National high school wrestling news, notes, updates (3/4/2024)
It was another big weekend of state championship wrestling action and SBLive was on hand for some of the bigger events and we tracked all the rest. Here is our weekly National Wrestling Notebook:
Delbarton edges St. Joseph Regional at New Jersey state tournament
New Jersey’s star-studded affair did not disappoint this weekend at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. There were some major upsets, some dominant performances and a tight team race that saw Delbarton back up their state dual meet victory over St. Joseph Regional, by three points here, 229.5-226.5.
The Green Wave put seven in the finals and crowned four of them as champs. In addition to those seven, No. 12 Gabe Logan was fourth at 150 and honorable mention Chase Quenault placed seventh at 132.
Delbarton edged St. Joseph Regional for the New Jersey state wrestling team title in what of the nation's top wrestling states.
Taking top honors for Delbarton were No. 4 Cameron Sontz (106), No. 16 Ryan DeGeorge (126), No. 7 Alessio Perentin (165), and No. 24 Vincent Lee (215). Settling for silver were No. 9 Jayden James (138), No. 9 Louis Cerchio (175), and Connor Martin (285).
Sontz avenged a state dual meet tournament loss to No. 3 Killian Colucci (Christian Brothers), 10-3, in the semis after falling 8-5 in their initial encounter. In the finals, Sontz posted a major decision of Southern Regional’s Anthony Mason, 9-1.
DeGeorge handled Leonia’s Seach Hibler, 5-2, in his title bout. Perentin won a battle of nationally ranked, top ten wrestlers over No. 10 Jordan Chapman of Cranford, 12-7. Lee beat No. 25 Hudson Skove (Rumson-Fair Haven), 3-1 OT, for the second week in a row (first in the Region 5 Finals).
St. Joseph Regional equaled Delbarton’s four champions, going four-for-five in the final bouts. At 132, Adrian DeJesus (No. 4) decisioned No. 24 Carson Walsh (Pope John XXIII), 8-4. Honorable mention Zach Ballante won by an identical 8-4 score over Phillipsburg’s Gavin Hawk at 150.
No. 5 Ryan Burton had a much more difficult time with Cerchio in their 175lb meeting here than their state dual final last month, which Burton dominated before pinning Cerchio. This one came down to the end with Burton getting past his rival, 6-4. No. 17 Rocco Dellagatta secured the heavyweight gold with a third period fall of Delbarton’s Martin, 4:26.
Johnathon McGinty was second at 113 for St. Joe, with Frank DiBella (HM, 3rd at 157), Mikey Bautista (4th at 120), Donny Almeyda *4th at 138), Charles Esposito (5th at 106), and Kaleb Jackson (6th at 190) rounding out their awardees. In DiBella’s consolation final, he upset No. 17 Ryan Ford (Bergen Catholic), 3-1 in overtime.
St. John Vianney’s No. 1 Anthony Knox won his third crown at 120 with a 15-8 win over Donovan Catholic’s Kurt Wehner. Knox will come into next season favored for a fourth title.
St. Peter’s Prep’s No. 12 Caedyn Ricciardi pulled off a mild upset of Delbarton’s James, giving him his only loss of the season, 5-2.
Rumson-Fair Haven’s freshman standout No. 17 Sonny Amato authored two upsets to pocket his state crown. In the finals, Amato surprised No. 15 Alex Nini (Christian Brothers), 11-5. Amato’s semi-final win was over an even bigger fish, No. 13 August Hibler (Leonia), 2-1.
The biggest upset of the tournament also occurred during the semis when Mt. Olive’s unranked Tyeler Hagensen shocked No. 3 Paul Kenny (Christian Brothers), who is a World Champion, 4-3. Hagensen got by St. Joe’s McGinty, 5-2, in the finals.
Southern Regional’s No. 10 Matt Henrich had a close finals match with honorable mention Kage Jones (Camden Catholic), 2-1, at 157.
No. 4 Harvey Ludington (Brick Memorial) won his state title with an 11-3 major decision of Hanover Park’s Vincenzo LaValle.
Somerset, Jesuit, and South Dade claim Florida State titles
By division, we will notate the state finalists from the winning teams and wrestlers who have some national notoriety.
