Team Maryland @ Junior National Duals

The Junior National Duals were held at the Wisconsin Center District in Milwaukee on June 17th through the 21st. The Greco Roman competition came first followed by Freestyle. Team Maryland’s success needs to be measured on an individual basis as with three or more forfeits in most of their duals, they were already operating in the hole and were only able to achieve one victory in each discipline.

The Greco squad had more success than they did Freestyle. In Greco Roman, Maryland placed sixth in their Pool B slate, going 1-3 with a win over Louisiana, which landed them in the Blue/Red Pool, where they went winless, placing eighth, and 24th overall in the nation. The Freestyle group went 0-2 in their initial pool, failing to place and landing in the Purple Pool where they won their first match over Louisiana before dropping the final four matches.

The two biggest stars for Maryland were Loyola-Blakefield’s Tyler Verceles (113/120 pounds) and Stephen Decatur’s Elijah Collick (132). Verceles went undefeated across both styles with a 7-0 Greco record and a 5-0 tally in Freestyle. Collick went unscathed in Freestyle (5-0) and lost once in Greco with a 5-1 record.

Verceles’ biggest win came in the Greco Roman matches where he took out national Honorable Mention Kaleb Pratt of Illinois, 5-0. One of Verceles Greco wins came against a kid with one of the coolest wrestling names ever, Kansas’ Devastating Brown, Jr. by tech fall, 8-0. Five of Verceles’ Greco Roman wins were by fall or tech. In Freestyle, three of his five wins were by fall or tech fall.

Collick beat former National Prep placer Drew Roggie of Virginia, by tech, 8-0, in Greco and 13-4 in Freestyle. Collick edged Florida’s Landon Quiroga, 6-5, in Freestyle with his other three wins coming by tech falls. Collick’s Greco Roman loss came against Illinois’ Deven Casey (No. 20 in the latest national rankings by High School on SI), by fall, 3:48.

Bullis’ Noah Tucker (165 pounds) had the biggest win for any Marylander during the Greco portion of the affair as he won a wild 19-15 decision over Virginia’s No. 11 Kross Cassidy. Cassidy avenged that loss in Freestyle where he posted a 12-2 technical fall of Tucker. Tucker was 8-0 in Greco with five techs and one fall, and 3-2 in Freestyle. Tucker’s other Freestyle loss was to Texas’ Daniel Acosta, by tech, 10-0. Tucker’s three Freestyle wins came with two by tech and one forfeit.

Four others from Team Maryland stood out above the rest, Eleanor Roosevelt’s Austin Hayes (113/120 pounds), Mt. St. Joseph’s Tyler Stephens (144/150), Linganore’s Cash Wheat (157), and Good Counsel’s George Tate (215).

Hayes went 4-3 in Freestyle and just 1-1 in Greco. Three of Hayes’ Freestyle wins were either by tech or pin. Stephens fared better in Greco (5-3) than Freestyle (3-3). All of Stephen’s’ wins in both styles came by technical fall and one on forfeit.

Wheat went 4-4 in Greco and 3-4 in Freestyle. Wheat won all of his matches by fall, forfeit (once), or tech fall. Tate was 3-3 in Freestyle and compiled a 3-5 record in Greco. All three of Tate’s Greco wins were by technical fall, with one more tech in Freestyle along with a pin and a forfeit.

Archbishop Spalding’s Grayson DeCosmo was 3-4 in Freestyle and 2-6 in Greco. Centennial’s Calvin Kraisser wrestled just three Greco Roman matches and went 2-1 with a 12-7 win over Illinois’ Maksim Mukhamedaliyev, a wrestler on the periphery of the national rankings.

Eastern Tech’s Chase Ullmann picked up four wins total, with two coming in each discipline. Walt Whitman’s Adan Magnas won one bout in each style. Broadneck’s Miguel E. Caban won one Greco match. St. Mary’s Ryken’s Becket Geary won one on the Freestyle side. Potomac’s Julian Reyes competed in Freestyle only and went 2-5.

Maryland in Greco Roman:

Pool B (6th place)

5th/6th- Loss to Oregon 44-24

Consi-Semi – Loss to Colorado 54-13

Consi – Win over Louisiana 35-13

Quarters – Loss to Illinois 56-12

Blue/Red Pool

(8th place)

7th/8th – Loss to Oregon 44-26

1st Rd – Loss to Indiana 43-20

2nd Rd – Loss to Virginia 49-19

3rd Rd – Loss to Kansas Blue 27-26

Maryland in Freestyle:

Pool C

DNP

Consi – Loss to Florida 49-20

Rd of 16 – Loss to Tennessee 46-21

Purple Pool

5th (Round Robin Style)

Rd 1 – Win over Louisiana Red 48-11

Rd 2 – Loss to Virginia 48-21

Rd 3 – Loss to Texas 40-23

Rd 4 – Loss to South Carolina 49-22

Rd 5 – Loss to Oregon 55-10

Full Brackets and Box Scores can be found here:

https://www.usabracketing.com/events/720c9440-2cbf-4db3-b5b3-dead257a6f33