National high school wrestling news, notes, updates (1/29/2024)

Lake Highland Prep (FL) wins in Michigan; Poway wins Fresno Classic; Brownsburg (IN) dominates Avon Sectional; Delbarton (NJ), Bishop Kelly (ID) and South Dade (FL) also win

It was another week of great wrestling action across the nation. Here are the highlights.

Lake Highland Prep shines at Lou Yeager Duals

For the second week in a row Lake Highland Prep, ranked No. 13 in the nation, left the comfy confounds of Orlando for a trip north into Winter Wonderlands. Last week it was a trip to Cleveland in a snowstorm to take on No. 5 St. Edward, this week they were in Michigan at the Lou Yeager Duals hosted by Detroit Catholic Central.

They came up short in their first venture but hit pay dirt on this one with three wins over teams in Mat Scouts National Team Rankings, the hosts, who are No. 27, No. 44 Dundee, and honorable mention Lowell.

Florida's Lake Highland Prep was right at home in snowy Michigan, winning the Lou Yeager Duals

The Highlanders fell behind early in the morning opening meeting with Detroit Catholic Central, losing five of the first seven matches and looking at an 18-9 deficit.

Omer Barak got a pin at 175 for Lake Highland after they forfeited the 165lb match to even the score. The Shamrocks ripped off three straight wins with two of them being wrestlers who are nationally ranked.

After Lee Krueger beat Ronin Tracy at 190, the Highlanders sent Robert Kucharczk (No. 17 at 190) out at 215 to face No. 22 Connor Bercume. Bercume handled his foe, 5-3, the Kucharczk moved pushed honorable mention Alex Smith up to 285 from his usual spot at 215, to see Benny Eziuka, who sent him away with a 4-1 defeat.

Chazz Robinson won a toss up match over Ryan Totten, 11-5, to get some points back for the Highlanders at 106. After Wyatt Lees blanked Liam Davis, 4-0 at 113, to extend the Shamrocks lead to that earlier mentioned 18-9 score, Lake Highland went on a five-match run that earned them the dual meet win.

A pin by No. 12 Ethan Rivera at 120 was followed by a 1-0 win by Charlie DeSena over Grayson Fuchs at 126. If you blinked at 132 you missed No. 19 Jayce Paridon’s 8 second fall that gave the Highlanders their first lead, 24-18.

No. 24 Colin Kacena came up short of a tech-fall at 138, winning 17-3, then Zeno Moore executed a third period fall at 144 to ring up the win for his squad, as the score now stood at 34-18 in Lake Highland’s favor with only two bouts left.

The Shamrocks swept those final matches, with both Mason Stewart (150) and No. 11 Darius Marines (157) picking up decisions, to bring the final team tally to, 34-24.

Lake Highland beat Dundee, 47-15, and Lowell 55-12.

The following picked up wins in both matches, Barak, Lucas Boe, Charlie DeSena, Kucharczk, Paridon, Tracy, and Smith. Kacena win his match with Dundee but fell to Jackson Blum (No. 13 at 126), 4-3, in the Lowell dual.

Davis and Jack DeSena were winners versus Lowell. Also in the Lowell dual, Moore pulled off a major upset at 144 of No. 8 Blake Cosby, 3-0.

Lowell upset Dundee in their encounter. DCC beat both its Michigan foes in their meetings.

Lake Highland Prep 34, Detroit Catholic Central 24

165 Caden Krueger (DCC) won by forfeit

175 Omer Barak (LHP) pinned Andrew White, 2:33

190 Lee Krueger (DCC) dec Ronin Tracy, 9-5

215 Connor Bercume (DCC) dec Robert Kucharczk, 5-3

285 Benny Eziuka (DCC) dec Alex Smith, 4-1

106 Chazz Robinson (LHP) dec Ryan Totten, 15-9

113 Wyatt Lees (DCC) dec Liam Divis, 4-0

120 Ethan Rivera (LHP) pinned Mack Moscovic, time NA

126 Charlie DeSena (LHP) dec Grayson Fuchs, 1-0

132 Jayce Paridon (LHP) pinned Simon Dominguez, :08

138 Colin Kacena (LHP) maj-dec Michael Cannon, 7-4

144 Zeno Moore (LHP) pinned Drew Brewer, 4:32

150 Mason Stewart (DCC) dec Jack DeSena, 3-1

157 Darius Marines (DCC) dec Lucas Boe, 7-5

Poway downs Buchanan in a Fresno Classic

On Saturday afternoon at Fresno City College California’s defending state champions, No. 10 Buchanan took on No. 4 Poway, who is currently the No. 1 team in California.

