InterMat: Inside info from the N.W.C.A
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Junior Greco Notes
By Jason Bryant & Pat Tocci
Gomez upends Pataky 5-2 in second round
In the premier matchup in the first session of Junior Greco, Franklin Gomez (Puerto Rico) knocked off Brad Pataky (Pennsylvania) 5-2 in the second round at 119lbs. Gomez and Pataky were the number number one and two ranked 119-pound seniors in the nation in the InterMat rankings. This matchup was also a rematch of the Dapper Dan Classic which Pataky won.
Pataky (#1 InterMat) scored first in the match with a one point hand to hand gut after Gomez was put down for passivity. Pataky increased his lead to 2-0 at the end of the first period, countering Gomez (#2 InterMat) arm throw attempt.
The start of the second period saw Pataky press the action on Gomez and force a second passivity call. Pataky came close to scoring off the gut wrench but was unable.
Back on their feet, Gomez start picking up the pace and got on the board hitting a low dive to a body lock to cut the lead to 2-1. Gomez quickly tied the match up hitting a hand to hand gut for one. He then took the lead by adding a two-point gut wrench to push out 4-2 lead. Gomez hit another gut which the Florida coaches argued unsuccessfully was a lift and gut which have made it eligible for three points. With a 4-2 lead Gomez closed out the scoring with another hand to hand gut for one to take the 5-2 win.
A push for Women's Greco?
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| Maine's Deanna Rix wins her first round match at the Junior National Championships. |
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| Rix pins California's Daniel Navarro on Mat 1 in the second round. |
Graduated Marshwood H.S. senior Deanna Rix might have fallen a point short of a high school state title in Maine, but she's already made her presence known at the Fargodome in the first session of Junior Greco. Anyone in the stands at the Fargodome would have heard the loud "ooohs" and "wooooahs" coming from the endzone seats near Mat 22 -- the reason for such a commontion was Rix, who had just tossed her opponent, Cody Blackford of Tennessee, is a two-time Junior Women's Freestyle Champion.
"I like wrestling Greco," Rix said. "Since I don't shoot, ever."
Rix ended up winning the match 10-0 in the first period and had the support of the Maryland team, which happened to be sitting just over her mat. Connecticut's Joey Martin came offered his congratulations as well. "That was awesome," he said.
Headed to Northern Michigan's U.S. Olympic Education Center, Rix will focus on freestyle from here on out, but when asked if she was hoping for a Women's Greco division in the future, she simply replied: "That'd be nice."
Maryland's Nicole Woody, last year's Women's Junior champ at 98 pounds is also in the field -- giving the two female entries in the Junior Men's Greco tournament three national titles between them.
Woody won her first match as well, beating Kori Stassi of Illinois.
Session I Notes
Montana official Kelly Jolley started off Sunday's event by singing the Star-Spangled Bannner ... Michigan State signee and Brandon High School's NHSCA National Champion Franklin Gomez is back in Fargo, but representing Puerto Rico. Gomez placed third at 112 pounds last year and is wrestling 119 pounds. ... West Virginia's Anthony Easter moved up to 125 pounds and it didn't look like the best of moves. Easter met up with Kansas' Tristen DeShazer in probably the best overall first round matchup, but DeShazer earned the win -- by fall. ... Another first round match between ranked wrestlers saw Minnesota's Travis Elg beat Pennsylvania's Ashtin Primus 13-1. ... Total tournament entries for the Junior Greco event is 885 representing 45 states, Puerto Rico (Gomez) and Okinawa (Steve Courtney at 152). ... Former Cadet Greco champ Dallas Seavey of Alaska was beaten 10-0 by Derek Koenig of Wisconsin and injury withdrew.
Rix wins again
Deanna Rix, the two-time Junior Women's champion continued her surprising run in the Junior Greco-Roman championships, pinning California's Daniel Navarro in the first period on Mat 1. Coming in to the tournament, Rix wasn't sure how she'd fare. "I was just happy if I scored a point," she said. And about wrestling on Mat 1?
"Oh no, its the raised mat," she said to her coach before the match.
Vacanti disqualified in first round bout
Cadet Freestyle National Champion Matt Vacanti of Nebraska will have to battle through the rest of the tournament with an X on his bracket. Vacanti was disqualified from his first round match against Minnesota's David Albrecht for brutality, a call that stemmed from Vacanti's slam that officials felt was unnecessary. Vacanti's loss could be decisive because his pool includes wrestlers Darrion Caldwell (New Jersey), Reece Humphrey (Indiana), Cam Watkins (Maryland) and Ryan Cubberly (Ohio).
Virginia's Jones rolling
There's a large contingent of graduated seniors wrestling in the Junior Greco tournament, but University of Virginia signee Brent Jones has spent as little time on the mat as possible. Jones, sixth in Greco and fourth in freestyle last year in Fargo, is 3-0 with two falls and a tech fall and has a total wrestling time of 1:23. Jones' first match, an 11 second fall over Michael Ford of Oklahoma got him started, then a one-minute 11-0 victory over Iowa's Mike Freeman followed. His third match on Sunday was against Richard Guidolin of Illinois. It went 17 seconds.
Indiana's Coyne scores big win at 112
Daniel Coyne had one of the big wins in the evening pinning Cadet National Runner-up Matt Kyler of Pennsylvania in 1:20. Coyne, from Indiana, was up 6-0 at the time of the fall over the first team ASICS All-American. Coyne, a junior from Beech Grove H.S. was a fourth place state finisher as a freshman and a state qualifier as a sophomore.
Sanderson makes huge comeback
Cyler Sanderson had to make a huge comeback versus Vince Salminen of Montana to stay unbeaten in his pool. Salminen raced out to an 8-0 lead, hitting several nice throws.
Sanderson start to rally and eventually tied the match at 9-9, before getting a two-point takedown with three seconds left to win 11-9.
Returning runner-up ousted in three rounds
Delaware's Ian Moser came in to Fargo as one of the contenders to improve on his second-place finish from a year ago. Moser moved up from 105 to 119 suffered a second-round loss to New York's P.J. Gillespie and then found himself out of the tournament after North Carolina's Cameron Drye scored a late second period fall to eliminate Moser.
Updated 8:25 p.m. CDT.
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