Fargo, North Dakota—Day two of men’s freestyle at the Junior and 16U National Championships was chock full of battles, triumphs, and some tough losses. Both the Junior and 16U teams have athletes in podium contention.

Four in the 16U division will wrestle in the championship semifinals. Cael Leisgang (215) Dale Corbin (126) Hunter Stevens (138) and Makhi Rodgers (285) all won their quarterfinal bouts this afternoon and have locked in All-American placement.

Leisgang, who placed 8th last year, said having that year of experience has helped him navigate the national event. No. 9 seed Makhi Rodgers was all energy—as was the mat 2 cheering section with his family in the stands—as he came out victorious over Lucas Feuerbcah of Iowa to punch his ticket to the semis. Hunter Stevens has been all business with five wins by tech, giving up points in just two of them. Stevens will face Utah's Austin Ellis in the 138-pound semifinal.

The 126-pound quarterfinal was an all-Wisconsin brawl. No. 2 seed Dale Corbin, who made it to the All-American blood round last year, bested Wisconsin teammate Max Hay by decision 5-4. While the win-lose isn’t an ideal situation for Wisconsin today, having two wrestlers of this national caliber isn’t a bad problem for a state to have. Hay has been on fire the last two days earning two techs to start his run, followed by another high-scoring decision and then winning a close match over a Missouri opponent before the quarters.  

He’s one of seven more in the 16U division who have advanced to day three of the national event. Camden Rugg (100), Max Gonzalez (132), JD Minder-Broeckaert (157), Liam Crook (165), Owen Burling (190), and Zahn Beal (106) have all battled their way into striking distance of the podium, and will wrestle in the All-American blood round tomorrow morning. 

16U Head Coach Newton Smerchek has been impressed with the highly developed team that has been likened to the group of juniors from last year. Tomorrow, he said, is about making progress in each match. Not just for their goals in this event but looking long term at what the wrestlers want to achieve, maybe as juniors or in college.  “It’s continue to progress, and then when they feel confident and relaxed that’s when they’re gonna compete to the best of their ability—and they really have—the 11 guys advancing, but also we had almost one-third of our team that made it into this last round of consolations and had an opportunity to make it into the blood round or to already place. You gotta really be happy with that.”

The junior team has five that will wrestle in the consolations as Caleb Dennee (175), Charlie Millard (165), Grant Stromberg (285), Ian Smith (215), and Kellen Wolbert (138) have advanced and are right within striking distance of the podium. Each one of these wrestlers has the potential to wrestle back for a 3rd place finish.

Wrestlers competing on the final day of the national event will make weight again in the morning, warm up, and start the final day of men’s freestyle action at 10 AM.

Fargo is truly a grind, and the afternoon session on Tuesday is where it gets raw for many athletes as the field thins out. The brackets, which start for some at 256, started this afternoon in the round of 16 and wrestled through quarterfinals and several rounds of consolations.

Making their way to the round of 16 were Alexander Penzkover (132), Jacob Kidder (157), Landen Grow (175), Luke Driedric (215), Aaron Dunigan jr. (215), Braden Johnson (120), Brady Collins (126), Brendan Grabot (285), Brody Sardina (215), Bryce Shepard (285), Bryston Scoles (150), Cade Aaberg (144), Jack Steinmeyer (215), Owen Dorshorst (94), Reed Falk (190), Samuel Zanton (165) in the 16U division. 

 In juniors were Caleb Cady (157), Daniel Heiser (150, Declan Koch (150), Easton Cooper (120), Garett Kawczynski (215), Hunter Vander heiden (285), Peter Tomazevic (132), Silas Dailey (175), and Tristan Steldt (165).

For those wrestlers pushing their way to Tuesday afternoon, Coach Nick Becker said it was those going out and getting points that helped their success. “The guys that go out there and strike first and wanna put points on the board are the ones that are coming out victorious, so just gotta start hot and keep it rolling.” Wrestlers that lost in the round of 16 wrestled tough in consolations to close out their run at the world's largest, and one of the toughest, national events. 

Many are coming home with 5+ victories. “They’re all focused,” Coach Becker said. “It’s easy to coach individuals when they’re focused and dedicated and wanna come here and win. That’s what I gotta say about the whole team Wisconsin, is that they’re focused.”

Wrestling resumes at 10AM on Wednesday with the semifinals and cons. round 8 #2. Medal matches will be at 3:00, and the championship finals are slated be begin at 5:30PM. Once again, everything will be streamed and available on FloWrestling.

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