Day 6 preview: Greco-Roman all day long, with 16U finals and Juniors reaching quarterfinals
by Adam Engel, USA Wrestling
![Ryker Graff (IA) competition portrait](https://res.cloudinary.com/usopc-prod/image/upload/v1688762201/NGB%20Wrestling/Migration/Graff_Ryker16UGreco400x200.jpg)
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