Somerset claimed the 1A title by 4.5 points over Mater Lakes Academy (156.5-152). Somerset crowned three champions, while Mater Lakes had zero.
Winning gold for Somerset were Jake Austin (113), Jovani Solis (132), and No. 22 Kendrick Hodge (165). Hodge pinned Cardinal Gibbons’ Jason Simmons in the second period of their match, 3:30.
Cardinal Gibbons’ No. 9 Michael Mocco (215) used a tech fall of Damian Soto (Mater Lakes), 22-7, for his glory. No. 21 Sebastian Degennaro of Jensen Beach rolled to a 16-0 tech fall over Lemon Bay’s Jack Oliver at 126.
Jesuit won the 2A championship with ease over runner-up Lake Gibson (201-146.5). Jesuit had three champs (Malachi Ortiz (113), Draven McCall (150), and Brandon Cody (165)) and two runners-up (Roman Lerner (120) and Kawayran Vazquez (157)). McCall beat Fleming Island’s Kaden Schaefer, 2-0.
Lake Gibson’s two titlists were Elijah Lowe (120) and Gianni Maldonado (157). Lowe beat Lerner, 4-2, and Maldonado downed Vazquez, 5-0.
Winter Springs had two nationally ranked wrestlers win titles. No. 6 Jaydon Robinson (144) got by Lake Gibson’s Austin Chung, 2-1. Honorable mention Elijah Penton won the 175lb title with a 3-1 decision of Lake Gibson’s Jace Brownlow.
Mariner’s Maximus Brady posted a 15-6 major decision in his 132lb gold medal match with Manatee’s Luke Arthur.
South Dade romped to the 3A title by well over 100 points, 274-5 points to 119.5 for Osceola. South Dade’s gaudy point total was propped up by ten finalists and six champions.
Claiming state glory were Bryan Morales (106), Elvis Solis (138, HM), Gavin Balmeceda (165), Kevin Olavarria (175), Christopher Sanchez (190), and No. 5 Sawyer Bartlet (215).
Olavarria beat Osceola’s No. 25 Gunner Holland at state duals, 7-5, and then was pinned by Holland at the Colby Singletary tournament, in their state finals meeting here, Olavarria edged his rival, 4-3.
Placing second for South Dade were Luis Acevedo (120), Nathaniel Williams (126), Tyree Graham (144), and Joshua Aviles (150).
Osceola’s two champs were Isfandier Sharipov (132) and Anderson Heap (150). Other notable champs were Frederick Mitchum (Miami Southridge) with a 6-4 overtime win versus Acevedo and Southwest Miami’s Gabriel Tellez with a 7-2 win over South Dade’s Williams.
Michigan State Tournament Round-up
Michigan does not keep team scores at the individual state tournament, so it’s all about the individual glory. We will highlight the nationally ranked wrestlers or wrestlers on the periphery of those rankings.
Detroit Catholic Central has a number of these such wrestlers and all five of them won D1 state championships. Honorable mention Wyatt Lees (113), Grayson Fuchs (126), Mason Stewart (150), No. 15 Darius Marines (157), and No. 23 Connor Bercume (215) were the gold medalists.
Fuchs and Stewart took out members of the Abbey clan from Hartland, Fuchs by a score of 8-5 over Bohdan and Stewart by 3-1 over Vinnie. Marines posted a major decision over Fargo Greco Roman placer Jay ‘Den Williams (Roseville).
Bercume won a 5-3 decision over Logan Tollison (Grand Lodge) and Lees decked his foe, Matthew Quigley (Traverse City West) in the first period, 1:42.
Rockford’s Ryan Ahern moved up from 215 where he is ranked 22nd in the nation to capture the heavyweight crown with a 17-6 major decision of Anton Barynas (Jenison). Davison’s Justin Gates used a tech fall of his teammate Tanner McDunnah, 25-10, to lock down the 144lb title. Michigan is a state that allows multiple entries per team/per weight.
Lowell wrestlers are the notable ones from D2 we will mention. At 132, Jackson Blum (No. 10 at 126) pinned DeWitt’s Trenden Bashore in the third, 4:54. No. 24 Jarrett Smith won the 106lb bracket with a 15-4 major of a comrade of his, Davison’s Cole Cichocki.
