InterMat: Inside info from the N.W.C.A
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Metcalf ties national record with sixth national title
Seven wrestlers win double titles
By Jason Bryant
jbryant@intermatwrestle.com
Fargo, N.D. – Several have come close, but on Saturday night on the raised mat across the turf floor of the Fargodome on the campus of North Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D., Michigan’s Brent Metcalf accomplished a feat that’s often been challenged, but never been matched.
Junior Freestyle |
With his fall at 145 pounds over Pennsylvania’s Matt Dragon, Metcalf won his sixth USA Wrestling Junior National crown and matched Georgia’s Sean Hage for the record.
“It feels good, but there’s still so much more that I have to do,” Metcalf said. “This is where it’s at now.”
Metcalf fell behind 1-0 on a Dragon leglace before Metcalf countered a Dragon attack and came out with a cradle to expose Dragon’s back for a 3-1 lead.
With Metcalf leading 4-1, Dragon got desperate and tried to go upper-body and try to throw his Michigan foe.
The end result was Metcalf finishing off Dragon with a fall at 4:59. Dragon pushed Metcalf to an 8-7 bout back in the Dapper Dan Classic, a high school all-star event held annually in Pittsburgh.
“He’s a dangerous kid and has some real sick stuff,” Metcalf said.
And for the throw Dragon went for in the second period, Metcalf said: “I knew I had control of that.”
Metcalf was also aware of the talk about Ohio prep standout Dustin Schlatter’s absence from the last two Junior National championships.
“I came out here to compete and the fact that he’s not out here, that doesn’t matter,” Metcalf said. “But yeah, it would have been nice (to wrestle Schlatter).”
Along with Metcalf, six other wrestlers followed their Greco-Roman championships with freestyle titles on Saturday.
California’s Boris Novachkov beat Pennsylvania’s Jake Quinton 9-7 in a thrilling final at 98 pounds. Novachkov beat Quinton earlier in the week in the Greco final.
Puerto Rico’s Franklin Gomez beat New Jersey’s Ross Gitomer 8-0 at 119 pounds to win the island’s second-ever junior level title. Gomez resides in Florida and attends Brandon High School, but represented Puerto Rico.
Pennsylvania’s Adam Frey beat Virginia’s Jordan Frishkorn 6-4 at 130 pounds, giving Frey his second title. The Blair Academy (N.J.) graduate and Cornell-bound freshman-to-be got up to a 5-0 lead in the first 30 seconds before taking a 6-4 lead into the break. The second period would bring no additional scoring, but plenty of great scrambles.
“I kind got a little unlucky there with that first throw, I broke my nose, so I had a little trouble breathing the rest of the match,” Frey said.
“It was a good match, it was a good fight,” Frey said. “That’s why people come to wrestle in these things. My hat’s off to him.”
At 171 pounds, the nation’s top recruit for the class of 2006, David Craig, beat Missouri’s Michael Moore 4-2. Moore scored the first from the clinch after a scoreless first period then Craig tied it up with a takedown and took the lead for good with a two-point gut-wrench with 1:05 left.
Craig was one of three Brandon Eagles to win crowns on the evening, along with Gomez and 160-pounder Rocky Cozart, who beat New York’s Ryan Patrovich 3-0.
Cozart was hoping to be one of the horde of champions that took home two big stop-sign shaped trophies, but he fell in the Greco finals earlier in the week.
“I definitely wanted to win both styles, but second and first is the second best thing you can do,” Cozart said.
Louis Caputo of Missouri followed his Greco championship with a 4-0 victory over club teammate and drilling partner Taylor Moore at 189.
“With him (Moore), I’m so proud of our club and our coaches,” Caputo said. “We’re drilling partners every day and really happy for him, but it was a little bittersweet at the end.”
“It feels good, but there’s always a reminder that I need to get better and keep working,” Caputo said. “You always have to remember your past.
California’s Robby Smith doubled at 215 pounds, but was down 7-0 early against Idaho’s Daniel Erekson and clawed his way back to force overtime and get the winning takedown with 1:51 left in the extra period.
“You got to dig down deep and take him out,” Smith said after being put on his back in the opening seconds. “I knew I was coming back strong. He was getting tired and once he took that timeout, I knew I could comeback from there.
Smith got within 8-4, then a leglace gave Erekson a 9-4 lead and then Smith went to work.
Snap, spin, score.
Snap, spin, score.
Then Smith scored a two-point gut-wrench with 1:09 remaining to close the gap to 9-8. With 19 seconds left, it was Smith again, countering an Erekson double leg with – you guessed it.
Snap, spin, score.
Then Smith scored the winner just over a minute into the overtime.
California followed with a champion at heavyweight as Greco runner-up Eric Nye rallied from a 2-1 overtime deficit to score a gut-wrench at the buzzer to get a 3-2 win over Oklahoma’s Jared Rosholt.
Iowa, along with California, had the most individual champions, with three (not counting Gomez for Florida) as Mark Kist beat Missouri’s Donte Butler 7-1 at 105, Mitch Mueller beat Indiana’s Reece Humphrey 6-0 at 135, and Ryan Morningstar beat Oklahoma’s Shane Vernon 6-0 at 152.
Morningstar didn’t allow a point during the entire tournament and if it weren’t for Metcalf, probably could have taken home the Outstanding Wrestler Award.
New Jersey’s Mike Grey rebounded from an early round loss to claim the title at 125 over Greco champion Shawn Jones of Idaho 15-7.
Colorado’s Tony Mustari got himself a championship at 112 pounds after falling just short in Greco-Roman.
“I made the decision to cut down to 12 because I thought I could win two titles,” Mustari said. “ Colorado’s never had a double champ and I came up short in the Greco finals, but this is nice.”
Utah’s Cyler Sanderson pulled out of the Greco tournament midway through, but he fought through some fierce competition to beat Idaho’s Adam Hall at 135 pounds.
“I’ve been working for this forever and to finally have it come through feels phenomenal,” Sanderson said.
“I hurt my knee in Greco and that set me back a little bit,” he said.
“I just did my best.”
As did 14 other champions.
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