April 2, 2007: The Wrestling Mall, High School News

Pennsylvania Takes Home Junior National Title from Virginia Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – With three individual champions, Pennsylvania won the state team title in the NHSCA National High School Junior Wrestling Championships, which concluded tonight at the Pavilion Convention Center.

The All-American round capped a tournament that saw the Juniors Championship set a record with 705 competitors. The finals featured an outstanding field, with 19 of the 28 finalists owning at least one state or National Prep championship in their careers. Three of the finals matched multi-time state champions.

The National High School Seniors Wrestling Championships resumed Saturday with 761 wrestlers from 46 states and Europe competing. That competition began with the championship round of 16 and the opening consolation rounds.

Pennsylvania, one of two states with three finalists (Kansas was the other), won the Junior division state team race with 218 points, with New York (195.5) finishing second. Ohio was third with 188.5 points, with New Jersey (156) finishing fourth and California and Utah (133.5) tying for fifth place. Wrestlers from 47 states entered the event.

Jordan Oliver (119) of Easton High led the Pennsylvania charge, racking up nine takedowns in a 21-6 technical fall over Justin Solberg of Wahpeton (N.D.) High, a match between a pair of two-time state champions. Oliver was voted the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler after recording a first-period pin, two technical falls and three major decisions in six tournament matches. It is the second straight year Oliver has earned the honor in the event, having been the OW of the National Sophomores Championships a year ago. Eric Albright (112) of Red Lion High and Bobby Ward (130) of Nazareth High were the other Pennsylvania wrestlers to claim titles. Ward, who didn’t place in the state meet this year, beat another former National Sophomores champion, two-time Iowa champion Marshall Koethe of Akron-Westfield High, 6-2 for his title.

Utah had two champions. At 103, Nate Larsen of Bountiful Viewmont High, third in the state meet this year, scored an escape and a takedown in the final 30 seconds to rally past California champion Gilberto Camacho of Fresno Washington High, 3-2. At 135, three-time state champion Jason Chamberlain of Springville High racked up four takedowns in a 9-2 victory over Kansas champion Aldon Isenberg of Gardner-Edgerton High.

Two-time Minnesota champion Jake Deitchler (145) of Anoka High scored the only pin of the finals, reversing Johnny Koepp of Dallas (Texas) Bishop Lynch High to his back for a pin in just 45 seconds. That was followed by a tense battle between two wrestlers who had combined for six titles, two-time National Prep champion Mario Mason of Blairstown (N.J.) Blair Academy and four-time Alabama champion Kyle Cuthbertson of Scottsboro High. Mason broke open a match that was tied at 1-1 on a takedown with 53 seconds remaining and a five-point move in the final 10 seconds for an 8-2 victory.

Seven of the 10 multi-time state champions in the finals went down to defeat. Three-time Nebraska champion Tyler Sackett (125) of Omaha Skutt High lost 8-6 to Jarrod Garnett of Bear (Del.) Caravel Academy. Two-time state champions also fell at 171, where Cody Magrum of Oak Harbor (Ohio) High lost 3-1 to three-time California placewinner Hunter Collins of Gilroy High; at 189, where Scott Elliott of Arkansas City (Kan.) High lost a wild 13-11 match to Ryland Geiger of Scappoose (Ore.) High; and at 285, where Elijah Madison of Kansas City (Mo.) Oak Park High escaped in the ultimate tie-breaker to beat Atticus Disney of Andover (Kan.) Central High 3-2, his second victory in as many between between the two this season.

Also winning titles were Jon Burns (140) of Raleigh (N.C.) Cardinal Gibbons High, Bryan Bourne (160) of Spencerport (N.Y.) High and Andrew Wilson (215) of Anchorage (Alaska) East High. Keith Hynson of New Castle (Del.) William Penn High, who finished fifth at 152, won the tournament’s Most Falls award with 3 falls in a combined 3:03.

The National High School Juniors Wrestling Championships is an open event, and is open to any high-school wrestler completing his junior year. More than three-quarters of the wrestlers qualified for their high school state tournament at least once. More than half are state placewinners, and nearly 20 per cent have won a state title.

Founded in 1989, the National High School Coaches Association is a not-for-profit 501c3 service organization providing support and leadership programs for the nation’s 500,000 high school coaches and 10 million high school athletes.

Complete brackets can be accessed at www.escapesports.com.

The NHSCA selects Coaches and Senior Athletes of the Year in 20 boys and girls sports, and sponsors more than two dozen national championship events in 11 sports. The 18th annual National High School Wrestling Championships attracted nearly 2,300 wrestlers from all four grade levels to Virginia Beach, Va. later this month, and the NHSCA conducted 16 championship events in Virginia Beach, Va. last summer. The NHSCA, in partnership with the NFL Coaches Association, conducted the National High School Football Coaches Convention in conjunction with U.S. Army All-American Bowl All-Star Game. For a complete list of this year’s programs and events, visit the NHSCA’s web site at www.nhsca.com.

Founded in 1989, the National High School Coaches Association is a not-for-profit 501c3 service organization providing support and leadership programs for the nation’s 500,000 high school coaches and 10 million high school athletes.