Women's World Classic & Journeymen

One of the Fall’s Premier Wrestling Showcases took place over the first weekend of October (3rd and 4th) at Union College in Schenectady, New York. The Girls’ competition, held on Saturday, was labeled the Women’s World Classic. The Main Event for the boys occurred on Sunday as the Journeymen Fall Classic.

Maryland saw six from our soil place, which is no small feat given the number of nationally ranked wrestlers taking the mats. Three reached the finals, with Bullis’ Kesi Tsarni winning the whole thing at 142 pounds, and Archbishop Spalding’s Summer Mutschler (116 pounds) and Mt. St. Joseph’s Brooklyn Pickett (160) settling on silver.

Another St. Joe grappler, Connor Allison, was 11th at 145 pounds. Bullis’ Damian DuChez placed 14th at 120 pounds. Jake Causey, who took his talents to Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania, landed in the 18th spot at 152 pounds.

LADIES FIRST WITH TSARNI IN THE LEAD ROLE

Kesi Tsarni is currently ranked 8th in the nation at 145 pounds by High School on SI and was just not tested at this affair. Tsarni destroyed her Polish Rival, Zuzanna Horbik, in the finals with a 10-0 technical fall in 1:05. The Girls competed under Freestyle Guidelines, while the Boys used Folkstyle.

The 2026 Fargo National Champ decked New York’s Alexa Doxey in 19 seconds of her bracketed semifinal match. Tsarni won Pool D with two first period pins of New York’s Carmen Bishop in 1:28 and Kailee Spies (Colorado), who was disposed of in just 15 seconds.

MUTSCHLER MARCHES TO THE FINALS

Summer Mutschler came into New York holding the number six ranking at 110 pounds. The Fargo Fourth-Place Finisher tested the waters up at 116 pounds at the World Classic but will be at 112 pounds for the upcoming Super 32 Challenge.

Mutschler was situated in Pool F, which only had one other girl involved, Connecticut’s Selena Batres. Mutschler stuck Batres in 1:54 to advance to the Championship Field where she kept the pinning ways going to reach the finals.

The first to fall was Colorado’s Peggy Susan Dean (ranked 10th at 105 pounds) on a 1:54 pin. The victory over Dean avenged a U.S. Open Women’s Showcase loss, 6-2. The two also met in the fifth-place match at Women’s Nationals with Mutschler taking that one on criteria, 5-5.

New York’s Isabella Phelps ate dirt in 1:45. Phelps, a 2026 New York State Champion, came in unranked nationally after being quiet on the national front but made her mark here with wins over three girls ranked at 115 pounds, No. 4 Lyric Hetzer (Ohio), No. 16 Jocelyn Danbe (New Jersey), and No. 22 Isabella Fodera (California).

The Cavalier was gifted a serious throwdown in the finals for her efforts with No. 2 at 115 pounds, Aubree Gutierrez (California). Gutierrez was the one doing the pinning this time, ending her bout with Mutschler in 3:59.

PICKETT’S UNFORTUNATE ENDING

Brooklyn Pickett holds a national rating of No. 8 in High School on SI’s latest Boys’ National Rankings. After slaying the competition to land in the gold medal match, the junior was paired up with No. 12 Jerin Coles of Pennsylvania by way of Canada.

We didn’t really get to see them mix it up as early in the match, a scramble on the edge left Pickett disoriented after banging heads with Coles. The trainers attended to Pickett and he was allowed to continue, but upon restart and having to exert himself, Pickett knew something was off and called for another timeout.

A decision was made to medically forfeit the match to Coles, an outcome that will not affect his national ranking since the scoreless match never really got started as the default time of 51 seconds attests too.

In the semifinals, Pickett engaged with a foe he hasn’t seen since last year’s Journeymen, New Jersey’s No. 35 Jackson Weller. In 2025, they went to overtime with Pickett winning 11-8. This year’s edition was resolved in regulation with the Gael winning 4-2.

The Fargo All-American added an 11-5 win over New York’s Antonio Arguello and a 17-2 tech fall of Pennsylvania’s Dominic Ramos to the bracket. Pickett was pushed in his opener with Pennsylvania’s Joseph Guastella with a 4-3 outcome.

Guastella seems to be a new edition to Wyoming Seminary’s squad, so he could be a thorn in Pickett’s side during the upcoming campaign.

MORE SUCCESS FOR THE MOUNT BY ALLISON

Pickett’s teammate Connor Allison finished 11th at 145 pounds after going 1-1 in his initial pool. Allison beat Colorado’s Kyle Menuez, 6-3, and then lost to No. 3 Matt O’Neill (Pennsylvania) by a 10-0 major decision in the pool round.

Once in his placement bracket, which was for ninth at best, Allison handled Daniel Jones 7-1 and then dropped a tough 10-9 bout to California’s Sergio Gomez. Allison’s ending was anticlimactic as No. 40 at 150 pounds, Andre Cerrato (Pennsylvania) chose to forfeit their placement match.

DUCHEZ’S CLOSE CALL

Like Allison, Damian DuChez was 1-1 in the pools and therefore relegated to the ninth-place bracket to finalize things. DuChez was handed a 7-1 loss by No. 33 Jack Anello (New Jersey) and beat California’s Sebastian Cantarero.

Upon the whistle in the bracketed portion, DuChez lost a heartbreaker to No. 27 Jack Stonebraker (Pennsylvania), 1-0. After that, DuChez won a 4-2 decision over New York’s Connor Guffey and dropped his placement match to Logan Forgatch (New Jersey), 8-3.

CAUSEY IS OVERFLOW KING

Jake Causey had to jump into the fray of Saturday’s Overflow Challenge Bracket that promised a ticket to the Main Event to those who won titles. Causey used three pins to easily navigate his way to those finals where he downed Connecticut’s Harry Kittredge, 8-2.

Causey got Sunday started by meeting New York’s No. 29 Michael McDermott. The Empire State Grappler claimed victory with a 7-1 count, which placed Causey into the 17th to 24th place arena.

Causey peeled off three straight wins to reach the finals of this bracket where he was upended by Rhode Island’s Lukas Boxley, 8-5.