This was a tight one that was tied at three different times, including near the end with three bouts to go. Poway jumped out first with a 5:08 pin by No. 11 Laird Root over Patrick Roberts at 150.

Buchanan took the next two with a pin by No. 7 Leo Contino at 157 and a major decision of Aliaksandr Kikiniou, 13-2, at 165 by No. 17 Branson John.

Down 10-6 Poway tied it up and more with a three-match victory run that propelled them out front, 16-10. No. 16 Angelo Posada’s major tied it at 175 and decisions by Ben Bomberger (190) and No. 10 Robert Platt (215) gave the Titans the edge, 16-10.

Buchanan snapped out of it when heavyweight Byson Harrington decked Poway’s Adam Farha in the first period, 1:32, to arrive at the match’s second tie, 16-16.

No. 15 Arseni Kikiniou (106) and No. 8 Edwin Sierra (113) earned decisions for the Titans, Kikiniou’s 6-0 over Blake Woodward and Sierra’s, 5-3, over No. 14 Rocklin Zinkin, and with it a 22-16 edge on the team tally.

The Bears took the next two matches to land on the final tie, 22 all. Christopher Huerta beat Robert Jones, 6-2, at 120, and Ashton Besmer snuck by Billy Townson, 1-0, at 126.

At 132, unranked Gavin Navida edged honorable mention Paris Ruiz to steal a win that went a long way towards Poway’s win. No. 4 Paul Kelly beat Gavin Bauder, 5-1, at 138, to give the Titans a 28-22 advantage with one match to go.

No. 7 Joseph Toscano (144) needed a pin to push the match to be decided on criteria, but could not get the six to force tie, settling on a 13-4 major decision of Mario Carini marking the final tally at 28-26 in Poway’s favor.

Poway 28, Buchanan 26

150 Laird Root (Poway) over Patrick Roberts (Buchanan) Fall 5:09

157 Leo Contino (Buchanan) over Jack Estevez (Poway) Fall 2:13

165 Branson John (Buchanan) over Aliaksandr Kikiniou (Poway) Maj 13-2

175 Angelo Posada (Poway) over Brock Kitchen (Buchanan) Maj 10-1

190 Ben Bomberger (Poway) over Sean-Michael Roberts (Buchanan) Dec 3-1

215 Robert Platt (Poway) over Alec Dansby (Buchanan) Dec 10-5

285 Byson Harrington (Buchanan) over Adam Farha (Poway) Fall 1:32

106 Arseni Kikiniou (Poway) over Blake Woodward (Buchanan) Dec 6-0

113 Edwin Sierra (Poway) over Rocklin Zinkin (Buchanan) Dec 5-3

120 Christopher Huerta (Buchanan) over Robert Jones (Poway) Dec 6-2

126 Ashton Besmer (Buchanan) over Billy Townson (Poway) Dec 1-0

132 Gavin Navida (Poway) over Paris Ruiz (Buchanan) Dec 6-4

138 Paul Kelly (Poway) over Gavin Bauder (Buchanan) Dec 5-1

144 Joseph Toscano (Buchanan) over Mario Carini (Poway) Maj 13-4

Brownsburg dominates Avon Sectional

Indiana started its postseason series this week with sectionals, next is regions, semi-states, and finally states. In the Avon Sectional, No. 18 Brownsburg (Indiana) was king with eleven champs and a whopping 320 points. The hosts were second with 221.5 points and three champions.

Yep, you read that right, those two teams crowned all the champions in this endeavor.

No. 11 Revin Dickman had the match with the most national intrigue at 113 with honorable mention Nathan Rioux (Avon), who he vanquished 5-0, after beating his rival 4-3 in the recent Hoosier Crossroads Conference finals.

Other nationally ranked grapplers winning titles for Brownsburg were No. 14 Jake Hockaday (132) and honorable mentions Brady Ison (138) and Gunnar Henry (190).

The Bulldogs other champs were Preston Haines (120), Parker Reynolds (144), Tommy Gibbs (150), Mason Day (157), Jese Deeringer (165), Griff Campbell (175), and Caden Brewer (215). Placing second were Eli Ogle (106) and Braylon Edwards (126).

Avon’s three champs were Mason Goelz (106), Luke Rioux (126), and Oluwagbenga Orisade (285).

Delbarton romps at Morris County Tournament

Similar to Brownsburg’s dominance in Indiana, Delbarton ruled supreme over the field at the Morris County Tournament at Mount Olive High School in New Jersey with eleven champs and one silver medalist.

