butler (Ohio) vs. Eli Rocha (Missouri) 
Ramon Ramos (Arizona) vs. Chase Deblaere (Minnesota) 

132
Daniel Cardenas (Colorado) vs. Michael Kilic (Georgia)
Nathan Burnett (Ohio) vs. Mitchell Mesenbrink (Wisconsin) 
Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) vs. Matthew Bianchi (Wisconsin) 
Kyler Lake (California) vs. Jack Crook (Florida) 
138
Cody Chittum (Tennessee) vs. Jake Jones (Pennsylvania) 
Jared Keslar (Pennsylvania) vs. Nicholas Vafiadis (Virginia) 
Joshua Barr (Michigan) vs. Nick Hamilton (Iowa) 
Preston Owens (Idaho) vs. John Wiley (Oklahoma) 

145
Dean Hamiti jr (Illinois) vs. Erik Gibson (Pennsylvania) 
Cj Hamblin (Washington) vs. Gavin Brown (Ohio) 
Cael Berg (Minnesota)  vs.  Liam Gordon (Virginia)
Adam Thebeau (Illinois) vs.  Matthew Singleton (Georgia) 

152
Manuel Rojas (Michigan) vs. Nick Sanko (New York) 
Hunter Lyden (Minnesota) vs. Jared Simma (Kansas) 
Stoney Buell (Michigan) vs. Keon Ayala (New York) 
Zane Cox (Virginia) vs. Tyler Lillard (Ohio) 

160
Nicholas Hall (Delaware) vs. Cayleb Atkins (Kansas) 
Drake Buchanan (Indiana) vs. Mac Stout (Pennsylvania) 
Clayton Whiting (Wisconsin) vs. Bradley Gillum (Illinois) 
Thomas Stewart (Maryland) vs. Dawson Mathews (Georgia) 

170
Tate Picklo (Oklahoma) vs. Evan Canoyer (Nebraska) 
Andrew Wenzel (Illinois) vs. Leonard Pinto (Pennsylvania) 
Branson Britten (Texas) vs. Damion Schunke (South Dakota) 
Gavin Nelson (Minnesota) vs. Rylan Rogers (Washington) 

182
Michael Tal-shahar (Florida) vs. Talmage Carman (Utah)
Evan Anderson (Ohio) vs. Michael Altomer (New York) 
Nicholas Feldman (Pennsylvania) vs. Harley Andrews (Oklahoma) 
Bennett Berge (Minnesota) vs. Jack Darrah (Missouri) 

195
Evan Bates (Indiana) vs. Bennett Tabor (Minnesota) 
Wyatt Voelker (Iowa) vs. Ashton Davis (Tennessee) 
David Harper (Georgia) vs. Todd Degroat (New York) 
Kaden Glass (Oklahoma) vs. Seth Shumate (Ohio) 

220
Kolby Franklin (Pennsylvania) vs. Chase Horne (Georgia)
Jaren Rohde (Wisconsin) vs. Macintyre Thacker (Utah) 
Lucas Walker (Iowa) vs. Dustin Swanson (Pennsylvania) 
Levi Kovacs (Washington) vs. Riley Ucker (Ohio) 

285
Hayden Copass (Illinois) vs. Matthew Munoz (Indiana) 
Ethan Kremer (Kansas) vs. Jacob Barnes (Oregon)
Lb Neloms (Georgia) vs.  Jacob Moore (Arizona) 
Jeremiah Vasquez (Colorado) vs. Griffin Liddle (Iowa)