Defending champs Raimo and Wittlake advanced to Cadet Greco-Roman semifinals set for Monday

Defending Fargo Greco-Roman champion Travis Wittlake advances  to the 170-pound semifinals. Photo: John Sachs, tech-fall.com.

FARGO, N.D. – Two Cadet Greco-Roman wrestlers are seeking their second-consecutive Fargo titles as New Jersey’s Nicholas Raimo (126 pounds) and Oregon’s Travis Wittlake (170 pounds) advanced to the semifinals of the 2016 ASICS/Vaughan Cadet National Championships on Sunday night at the Fargodome.

Wittlake, a 2016 Cadet World Team member for the freestyle squad, opened his tournament with three technical falls to outscore his first three opponents 35-2. In the quarterfinals, the Folkstyle national champ put up a decisive 6-0 win over Michael Waggoner of Kansas.

Raimo is back in the semis after an outstanding first day of competition. The New Jersey native racked up three tech falls, outscoring his opponents 33-2. He also earned two pins in a combined 37 seconds. Raimo will go head-to-head with Joshua Steele of Missouri tomorrow morning.

Cadet World Team member Jalen Spuhler of Wisconsin moved on to the 94-pound semifinals, blowing through his first three matches with two pins and a tech fall. He will face Washington’s Brenden Chaowanapibool, who notched a fall before picking up a solid 12-7 decision, in the quarterfinals.

Six other USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals champions are heading to the semifinals at their respective weights and remain alive for the coveted Triple Crown award.

Michigan’s Andrew Chambal, a Folkstyle Nationals champ at 94 pounds, advanced to the semifinals at 88 pounds, where he is set to face Timothy Levine of California.

Jace Koelzer of Kansas rolled through his first three opponents without surrendering a single point to his earn his spot in the 106-pound semifinals, where he will see Anthony Molton of Illinois.

At 138 pounds, Utah’s Brock Hardy will wrestle Cameron Amine of Michigan in the semifinals. Hardy won Folkstyle Nationals at 138 pounds earlier this year and was a runner-up in both styles at the Cadet Nationals last summer.

Wisconsin’s Tyler Dow, who also won Folkstyle Nationals, moved to the semifinals at 152 pounds, taking a comfortable 7-2 win over Caleb Wise of Oklahoma in the quarterfinals. Dow will meet up with Samuel Mora of Texas.

Lucas Davison of Indiana showed his dominance at 182 pounds, ending his first three matches in the opening period. In the quarterfinals, he escaped Keegan Feenstra of Colorado, 5-4, to move on to the semis. There he will face off against Minnesota’s Caden Steffen.

Heavyweight Ronald Tucker of Illinois also advanced to the semis after a 10-0 tech fall over Griffin Dalske of California.

The biggest upset of the day came at 220 pounds, where defending champion and 2016 Cadet World Team member Cohlton Schultz fell to Tyler Curd of Missouri in a 10-0 first-period tech fall.

Monday’s competition begins at 9 a.m. (CT) with the Cadet Greco-Roman semifinals alongside session one of the Junior Greco-Roman tournament. The Cadet finals are set for 2 p.m.

A live stream for all matches at the Cadet and Junior Nationals can be viewed on Flowrestling.org with a FLO PRO membership.

For complete brackets, results and team scores visit trackwrestling.com.

Follow @USAWrestling on Twitter for live updates from the Fargodome and join the tournament conversation online using the hashtag #Fargo2016.

ASICS/VAUGHAN CADET WOMEN’S NATIONALS
At Fargo, N.D., July 17

Semifinal pairings
88 pounds
Paxton Creese (Minnesota) vs. Sam Latona (Alabama)
Timothy Levine (California) vs. Andrew Chambal (Michigan)

94 pounds
Jalen Spuhler (Wisconsin) vs. Brenden Chaowanapibool (Washington)
Christian Goin (Illinois) vs. Dylan Ragusin (Illinois)

100 pounds
Steele Dias (Nevada) vs. Ridge Lovett (Idaho)
Chayse La Joie (Michigan) vs. Lucas Byrd (Ohio)

106 pounds
Jace Koelzer (Kansas) vs. Anthony Molton (Illinois)
Patrick Allis (Colorado) vs. Leif Schroeder (Montana)

113 pounds
Benyamin Kamali (Michigan) vs. Reece Witcraft (Oklahoma)
Malyke Hines (Florida) vs. Jordan Hamdan (Michigan)

120 pounds
Phillip Moomey (Nevada) vs. Atilano Escobar (Arizona)
Theorius Robison (Colorado) vs. Ryan Ripplinger (North Dakota)

126 pounds
Nicholas Raimo (New Jersey) vs. Joshua Steele (Missouri)
Carter Tuttle (Pennsylvania) vs. Peyton Robb (Minnesota)

132 pounds
Mason Phillips (Washington) vs. Carnell Andrews (Pennsylvania)
Tyler Eischens (Minnesota) vs. Nick Freeman (Michigan)

138 pounds
Brock Hardy (Utah) vs. Cameron Amine (Michigan)
Sam Sasso (Pennsylvania) vs. Will Lewan (Illinois)

145 pounds
Dalton Jensen (Illinois) vs. Abe Assad (Illinois)
Markus Hartman (Illinois) vs. Dawon Andrews (Arizona)

152 pounds
Tyler Dow (Wisconsin) vs. Samuel Mora (Texas)
James Rogers (Washington) vs. Michael O’Malley (New Jersey)

160 pounds
Aaron Brooks (Maryland) vs. Grant Parrish (Minnesota)
Joshua Stillings (Pennsylvania) vs. Jake Hendricks (Pennsylvania)

170 pounds
Tyler Barnes (New York) vs. Faustin Lopez (Colorado)
Travis Wittlake (Oregon) vs. Nick Casperson (North Dakota)

182 pounds
Ryan Karoly (New Jersey) vs. Julian Gorring (Pennsylvania)
Lucas Davison (Indiana) vs. Caden Steffen (Minnesota)

195 pounds
Kaleb Reeves (Iowa) vs. Kyle Lightner (New Jersey)
Cameron Sauerwein (Ohio) vs. Braxton Amos (West Virginia)

220 pounds
Tyler Curd (Missouri) vs. Chase Trussell (Utah)
Jace Punke (Illinois) vs. Tarik Sutkovic (Arizona)

285 pounds
Jeff Queer (Montana) vs. Montana Phillips (Oklahoma)
Spencer Trenary (Iowa) vs. Ronald Tucker (Illinois)