Finals set for Thursday’s 16U Greco-Roman action; Mauger and Hopke wrestling to win Triple Crown
by Joe Wedra, Special to TheMat.com
Photo of Austin Schunke from South Dakota by Austin Bernard
FARGO, N.D. —The finals pairings for the 16U Greco-Roman tournament are officially set, headlined by Idaho’s Mack Mauger (94) and Wisconsin’s Koy Hopke (220), who are wrestling to win USA Wrestling Triple Crown awards in Fargo.
Since Mauger and Hopke have already won USA Wrestling Folkstyle and Freestyle national titles, a win in this afternoon’s event will officially wrap up Triple Crown honors.
Mauger continued his Fargo dominance in Wednesday morning’s session, securing a 5-1 win over Pennsylvania’s Davis Motyka in the semifinals to advance. For Hopke, it was another first-minute victory to lock in a spot in the finals. Hopke is now 4-0 in Greco-Roman action with three of those wins coming via a tech fall in the first period.
Four 16U freestyle champions help headline the finals session. Ohio’s Javaan Yarbrough (88), Minnesota’s Zach Hanson (132), Nebraska’s Joel Adams (138) and South Dakota’s Navarro Schunke (285) will look to double up on the week.
An interesting note at 88 pounds — we will have a rematch of the 16U men’s freestyle finals as Yarbrough will battle Wisconsin’s Haakon Peterson for the title. Peterson defeated Junior Folkstyle Nationals champion Griffin Rial (Colorado) in his semifinal match, a 2-1 decision. Yabrough has posted tech falls in each of his wins leading up to the finals.
An all-Pennsylvania finals bout at 126 pounds will be one of the highlights of this afternoon’s session. Mason Gibson, the young Pennsylvania standout, will wrestle 2021 Folkstyle Nationals Kamdyn Williams in the championship match. Williams, a Folkstyle Nationals champion, knocked off 16U freestyle champion Adrian Meza of Arizona.
At 145 pounds, we’ll have a pair of Folkstyle Nationals winners looking to take home Greco-Roman titles. Pierson Manville of Pennsylvania will square off against Wisconsin’s Brett Back in the finals; neither wrestler has surrendered a point during the tournament.
Many in Fargo will be keeping an eye on the 182-pound final. California’s Cody Merrill, who was a finalist in junior freestyle, will wrestle Minnesota’s Soren Herzog in the Greco-Roman finals bout.
Today’s finals session begins at 2:00 p.m. CST. It can be watched on FloWrestling.
Finals pairings
88: Javaan Yarbrough (Ohio) vs. Haakon Peterson (Wisconsin)
94: Mack Mauger (Idaho) vs. Brady Phelps (Illinois)
100: Trey Wagner (Pennsylvania) vs. Layne Kleimann (Utah)
106: Matthew Martino (Idaho) vs. Anthony Ruzic (Illinois)
113: Austin Laudenbach (Minnesota) vs. Nick Treaster (Kansas)
120: Kael Lauridsen (Nebraska) vs. Tanner Frothinger (Idaho)
126: Mason Gibson (Pennsylvania) vs. Kamdyn Williams (Pennsylvania)
132: Zach Hanson (Minnesota) vs. Dmitri Alarcon (Colorado)
138: Joel Adams (Nebraska) vs. Brady Collins (Colorado)
145: Pierson Manville (Pennsylvania) vs. Brett Back (Wisconsin)
152: Arvin Khosravy (California) vs. Nicholas Fox (Iowa)
160: Jed Wester (Minnesota) vs. Liam Scrivanich (Pennsylvania)
170: Oscar Williams (Oklahoma) vs. Toby Schoffstall (Virginia)
182: Soren Herzog (Minnesota) vs. Cody Merrill (California)
195: William McCleary (Utah) vs. Sawyer Bartelt (Florida)
220: Koy Hopke (Wisconsin) vs. Austin Johnson (Pennsylvania)
285: Navarro Schunke (South Dakota) vs. Spencer Lanosga (Louisiana)