Huge correlation between success in Fargo, Olympics
By Craig Sesker FARGO, N.D. – Teshya Alo could’ve just gone back to Hawaii and enjoyed the rest of her summer.
Mason Manville could’ve returned to New Jersey and done the same thing. So why did those wrestlers go directly to Fargo, North Dakota just a few days after capturing FILA Cadet World titles in Slovakia?
“Why not?” Manville said. “The compe- tition in Fargo is always tough.” “Because it’s fun – I love the competi-
tion,” Alo said. “And because all the best wrestlers in the country are here. There were some very tough girls here.” Manville and Alo both won Fargo titles within a week of winning Cadet Worlds, and they did it against strong competition. Anyone who says that the annual USA
Wrestling Junior and Cadet Nationals isn’t an important event has been dropped on their head too many times. Before they struck Cadet World gold, Manville and Alo developed their skills wrestling on the big stage on the spot- lighted mat in Fargo. They learned how to win in a pressure situation with the stakes being high.
They were Fargo champions before they were Cadet World champions. Fargo has become a brand that wrestling folks readily associate with the event that is the Super Bowl of high school wrestling in the United States. The Junior and Cadet Nationals have been held in Fargo since 1993 and it remains an outstanding event. There is a reason that it’s the biggest wrestling tournament in the World with over 4,000 entries again this year. Two-time Hodge Trophy winner David
Taylor was in Fargo this year. He talked about how his development was enhanced when he overcame being headlocked to beat Pennsylvania’s Mark Rappo to win Junior Nationals in 2007. Olympic gold medalists Cael Sanderson, Jake Varner, Henry Cejudo and Brandon Slay are among the top ath- letes who have competed in Fargo. How tough is the competition in Fargo? The year Sanderson struck Olympic gold, in 2004, Varner finished third in the Junior Nationals while competing for
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California. Varner learned from that expe- rience as he went on to win two NCAA titles, a World bronze medal and an Olympic gold medal.
Also in 2004, Cejudo won Junior Nationals in both styles for Arizona. Four years later, he had an Olympic gold medal hanging around his neck in Beijing, China.
Pennsylvania’s Coleman Scott also won a Junior Nationals title in 2004. Scott went on to win an Olympic bronze medal in 2012.
Franklin Gomez finished third in 2004 in Cejudo’s weight class in Fargo. Gomez went on to win a World silver medal for Puerto Rico and make an Olympic Team. Angel Escobedo, fifth in the 2013
Worlds, placed second at Fargo in 2004. Three-time World Team member Brent Metcalf won Junior Nationals in 2004. Two-time World Team member Reece Humphrey placed just seventh at the 2004 Junior Nationals. Numerous top U.S. women’s wrestlers have excelled in Fargo before bursting onto the international scene. They include World champions Adeline Gray and Elena Pirozhkova along with World medalists Helen Maroulis, Alyssa Lampe and Tatiana Padilla. Pirozhkova made the 2012 Olympic Team.
There is a huge correlation between success in Fargo and success on the highest level internationally. With American kids wrestling folkstyle during the school year, Fargo is a great opportunity to gain valuable experience in the international styles that can propel them toward their Olympic goals. It’s also a great opportunity for young wrestlers to catch the attention of numer- ous top collegiate coaches who descend on Fargo each summer. An opportunity in college for a young athlete may lead to opportunities internationally. Winning in Fargo is no guarantee of future success, but it certainly can be a huge steppingstone toward being very successful beyond the high school level. USA Wrestling also held its Senior
World Team Trials in the non-Olympic weight classes during this year’s event in Fargo. All six champions – two in freestyle, two in women’s freestyle and
Four years after winning Junior Nationals, Henry Cejudo won Olympic gold in Beijing. John Sachs photo.
two in Greco-Roman – wrestled at the Junior and Cadet Nationals in Fargo. One of those champions, Justin “Harry”
Lester, credits his Fargo success with launching him into a strong international career. Lester is a two-time World bronze medalist and a 2012 Olympian in Greco- Roman wrestling.
“This is a great event and a very impor-
tant event,” Lester said after making his seventh U.S. World Team. “Having suc- cess here let me know I could be the best wrestler in the country and that’s when I started thinking I had a realistic chance to wrestle in the Olympics someday.” Two-time Olympian and five-time World member Spenser Mango also honed his Greco skills in Fargo as did 2012 Olympian Chas Betts. Mango placed fifth at the 2013 World Championships. One year after winning a Junior Nationals Greco title, Jake Deitchler was signing autographs across the street from the Fargo Dome at Buffalo Wild Wings after making the 2008 Olympic Team. If you want to be an Olympic champion someday, go wrestle in Fargo. That’s where you learn, develop and gain expe- rience as you compete against the best wrestlers in the country. It’s a tremendous event.
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