Pan-Ams & Journeymen

Former Bullis School Grappler, Salah Tsarni, may have ventured off to New Jersey’s Blair Academy for his high school exploits but he’s still one of ours and, holy smokes were we beaming with pride Easter Weekend as Tsarni went to the U17 Pan American Games in Panama City, Panama and doubled down on Gold Medals.

Tsarni is ranked 9^th in the nation at 190-pounds and has packed on some beef, as the muscular junior is now hovering around 203 pounds, which is roughly what 92 kilograms converts to. Tsarni’s Freestyle Finals opponent was Canada’s Tyler Langford, and the local hero sent him packing with a blistering 10-0 technical superiority outcome.

Tsarni lit Langford up with a double leg plus two exposure points and then added two more exposure points before they reset to their feet. Tsarni used a slick single leg trip and almost grasped a cradle but sent Langford across his back for the winning exposure points in the first period.

Tsarni repped the Capital City Wrestling Club while adding two techs in his first two matches including a 17-6 set down of Brazil’s Allan De Sousa Beserra and blanked Alan Garcia Morales (Puerto Rico), 12-0.

On the Greco Roman Front, Tsarni had four matches culminating in his 6-1 win over Mexico’s Jose Esparaza Ordonez in the 92KG Finals. An eight-point margin is needed in Greco for a tech and Tsarni dropped 8-0 scores on Damian Pavone Arcia (Venezuela) and Peru’s Alvaro Villa Aviles. There was another encounter with Puerto Rico’s Morales, resulting in a 5-0 shutout.

JOURNEYMEN

The Journeymen World Classic Brackets are a bit weird and may throw some novices off with their multiple first place finishes in the various pools and subsequent brackets.

Mt. St. Joseph’s Brooklyn Pickett, who is ranked 29^th in the nation by High School on SI, was in a two-man pool, while most of the others in his 160-pound A field had three man sets. Pickett quickly took out Lakewood, Michigan’s Bryson Boucher on an 11-0 tech in 35 seconds.

This placed Pickett, under the guise of the Capital Wrestling Club, in the first-place bracket amongst the top wrestlers from around the country and world from the other seven pools.

Pickett was given a “Big-Boy” test with his quarterfinal assignment, and we are happy to report he passed in the best of ways versus 2025 U17 World Championships 5^th place finisher, Jason Keil of Germany. The sophomore jumped out to a 10-1 lead before sticking Keil in 2:16.

That led to a monumental showdown with Mongolian World Team Member, Munkh-ochir Munkhmuya, in the semifinals that was a burner to keep track of with 21 points being accrued between the two and Pickett’s 11 gaining him the win and trip to the finals opposite No. 12 Jason Dube (Spire Academy, OH).

The final fell apart in that manner that makes Freestyle frustrating at times. Pickett fired off a shot that Dube expertly countered with a toss to the back for the big four-point exposure. What happened next, is the part that is just one of the dangers of the discipline as Dube trapped and arm and did the roll through thing enough times to rack up the necessary exposure points to gain the 10-0 tech in 1:20.

Pickett’s high school and club mate, Nathan Matthis, ultimately finished 13^th after winning his placement bracket at 125 pounds A. Matthis began in Pool D where he was 0-3, placing fourth. His losses were to nationally ranked No. 6 Michael Batista (Blair) and No. 26 Layne Martin (Michigan Premier), plus Aaharen Piranavan (Impact WC).

The freshman had two matches in his placement portion and teched Germany’s Adrian Airich, 10-0, then dropped another 10-0 result on Aiden Branigan (Worldwide).