Three notable Dundee grapplers claimed D3 state titles, Cameron Chinavare (132), No. 21 Blake Cosby (144), and Mason Katschor (106). Chinavare won a 3-2 decision over Clinton’s Connor Younts. Cosby blanked Lakewood’s Jonathan Krebs, 7-0.
Central Catholic’s Dale Gant won a 6-3 match with Dundee’s Braden Broderick at 120lbs.
In D4, Nicholas Sorrow (Hudson Area) won the 120lb gold with a 16-1 tech fall over his teammate, Colt Perry.
Minnesota Individual and Dual states
Like Michigan, Minnesota has no team scoring for their individual tournament, but on Thursday, the day before individual states, they crowned their dual meet champions.
St. Michael-Albertville won the AAA title with a 47-10 win over Mounds View. The AA crown was claimed by Simley after a 32-26 victory over Kasson-Mantorville. Chatfield staked claim to the 1A glory with a 4-7 win against Staple Motley.
St. Michael-Albertville had two nationally ranked champs and a third that pulled off an upset to get there. No. 6 Landon Robideau teched Brad Little (Woodbury), 23-8, at 152. Honorable mention Jed Wester won the 172lb gold with a tech of his own, 19-3, over Jaxon Kenning (Saint Cloud Tech).
At 189, John Murphy defeated Apple Valley’s Marcell Booth, 7-5 in overtime, in the finals. Both used unexpected wins to reach the finals. Murphy beat honorable mention Aydan Carlson (St. Francis), 8-7. Booth had a huge upset of No. 11 Cole Han-Lindemyer (Farmington), 5-4 UTB.
Mounds View crowned two champs in Brett Swenson (114) and No. 14 Quinn Morgan (215). Swenson beat SMA’s Lincoln Robideau, 5-1. Morgan pitched a shutout versus Ben Schultz (Maple Grove), 8-0.
Wayzata also had two titlists in honorable mention Luke Koenen (121) and No. 5 Logan Swensen (133). Koenen handed New Prague’s Lawson Eller a 10-5 loss after Eller upset honorable mention Blake Beissel (Hastings), 4-2 in OT. Swensen edged SMA’s Michael Olson, 3-2.
There was a marquee matchup at 144 in the AAA Division with No. 18 Alex Braun (Woodbury) facing off with No. 22 Tyson Charmoli (St. Francis) and putting a 3-0 decision on the bracket.
Two honorable mention wrestlers squared off at 285 with Eden Prairie’s Will Sather winning a 5-3 decision over Stillwater’s Cittadino Tuttle. Sather was joined by his teammate at 160 as a champ after Terae Dunn pulled off a mild upset of Wayzata’s Charles Petit, 3-1 in OT.
Farmington’s Davis Parrow won the 139lb bracket with a 3-2 win over Eden Prairie’s Charles Vanier.
Simley put two wrestlers on the top of the podium in the AA Division with No. 17 Turner Ross blanking Lincoln Christensen (Marshall), 5-0, at 106. At 114, Austin Grzywinski also pitched a shutout, 7-0, over his opponent, Watertown’s Joel Friederichs.
Watertown saw two honorable mention grapplers achieve gold medal status as Titan Friederichs throttled Totino-Grace’s Jackson Refsnider, 14-2. Bryce Burkett won a tight one with Kasson’s Dominic Mann, 3-1, at 172.
No. 13 Cy Kruse (Totino-Grace) captured the 215lb glory by flattening Dilworth’s Caleb Johnson with seven seconds left in the opening period, 1:53.
The 145lb weight was won by Scott West’s Matt Randolph, 1-0, over Caledonia’s Owen Denstad. Thief River Falls’ Griffin Lundeen won the 160lb crown with a 5-0 victory against Kasson’s Luke Swanson.
A major upset was executed by Becker’s Caden Nicolas at 139lbs when he squeezed by No. 7 Jack Nelson (Mounds-Westonka), 5-4. Nelson’s teammate, Cooper Rowe pulled off a slight upset of his own over Simley’s honorable mention Cash Raymond, 3-2 UTB.
Jackson County Central’s honorable mention Nolan Ambrose pinned Kenyon’s Gavin Johnson in 2:56 at 145lbs for the only notable A Division result important to the national rankings.
