This past week in Fargo, North Dakota was the United States Marine Corp. Juniors and 16U Freestyle/Greco National Championships. Out of the many Florida wrestlers who made the journey to Fargo, 14 came home with the “stop sign”. The stop sign is the octagon shaped plaque given to the top eight wrestlers in each weight class. The top eight wrestlers at each weight class are named Fargo All-Americans.
In the 16U Boys Freestyle tournament the highest placer from Florida was Jovani Solis from South Dade HS, placing 4th at 132 lbs. Also from South Dade HS was Tyree Graham with a 6th place finish at 157 lbs. Another Dade County wrestler became an All-American to join Solis and Graham. Jovanni Tovar of Miami Southridge HS placed 7th at 113 pounds. Also placing in the 157 lb weight class was Kawayran “KJ” Vazquez of Tampa Jesuit HS. KJ placed 8th at 157 lbs. And finally, Peter Mocco placed 8th at 190 pounds. These were the only 16U Boys Freestyle placers from Florida.
In the Junior Men’s Freestyle tournament only three of our guys came home with a stop sign. The highest placer of the three was Zeno Moore of Lake Highland Prep. Zeno placed 5th at 144 lbs. Also from Lake Highland Prep was Claudio Torres. Torres placed 7th at 157 lbs. The final wrestler to place was Gunner Holland of Kissimmee Osceola HS with a 7th place finish at 165 lbs.
In the Girls 16U Freestyle we had two girls named all-american. 2023 state runner up Abigail Gonzalez of Mater Lakes Placed 4th at 106 lbs. Joining Abigail was Latoya Sylvestre of South Broward HS with a 7th place finish at 190 lbs. Congratulations to these two young ladies.
In the Junior Women’s Freestyle three of our ladies made the podium. Mya Bethel of North Miami HS was last years Fargo National Champion. This year she did great but finished in 3rd place at 155 lbs. Mya wrestled very tough and it’s very hard to defend that fargo title. She did a great job and is now a 2X Fargo AA. At 120 pounds Milana Borelli of Venice HS showed the nation who she is by finishing in 5th place. At 130 lbs. Nina “Cyborg” Borgmann of Flagler Palm Coast HS placed 6th. Kinea Moore of Boca Ciega showed she’s one of the upper weight girls in the country by taking 8th place at 235 lbs.
All of the wrestlers who battled back to become Fargo All-Americans should be commended for a job well done!
Fargo is arguably the toughest tournament in the country. Just about every state is represented with some of the nations top ranked wrestlers in attendance.