Team Indiana Juniors Greco-Roman summary

Close, but no cigar.....

That sort of sums up the team's results at this year's Junior Greco Nationals. A quick glance at some statistics paints a pretty compelling picture--Team Indiana was 0-9 combined versus traditional Greco powers Minnesota and Wisconsin; conversely, Indiana was 5-0 versus non-traditional states Virginia and North Dakota. What does that tell us? Not much that we didn't already know. Although this was a disappointing trip for our Junior Greco wrestlers, we already knew Indiana didn't emphasize Greco greatly. Also, in a more positive light, although we had zero All-Americans, we had pockets of individual success, and three very near misses with Ryan Stahl, Caleb Smith and Cameron Vlahos, all of who were one win away from attaining the coveted status. Matt Milton had a successful trip, too.

Aside from the three horses who carried the team, a couple of wrestlers pulled off some pretty impressive 'upset' wins:  Jordan Jensen beat an Ohio state placer, Kyle Mays beat an Idaho state 3rd place finisher and Reece Lefever beat a South Dakota state placer.

So, while zero AAs is never what the team's goal is, it wasn't a disaster in Fargo. With Vlahos, Smith and some of the other first-timer possible returnees to next year's squad, it's possible that next year will bear some fruit as a result of this year's frustrating results.

Junior-119 - Zach Rieker (Columbus East), 1-2. Opponents' W/L 4-6.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco champ @ 119. Lost to South Carolina state champ Derek Geiges.

Junior-119 - Steve Rieker (Columbus East), 0-2. Opponents' W/L 6-4.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco runner-up @ 119. Lost to IL 3A 3rd place finisher and 2X Illinois state Greco champ Matt Bystol. Bystol also finished 6th at 2009 ASICS Jr. Folkstyle Nationals and 5th at 2008 ASICS Cadet Folkstyle Nationals, in addition to going undefeated at 2009 JR Greco Duals. Also lost to highly regarded Shelton Mack of PA.

Junior-125 - Dakota Case (Terre Haute South), 0-2. Opponents' W/L 8-4.

Notes: SS Qualifier. Lost to 5th place finisher and NY D2 State champ Nick Wilcox. Wilcox also finished 8th at '08 JR Greco.

Junior-125 - Baron Rieker (Columbus East), 0-2. Opponents' W/L 9-4.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco runner-up @ 125. Lost to Hawaii state runner-up Andrew Hirai. Also lost to weight class 3rd place finisher Frank Goodwin of MD.

Junior-125 - Jake McCarthy (Mt. Vernon-Hancock), 0-2. Opponents' W/L 5-4.

Notes: SS Qualifier '09, State Qualifier '08.

Junior-135 - John Walker (Sullivan), 2-2. Opponents' W/L 11-8.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco runner-up @ 135. Lost to MN's uber-stud Robby Fisher (4th JR GR '09, 3rd JR GR '08, 3rd ASICS Folkstyle Nationals '08, MN HS state champ with multiple wins over Destin McCauley). Lost to WA's 1A 5th place finisher Christopher Mayolo.

Junior-135 - Matt Milton (Center Grove), 3-2. Opponents' W/L 10-11.

Notes: 2007 IHSAA 6th place @ 103. 2009 ISWA JR state Greco 5th place @ 145. Beat VA state qualfier Josh Pike. Also beat WA 2A 7th place finisher Joe Hutchinson. Lost to UT's Koleton Hardy, a 4th place Cadet GR finisher in '08 as well as state 4A 2nd place finisher '09 and 4th place finisher in '08. Also lost to weight class 8th place finisher AJ Zemke of WI. Zemke was also a state 3A runner-up in '09 and 3A 4th place finisher in '08.

