Top Five Storylines From Day 1 Fargo Juniors

Illinois’ Cadence Diduch reached the semis in the Junior division. Here she is last year in the 16U finals. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com

by Derek Levendusky
Twitter: @AWWderek

1. Seven 16U champs are still alive to double up.
16U champs Rianne Murphy (100), Ava Ward (106), Skylar Little Soldier (132), Mishell Rebisch (152), Ella Pagel (164), Sabrina Nauss (180), and Savannah Isaac (200) are all in the semis and still have a chance to double up at Fargo—win both 16U and Junior divisions. Murphy, Ward, Rebisch, Pagel, and Nauss have all been particularly dominant thus far, showing no fall off in the Junior division. Little Soldier and Isaac were both faced some adversity, but still look like young women that can be on top in the end. How many of these seven will do it?

2. Three #1 seeds have gone down; 11 reach the semis.
All three #1 seeds that went down lost in the quarters. Utah’s #1 Elleni Johnson lost at 144 to North Dakota’s Alyssa Johnson by fall; at 152, Virginia’s Stella Steigler took out Illinois #1 Rose Cassioppi; and at 164, Iowa’s Naomi Simon defeated Tennessee #1 Piper Fowler. The #2 seed at 144 also lost, as returning national champion Savannah Gomez of California fell to Michigan’s Clarissa Agostini. Meanwhile, eleven #1 seeds advanced to the semis, including #1 Sterling Dias (Nevada) at 100, #1 Alex Szkotnicki (Maryland) at 112, 16U finalist Isabella Marie Gonzalez (California) at 117, and 16U finalist Cadence Diduch (Illinois) at 122. At 127, if the semis go chalk, 2x Fargo finalist Jaclyn Dehney (Massachusetts) is on a course to square off with returning national champ Alexis Janiak (Illinois). Cadet world silver medalist Skylar Hattendorf is cruising at 138, though Nebraska’s Reagen Gallaway challenged her in the quarters, getting the first takedown ten seconds after the whistle before losing by fall later in the period. At 200, #1 seed Sam Calkins (Cailfornia) and #1 Eliana Bommarito (Michigan) both reached the semis.

3. Eliana Bommarito is special.
Michigan’s 225 is doing what we expected, earning three falls, each in less than a minute thus far. It would be shocking if she didn’t come home with another stop sign. Bommarito is single-handedly is making a case for having heavier weight classes in college and Senior level wrestling. By divine design, she’s an athletic 225-pound wrestler. Why would we deprive her and wrestling fans of watching her career continue? Tune in when she steps on the mat tomorrow.

4. The gap is wide.
Early rounds were not competitive against #1 and #2 seeds. As a matter of fact, not a single wrestler made it through the first period through the Round of 32 in any of the top 14 weight classes against #1 seeds. All early termination, all in the first period. Except for one weight class, it was the same for #2 seeds. What does this show us? Our high school elites are getting trained and wrestling at a very high level, and with the growth of women’s wrestling and the numbers we’re now getting at Fargo, the gap from top to bottom is much wider than it’s ever been.

5. California is back on top.
After Iowa’s first-ever team championship at Fargo in the 16U division, where California took third, the Golden State finds themselves back in the driver’s seat of the Junior division with 36 points. No one else is close, as Michigan and Texas share a tie for second with 16. California has nine in the semis and nine in All-American spots in the consis, while both Michigan and Texas each have five in the semis and one in the consis. Barring an apocalyptic event, no one is going to catch California this time.