Day 6 preview: Greco-Roman all day long, with 16U finals and Juniors reaching quarterfinals

16U Greco-Roman star Ryker Graff of Iowa. Photo by Ryan Cummings, MatFocus.com


Thursday is the first day in which the only action on the FargoDome floor will be Greco-Roman. Get ready for a lot of great throws, as well as turns in par terre.

WHAT’S NEW: Junior Greco-Roman starts as Fargo’s final tournament


This is an historic event, the 50th year in which Greco-Roman will be part of the Junior National Championships. The first year of Greco-Roman at Junior Nationals was in 1972 in Iowa City, one year after the event was created there in 1971 with just a freestyle division.


USA Wrestling held a online fantasy bracket of the top 32 Junior National Greco-Roman athletes of all time. Fans voted on the bracket, with the winner being three-time Junior Nationals champion Dennis Hall of Wisconsin. (Hall went on to win a World title, an Olympic silver medal, a World bronze medal, as well as competing in three Olympic Games.


This year, five returning champion seek a repeat in Fargo: Kolter Burton of Idaho at 113, California’s Ray Ray Harris at 120, Q’veli Quintanilla of Washington at 145 and Wyatt Voelker of Iowa at 195.


Three wrestlers remain alive in the hunt for the Junior Triple Crown, Mack Mauger of Idaho (106), Cory Land of Alabama (132) and Aden Attao of Idaho (285).

WHAT FINISHES: 16U Greco-Roman finals and medal matches on Thursday afternoon


The 16U Greco-Roman champions will be decided, as will be which medal each of the All-Americans will take home with them. The 8:30 a.m. session starts with the semifinals, and then the rest of the morning session will set up the medal round pairings. The championship finals, with all of the medal matches, is set for 2:00 p.m.


Haakon Peterson of Wisconsin is the only returning 16U champion looking to repeat. He is at 94 pounds this year. Peterson also was a 16U freestyle champion earlier this week, so he will be gunning for a double title in Fargo.


There will be no 16U Triple Crown winner this year.

Semifinal pairings:


88

Tranner Tran of Tennessee vs Christopher Swann of Georgia

James Hemmila of Illinois vs Caleb Noble of Wisconsin


94

Haakon Peterson of Wisconsin vs Rider Seguine of Idaho

Cole Welte of Nebraska vs Kole Davidheiser of Pennsylvania


100

Lawson Eller of Minnesota vs Lincoln Sledzianowski of Florida

Revin Dickman of Indiana vs Hudson Loges of Nebraska


106

Vincent Luttrell of New Mexico vs Jeremiah Wachsmuth of Oregon

Kody Tanimoto of Texas vs Ryker Graff of Iowa


113

Declan Koch of Wisconsin vs Edwin Sierra of California

Connor Fiser of Iowa vs Jayden Raney of Kentucky


120

Jordyn Raney of Kentucky vs Christian Fretwell of Florida

Amryn Nutter of Wisconsin vs Elijah Cortez of California


126

Phoenix Contos of Ohio vs Thomas Verrette of Colorado

Kaden Allen of Kansas vs Elias Navida of California


132

Nathaniel Askew of Georgia vs Draven McCall of Florida

Nolan Fellers of Iowa vs Billy Greenwood of Colorado


138

Gabriel Bouyssou of Rhode Island vs Tucker Stangel of Iowa

Kane Naaktgeboren of Iowa vs Alex Braun of Minnesota


145

Gabriel Delgado of Nevada vs Hunter Sturgill of Tennessee

Benjamin Smith of Maryland vs Aliaksandr Kikiniou of California


152

Kaleb Shine of Montana vs Claudio Torres of Florida

Tristin Greene of Ohio vs Banks Love of Utah


160

Bekhruz Sadriddinov of Pennsylvania vs Angelo Posada of California

Anthony Gutierrez of Illinois vs Tristan Steldt of Wisconsin


170

Gavin Blondeaux of Nevada vs Bryce Burkett of Minnesota

Jarrel Miller Jr. of Ohio vs Nicholas Ronchetti of Illinois


182

De’Alcapon Veazy of Indiana vs Coby Merrill of California

Cittadino Tuttle of Minnesota vs


195

Brennan Carey of Missouri vs Cole Carter of Alabama

Michael Mocco of Florida vs Behlen Waugh of Ohio


220

Nicholas Sahakian of California vs Melvin Whitehead of Nevada

Mason Ellis of Alabama vs Rylan Kuhn of Missouri


285

Sampson Stillwell of Missouri vs Soren Pirhoun of Virginia

Wyatt Schmitt of Illinois vs Evan Gratz of Wisconsin

Team Standings (Top five)

California controls the team race with 63 points and seven in the championship round. Wisconsin sits second with 46 points and six in the championship side. From there, the race for third gets closer. Florida and Iowa share third with 41 points.

1. California 63 points

2. Wisconsin 46 points

3 (tie). Florida and Iowa 41 points

5. Illinois 34 points

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE

8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. — 16U Greco-Roman: Session III — Semifinals, Consolation and Consolation Semifinals

8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. — Junior Greco-Roman: Session I — Preliminaries and Consolations

2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. — 16U Greco-Roman: Session IV — Finals, Medal Matches & Awards

4:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m. — Junior Greco-Roman: Session II – Preliminaries, Quarterfinals, and Consolations