Junior-135 - Jordan Jensen (Terre Haute South), 2-2. Opponents' W/L 13-6.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco runner-up @ 130. Beat OH D1 6th place finisher and 2X state qualifier Nick McSorley in a 3 period showdown. A HUGE and impressive win for Jensen. Lost to weight class champion Ellis Coleman of IL. Jensen was one of only two opponents to even score a point against the IL wrestler. Coleman finished 2nd at JR GR Nationals in '08 (lost a very tight 3 period match to Eric Grajales), 1st at Cadet GR Nationals '07, 4th at Cadet GR Nationals '06, 3rd at FILA Cadet Greco Nationals '08 and 2nd at FILA Cadet Greco Nationals '07. Coleman also went undefeated at Junior GR Duals '09. Coleman was a 3rd place finisher in IL's big school division in '09. Jensen also lost to MN's Paul Norgren. Norgren was an '08 ASICS Folkstyle JR Nationals 3rd place finisher and a MN Class A state qualifier.

Junior-145 - Kyle Mays (Northridge), 2-2. Opponents' W/L 11-9.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco 3rd place @ 145. Beat ID 5A 3rd place finisher Christian Putman. Lost to 2X Alaska Big school state champ (3rd as a freshman) and 2X GR state champ Grant Sullivan of AK. Lost to weight class 8th place finisher Jason Gray of WA. Gray was a 3A HS state champ in '09.

Junior-145 - Michael Hummer (Penn), 0-2. Opponents' W/L 5-4.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco 8th place @ 145. Lost to Derrick Walraven, South Dakota-A HS 4th @ 130 and 3rd at Brute Adidas Soph. Nationals in 09.

Junior-145 - Ryan Stahl (Elkhart Memorial) 5-2. Opponents' W/L 25-12.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco champ @ 145. AA Fargo FS Cadets (7th) '07, AA Fargo FS JR. '09. IHSAA runner-up '09. Beat CA's Conrad Snell, a CA state HS runner-up in '09, who finished 8th in JR FS. Beat multi-X state placer and SD state champ Garrett Hieberger. Beat Colorado 4A runner-up Nathaniel Garcia. Beat '08 JR FS 3rd place finisher Gabriel Bird of FL. Bird finished 3rd in the FL 3a state tourney in '09 and 5th in '08. Beat 3X MD class A state champ Brutus Scheffel. Scheffel is looking to become only the 4th wrestler in MD's history to win 4 state titles next season. Lost to MN's Nick Tourville, 7th place finisher at the weight and Class AA state qualifier, in a very closely decided match. Lost to weight class champion Josh Castellano of IL. Castellano is very decorated in GR, beating both of PA's Alton brothers en route to a 2008 FILA Cadet Nationals GR title. Finished 4th in '09 FILA JR Nationals GR tourney. Participated in the SR GR tourney in '09 and actually won a match. Finished 7th at GR Cadet Nationals '07 and 6th at FILA GR Cadet Nationals in '07. Castellano was also the IL 2A runner-up in '09 and a state qualifier in '08.

Junior-145 - Caleb Smith (Princeton), 4-2 with a bye. Opponents' W/L 21-12.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco 7th place @ 152. Gave up just one point in his four wins and 8 points total in 6 matches. Beat Alaska 4A state qualifier Kenneth Banning. Beat NC 2A 2X state qualifier Nicholas Moore. Beat MD big school 2X state qualifier (finished 6th in '08) BJ Frederick. Lost by a combined score of 0-2 to weight class 6th place finisher Patrick Smith of MN. Smith won the 2009 FILA JR GR World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, ultimately falling just short of making the team by losing the Final Trial to WTT champion Donnie Vinson. Smith finished 3rd at '09 FILA JR GR tourney, again losing to only Vinson. Finished 4th at '08 JR Nationals GR tourney. Smith is a 3X MN 3A state qualifer, with finishes of 2nd in '09 and 3rd in '08 to his credit. Lost to weight class 3rd place finisher Steven Hernandez of NV. Hernandez is a 3-X large school state champ and a Soph Nationals champ and Jr Nationals Champ. He is a consensus top-5 wrestler at 145 in the country.

Junior-152 - Reece Lefever (Carroll), 2-2. Opponents' W/L 8-8.