No. 20 Ryan DeGeorge was the only ranked wrestler for Delbarton to register less than a tech-fall or pin in the finals with a 13-5 major decision of Michael VanderMeulen (Jefferson) at 126. Picking up falls were No. 11 Dan Jones (120), No. 9 Jayden James (138), Gabe Logan (150, HM), No. 9 Alessio Perentin (165), and No. 8 Louis Cerchio (175). Tech-falls were registered by No. 3 Cameron Sontz (106) and honorable mention Chase Quenault (132).

Other gold medalists for Delbarton were C.J. Betz (157), Vincent Lee (215) and Connor Martin (285). Trevor Jones was second at 144 and Elbrus Majagah was third at 190.

Mount Olive’s runner-up placing was paced by two champs, Tyeler Hagensen (113) and Tyler Bienus at 190. Bienus defeated Hanover Park’s Vincenzo LaValle, 3-0. LaValle sits just outside our national rankings.

Morristown’s Jack Myers beat Delbarton’s Trevor Jones, 7-1, at 144.

Bishop Kelly gets by Nampa for Red Halverson Title

The Red Halverson Invitational at Minico High School in Idaho is an all-Idaho affair with no teams from outside the state’s borders. Bishop Kelly earned top honors over Nampa, 223-205.5.

Both teams crowned four champions and even though Nampa had seven total finalists to Bishop Kelly’s five, they still fell to the second position.

Winning gold for Bishop Kelly were Jake Castagneto (132), Carlos Valdez (145), Matthew Martino (152), and honorable mention Jadon Skellenger (160). Seiya Thompson came up short in his title quest at 170.

Placing third for Bishop Kelly were Holten Crane (98) and Jake Mescher (126). Manuel Valdez was fourth at 138 and Tensei Thompson placed sixth at 145.

Nampa’s four titlists were Ryan Hirchert (98), Vincent Contreras (113), Aulani Macias (120), and Jonathan Seamons (170). Setting for silver were Ilan Shank (106), No. 19 Carson Exferd (138), and Akio Sanders (145).

Century’s No. 20 Kolter Burton avenged a loss to Exferd from the Rollie Lane finals where he fell 3-2 in regulation. This meeting went overtime before Burton secured the fall 26 seconds into the first OT frame, 6:26.

Blackfoot’s Mack Mauger (No. 19 at 120) pitched a 3-0 shoutout versus Tucker Bowen (Soda Springs) at 126.

The hosts saw two grapplers earn top honors, Spencer Pease (182) and Garrett Vail (220). Mountain View teammates were set to square off in the 285lb final, but honorable mention Shilo Jones medically forfeited to Aiden McGinnis.

The other champs were Skyline’s Ayden Tokita (106) and Soda Springs Elijah Dilworth (195).

South Dade reign supreme at Colby Singletary

South Dade (Florida) captured the team title at the Colby Singletary Memorial tournament hosted by Palmetto Ridge. All the squads on hand were from Florida. South Dade, who is ranked 39th in the nation by Mat Scouts, came out head of Charlotte, 297-249.

Honorable mention Elvis Solis was the 138lb champ, No. 4 Sawyer Bartelt claimed the glory at 215, and Joshua Aviles banked gold at 150.

Second place finishers for South Dade were Guillermo Jaramillo (113), Nathaniel Williams (126), Kevin Olavarria (175), and Christopher Sanchez (190). Finishing fourth was Armand Williams (132). Bryan Morales (106) and Jaiden Oliver (144) were sixth.

Charlotte had three qualify for the finals and walked out the door with one champion in Jett McCauley at 190. Matthew Schuler (106) and Jaxon Newton (285) couldn’t complete the title run.

Osceola (Kissimmee) equaled South Dade with three champions but only finished in sixth place. Adaias Ortiz won the 113lb gold. Anderson Heap, who is honorable mention at 144 (Heap wrestled 145 at Escape the Rock), was up at 157 and needed overtime to defeat Lake Gibson’s Gianni Maldonado, 8-6.

At 175, No. 23 Gunner Holland flattened South Dade’s Olavarria in the second period, 3:21, a week after Olavarria beat him at the Florida 3A State Duals, 7-5.

Third place Lake Gibson crowned one champ in Austin Chung at 144. Somerset’s Jovani Solis won an overtime bout, 8-6, with Mariner’s Maximus Brady. Both Brady and Solis sit on the periphery of the national rankings.

Mariner did secure one gold with Camren French (126). Jensen Beach’s Gian Ortiz was the 120lb champ. Heritage’s Solomon Peterson claimed the glory at 106. At 165, Braden River’s Gage Wiggins was the top dog.

Palmetto Ridge did keep one wall chart at home when heavyweight Kaden Darwin won a 4-1 dust-up with Charlotte’s Newton.