Volk and Owen put on show, Pennsylvania puts four into finals at USMC 16U Nationals

Returning national champion Hayden Copass of Illinois has dominated his way through the tournament so far. Photo by Travis Le, MatFocus.com

FARGO, N.D. - With the completion of day two inside the FargoDome, the semifinals are complete and the finals are set.

After putting nine wrestlers into the semifinals and leading after the morning session, Ohio went 2-9 in the semifinals and fell to third in the team race. Pennsylvania took the lead after putting four in the finals, and Minnesota is in second with three finalists.

Jore Volk of Minnesota and Kai Owen of Florida put on one the best matches of the tournament so far in their 100 lbs. semifinal. Down 9-9 on criteria with three seconds left, Volk hit a high flyer and came out on top to win 11-9. In the 20 total points scored in the match, 16 of them came in the second period.

Zeke Seltzer of Indiana dethroned 2018 national champion Nicolar Rivera of Wisconsin 4-1 in their 120 semifinal. Seltzer placed sixth in the weight above Rivera at Fargo last year. He’ll have last year’s 16U 100 lbs. champion, Jordan Williams of Oklahoma, in the finals. Williams had squeaked by in his past two matches, but tech falled Brennan Van Hoecke of Florida 10-0 in the semifinals.

At 126 lbs., Nic Bouzakis is having an outstanding tournament. The Florida native is 6-0 with two pins and four tech falls.

At 132 lbs., Antrell Taylor of Nebraska has outscored his opponents 56-4 so far. His finals opponent, Daniel Cardenas of Colorado, tech falled his way to the semis before defeating eleventh-ranked Mitchell Mesenbrink of Wisconsin 8-2.

It will be an all Michigan final at 152 lbs. with both Manuel Rojas and Stoney Buell winning their semifinal bouts. Rojas was a runner-up at 152 lbs. to Oklahoman Tate Picklo last year.

Picklo was set to repeat again running into Leonard Pinto of Pennsylvania in the semifinals. Pinto put PIcklo on his back six seconds into the match before picking him up and putting him back down for a big four-point throw. 25 seconds later, Pinto hit a reattack to go up 10-0 and end the match. 

After beating 2018 195 lbs. national champion Noah Pettigrew in the opening round 4-1, Evan Bates of Indiana has rattled off four tech falls and outscored his opponents 47-1. He’ll have Seth Shumate of Ohio in the finals. Shumate finished fifth at 170 lbs. last year and is ranked fourth nationally at 195 lbs.

2018 national champion Hayden Copass of Illinois continued his domination at 285 lbs. He now has three tech falls and two pins en route to making the finals. He’ll be facing Iowa’s lone finalist, Griffin Liddle, in the finals.

Being Folkstyle Nationals champions, Copass and Williams are both still alive for USA Wrestling’s Triple Crown Award.

Finals will be aired live on FloWrestling tomorrow starting at 1 p.m. CST.

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

16U men’s freestyle finals pairings

88 - Alan Koehler (MN) vs Braeden Davis (MI)
94 - Dillon Campbell (OH) vs Cael Hughes (OK)
100 - Jore Volk (MN) vs Caden Horwath (MI)
106 - Mitchell Neiner (WA) vs Evan Tallmadge (NJ)
113 - Wilfried Tanefeu (ND) vs Gabe Whisenhunt (OR)
120 - Zeke Seltzer (IN) vs Jordan Williams (OK)
126 - Nic Bouzakis (FL) vs Ramon Ramos (AZ)
132 - Daniel Cardenas (CO) vs Antrell Taylor (NE)
138 - Nicholas Vafiadis (VA) vs John Wiley (OK)
145 - Dean Hamiti Jr (IL) vs Matthew Singleton (GA)
152 - Manuel Rojas (MI) vs Stoney Buell (MI)
160 - Mac Stout (PA) vs Thomas Stewart (MD)
170 - Leonard Pinto (PA) vs Rylan Rogers (WA)
182 - Michael Tal-Shahar (FL) vs Bennett Berge (MN)
195 - Evan Bates (IN) vs Seth Shumate (OH)
220 - Kolby Franklin (PA) vs Dustin Swanson (PA)
285 - Hayden Copass (IL) vs Griffin Liddle (IA)

16U men’s freestyle semifinal results

88
Alan Koehler (Minnesota) dec. Hunter Taylor (Kansas), 6-2
Braeden Davis (Michigan) TF Caleb Thoennes (Minnesota), 10-0 1:29

94
Dillon Campbell (Ohio) dec. Codie Cuerbo (Ohio), 9-9
Cael Hughes (Oklahoma) TF Jaden Pepe (Pennsylvania), 15-4 3:46

100
Jore Volk (Minnesota) dec. Kai Owen (Florida), 11-9
Caden Horwath (Michigan) dec. Christian Forbes (Oklahoma), 4-1

106
Mitchell Neiner (Washington) TF Carter Mccallister (Missouri), 10-0 0:46
Evan Tallmadge (New Jersey) dec. Sean Seefeldt (Ohio), 8-6

113
Wilfried Tanefeu (North Dakota) TF Nash Singleton (Oregon), 10-0 1:21
Gabe Whisenhunt (Oregon) dec. Levi Haines (Pennsylvania), 9-6

120
Zeke Seltzer (Indiana) dec. Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin), 9-6
Jordan Williams (Oklahoma) TF Brennan Van hoecke (Florida), 12-2 3:01

126
Nic Bouzakis (Florida) pin Ismael Ayoub (Ohio), 10-0 3:11
Ramon Ramos (Arizona) TF Kyren Butler (Ohio), 12-2 2:40

132
Daniel Cardenas (Colorado) dec. Mitchell Mesenbrink (Wisconsin), 8-2
Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) TF Jack Crook (Florida), 10-0 1:32

138
Nicholas Vafiadis (Virginia) dec. Cody Chittum (Tennessee), 6-4
John Wiley (Oklahoma) dec. Joshua Barr (Michigan), 10-6

145
Dean Hamiti jr (Illinois) pin Gavin Brown (Ohio), 4-2 4:00
Matthew Singleton (Georgia) dec. Cael Berg (Minnesota), 11-9

152
Manuel Rojas (Michigan) dec. Hunter Lyden (Minnesota), 10-4
Stoney Buell (Michigan) dec. Tyler Lillard (Ohio), 8-5

160
Mac Stout (Pennsylvania) TF Cayleb Atkins (Kansas), 10-0 1:22
Thomas Stewart (Maryland) dec. Bradley Gillum (Illinois), 4-0

170
Leonard Pinto (Pennsylvania) TF Tate Picklo (Oklahoma), 10-0 1:07
Rylan Rogers (Washington) dec. Branson Britten (Texas), 4-2

182
Michael Tal-shahar (Florida) TF Michael Altomer (New York), 10-0 1:37
Bennett Berge (Minnesota) dec. Nicholas Feldman (Pennsylvania), 7-5

195
Evan Bates (Indiana) TF Wyatt Voelker (Iowa), 11-0 3:31
Seth Shumate (Ohio) dec. David Harper (Georgia), 8-2

220
Kolby Franklin (Pennsylvania) TF Jaren Rohde (Wisconsin), 11-0 1:04
Dustin Swanson (Pennsylvania) dec. Riley Ucker (Ohio), 8-6

285
Hayden Copass (Illinois) TF Jacob Barnes (Oregon), 10-0 3:11
Griffin Liddle (Iowa) pin Jacob Moore (Arizona), 12-8 3:22