Notes: SS Qualifier '09. Scored a big upset over Luke Paper of ND. Paper is a highly regarded multiple-X Class A state qualifier, with a 6th place finish in '09. Lost to OH's Taylor Smith, a 6th place finisher at '08 JR GR Nationals

Junior-160 - Cameron Vlahos (Lafayette Harrison), 5-2. Opponents' W/L 20-12.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco champ @ 160, Cadet GR AA in '08. Beat UT 3A '09 state runner-up Cole Evans. Beat CA '09 state qualifier Sergio Cortez. Cortez beat weight class finisher Kyle Crain. Beat '09 WA 3A state champ Steven Harvey. Harvey finished 3rd in the state series in '08. Beat ND-A '09 state champ Joe Latham. Cumulatively outscored both opponents that beat him. Lost a 3 period, tight match to weight class 5th place finisher Kyle Crain of WI. Lost another close, 3 period match to weight class 7th place finisher Frank Cousins of FL. Cousins finished 6th at 2008 Cadet FS Nationals. Cousins was a FL-2A '09 state champion, finished 5th in '08 and was a state qualifer in '07.

Junior-160 - Conner Lefever (Carroll), 1-2. Opponents' W/L 4-6.

Notes: SS Qualifier '09. Lost to '09 IA-2A state runner-up Mike England. Lost to WI state qualifier Andy Rutke.

Junior-171 - Kyle Masengale (Perry Meridian), 0-2. Opponents' W/L 12-2.

Notes: Lost to UT 2X 4A state champ Monte Schmalhaus. Lost to weight class champion Mark Stenberg of IL. Stenberg went 7-1 at 2009 JR GR Duals, losing only to JR World team member Ben Provisor of WI. He went 7-0 at 2008 Cadet GR Duals. Finished 2nd at 2009 FILA JR GR World Team Trials Challenge Tourney. Stenberg finished 3rd at 2008 JR GR Nationals, 2nd at 2007 Cadet GR Nationals, 7th at 2007 Cadet FS Nationals and 1st at 2008 FILA Cadet GR Nationals. Stenberg was an IL 3A state runner-up in '09 and a 6th place finisher in '08.

Junior-189 - Alex McAllister, 1-2. Opponents' W/L 7-6.

Notes: Lost to weight class 5th place finisher Jacob Dempsey of WV. Dempsey finished 8th at Cadet GR Nationals in '07. Dempsey beat his PA counterpart in the WV vs. WPIAL dual in '09. Dempsey was a WV-AAA state champ in '09 and finished 5th in '08.

Junior-215 - Devin Reagan (Penn), 0-2. Opponents' W/L 10-4.

Notes: Lost to weight class 7th place finisher Alex Polizzi of WI. Polizzis was a WI-AA state runner-up in '09 and also finished 4th in the JR FS tourney in '09. The WI wrestler was undefeated at both the JR FS DUals and the JR GR Duals in '09. Polizzi also finished 5th at '09 FILA JR GR and 7th at ASICS JR Folkstyle Nationals (Impressively, IN's very own Nathan Cleveland was one of the wrestlers to knock Polizzi off). Polizzi was also a Cadet GR champ and FS runner-up and finished 3rd at the WI-AA state finals in '08. He also finished 2nd at Cadet GR Nationals in '07. In short, Polizzi is a massive stud.

Junior-215 - Tony Mendoza (Evansville North), 1-2. Opponents' W/L 9-6.

Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco runner-up @ 215. Lost to weight class 4th place finisher Aaron Pavlenko of AZ.

Junior-215 - Mark Collett (Jennings County), 0-2. Opponents' W/L 3-4.

Notes: Notes: 2009 ISWA JR state Greco runner-up @ HWT. Cadet Greco 6th '08, SS Qualifier, Silver Medalist at Disney Duals, 5th place Asics Folkstyle Nationals 2008. Lost to '08 Cadet GR champ and IL Class A 3rd place finisher (ranked #1 entering the tourney by Illinois Matmen) Mike Sojka of IL. Sojka was also an '08 FILA GR 6th place finisher and an '08 ASICS Folkstyle Nationals 2nd place finisher.