Fargo, North Dakota—Day one at the USMC Junior and 16U National Championships is complete! Wisconsin saw awesome wrestling today, and the stage is set for an exciting set of semifinal pairings and the All-American “blood round” at first whistle tomorrow morning.

Women’s freestyle saw preliminary rounds wrestled this morning, and the day closed out with the championship quarterfinals and several rounds of consolations.

The two-day event for women’s freestyle saw a jump of 382 participants overall, up just about 20% year over year at 1,975 participants. “Girl’s freestyle wrestling is growing,” said Head Coach Bryan Koontz. “The talent level at the top end is a lot higher than I’ve ever seen it.” Team Wisconsin matches pace with that growth—seeing a roughly 20-person increase on the 63-person roster between the age groups—and talent at the top level. 

In the championship semifinals are five from the 16U division, including all three of the No. 1 seeds. At 88 pounds, Brynn Engel got her start in the afternoon session with a second-period tech over New York’s Anabelle Wessel. Brooke Huffman made fast work of opponents at 190 pounds with two techs and a fall, and Riley Hanrahan already has five wins under her belt. Hanrahan had three techs to start the day followed by two decisions—one coming over teammate Amelia Poplawski in the quarterfinals. Emjay Neuman (118) and Harlow Skenandore (142) both took out the No. 3 seed to punch their semifinal ticket in similar fashion—Neumann had 3 falls, Skenandore had three techs, and then they both advanced with a win by decision. 

Two in the junior division—Taylor Whiting and Carley Ceshker—also advanced to the championship semis. Whiting’s wrestling acumen has been on display all day, but her maturity shone brightest in the quarterfinal battle with Missouri’s Jayden Keller. Whiting wrestled a smart six-minute match and won on criteria, 6-6.

Ceshker makes her third semifinal appearance tomorrow and looks sharper than ever. She dominated early matches and held composure in a scrappy round of 16 over Abigail Mozden of Ohio before collecting another dominant tech in the quarters.

All seven semifinalists have secured All-American status at the National Championships.

In addition to the semifinalists, tomorrow morning’s session will see wrestling on the consolation side as more battle to earn a place on the podium. Coach Koontz, putting things in perspective, said, “Every single person in your weight class will take a loss in this tournament except one person. And so it doesn’t really matter when it happens, but when it happens the most important thing is what do you do moving forward? You just take it one match at a time . . . and things will sort themselves out.”

For 16U, the action starts in the All-American “blood round” tomorrow. For those newer to Fargo, the blood round is the round where athletes need to win to become an All-American (top 8). In the 16U division battling for placement are Amelia Poplawski (130), Cassidy O’Connell (94), Dilynn Albrecht (100), Franky Groom-Frey (124), Kat Cook (94), and Lillie Banks (130).

Brooke Corrigan, who hit an awesome double in an earlier match and saw par terre success against multiple opponents, is in the blood rounds at 100 pounds, as is Sophia Bassino in the 170-pound weight class. At 155 pounds, Wisconsin’s Hallie Krueger and Kara Kuge will wrestle each other in the consolations, and Rachel Schauer will need to win two matches at 170 pounds to reach the podium.

Coach Koontz says the team knows what they need to do tomorrow. “They’re wrestling hard, they just gotta stick to their game plan, the best positions they wrestle from and battle the whole match.”

Many who didn't advance to the second day saw strong performances and claimed victories of their own. “I was really proud of how hard they fought and battled and supported one another,” Coach Koontz said. “It’s a bit of a rollercoaster but overall I think all of the Wisconsin girls wrestled hard, fought hard, and exhibited a lot of class and professionalism.”

The morning session Sunday begins with the semifinals at 9AM, and the consolations, followed by medal matches for 3rd-8th place scheduled for noon. The parade of champions and finals are slated for 6PM.

Watch all of the action live on FloWrestling. Be sure to check USA Wrestling’s complete event schedule for updates to session start/end times.

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