The Shogun 2020: The Way of the Samurai Wrestlers

Wrestlers gathered from all over the northeast to compete at the 2020 Shogun. Photo courtesy of Venom Girls Wrestling Club.

by Matty D, guest writer for AWW

MIDDLETOWN, NY - "I came for the freaking sword. I was screwed out of it last year,” growled an 82-pound entrant in the Shogun women’s high school wrestling division.

She wasn’t the only kid who wanted the sheathed replica samurai sword awarded to each of the Shogun 2020 wrestling tournament divisional winners. In fact, 556 wrestlers converged from across the northeast to a fieldhouse in Hudson Valley, New York with designs on bringing home a blade. Cars were jammed every which way into January snow banks. Errant snowballs whizzed through the parking lot. Fifty deep waited at the concession stands for most of the day, until it was cleaned out.

All for a chance at earning a samurai sword.

The year before, 82-pound Angie Dill weighed in for the 75-pound women’s 8th Grade & Under freestyle division. Undersized and the lone wrestler in her high school weight class, she was bumped into the closest cluster of competitors, which ranged from 75-95 pounds. The kid had spunk though, going 4-1. She earned 3rd place and MOW for a gigantic David-versus-Goliath performance. But, no freaking sword.

After this year’s tournament, she rode shotgun three hours home, pissed again. Swordless again. Screwed again.

At 82 pounds, she entered the 85 pound women’s high school freestyle division. Not surprisingly, no other grappler entered the weight class—so she’d be bumped to the 99-pound weight class. That bracket was lethal. A gauntlet loaded with wrestlers from Wyoming Seminary, the Pennsylvania National Team…and a bruiser from Maryland. One uneasy competitor even bumped up to 106 to escape certain annihilation awaiting wrestlers in the 99-pound pool.

One of them was not the young star that came from Maryland.

“Hey Szkotnicki (Zot-Nikki),” welcomed Nikki Macaluso from outside the fieldhouse.

Alex Szkotnicki, the bruiser from Maryland, trudged through fresh snow in her baggy grey sweats along with her mom and a few others who made the long trek from the Old Line State (so nicknamed during Revolutionary War after the brave stand of many of their soldiers). An old black eye still visible, her mopey frown shifted to a sweet smile.

Nikki Macaluso is known nationally in women’s wrestling circles. For one, her husband Heath is the Shogun tournament director and the head coach of the New York national team that competes in Fargo. However, the family superstars are undeniably their daughters, Sofia and Mia. The Mac girls are both national champs. Mia will be wrestling for rising Pennsylvania program East Stroudsburg next year. Sofia hopes to continue repping Team USA across the globe—with that Szkotnicki phenom.

A high school freshman out of Calvert, Maryland, Alex Szkotnicki had herself a year in 2019: Super 32 Champ; UWW 15U National Champ; USA Cadet Champ; and 15U World Champion.

Needless to say, the 82-pounder that had to bump up 17 pounds to face Szkotnicki wasn’t getting a sword. The two would face off. The expected result resulted. As the first period buzzer went off, and the undersized Dill was tech’ed 10-0, lasting far longer than the rest of the 99-pound field did against the hammer. The 82-pounder was no chump. In fact, Dill won a gold at the 15U 2019 Pan Ams—but she'd have to settle for second at The Shogun 2020.

Szkotnicki would also settle for less than a sword in the college women’s freestyle division. The only 101-pound entry, she was bumped into the 109-pound weight class; arguably the toughest bracket in the college division. The Maryland high schooler pinned her way into the semis where she went down on points to top seed Tatyana Ortiz (East Stroudsburg University). Ortiz too would taste defeat as she battled with Amy (Whitbeck) Golding. Amy is a current MMA champ and former World Junior wrestling medalist. Golding cruised to the tech fall over Ortiz. In the other semifinal, Springfield Tech’s Katlin Wells also suffered a tech fall defeat to Golding.

As Golding was wrapping up her finals match, all the other mats in the fieldhouse were rolled up or in the process of being rolled up. Most everyone had filed out. But there was one more match on mat 5 before the tape could be ripped off and the mat rolled up. Katlin Wells and Szkotnicki would go at it for 3rd. Wells is a very, very good wrestler. She won the 2017 National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) National title. She was the two-seed in the bracket. And now she was going to finish off her tournament against a freshman in high school.

The size difference between Szkotnicki and Wells was overwhelming and visible. Wells methodically built a 6-1 lead as the first period fizzled. Szkotnicki walked to her corner where her low-key mother toweled her down before the 2nd period. The hour neared 8 p.m. Yet a handful of remaining spectators who had been camped out all day lingered along the edges of the mat to take in one last star-studded match.

The whistle blew. Then something went off in Szkotnicki. The bruiser bulldozed her way into the legs of Wells. It was 6-3. With 24 seconds left, she willed herself on top in a scramble. It was 6-5 and an amazing showing for a 9th grader—but she wasn’t finished. With 15 seconds remaining, the Maryland kid locked up a cradle for two, holding on as time expired. She’d won it 7-6!

Alex Szkotnicki didn’t get a freaking sword for her 3rd place collegiate division win in a bumped-up weight division, but it’s safe to say that she was grinning the whole way home, black eye and all.

And the 82-pound Dill felt pretty good about her day, too.

This is wrestling. And on this day, it was the way of the samurai wrestlers.

Maryland’s Alex Szkotnicki and New York’s Angie Dill at the 2020 Shogun.