We are back in Fargo once again, at the premier event for USA Wrestling. We have a large, strong team this year and expect to make some noise up here. Pat Kelly is putting in lots of work compiling a media guide for the team, which will hopefully be available on Monday.

Every trip to Fargo seems to have something unusual or unique to set it apart, and this year's journey was no different. We had two separate buses transporting the team up, first to the Legends of Gold facility in South Dakota on Wednesday, then on up to Fargo the following day. The air conditioning on one of the buses did not seem to be working, and with a temperature inside the bus of over 100 it appeared that we would need to find a replacement bus. However, it was then discovered that the heater had been turned on in the bus, which is obviously not a good thing on a hot July day. So, after a one hour delay, the bus got on the road.

While this would be an interesting story, it doesn't stop there. When the bus arrived in Fargo, there was some discussion with the driver on how we needed him to wait for the wrestlers to register, then drive them over to the dorms so they could check in. He objected to waiting for the registration to be concluded. After some discussion between staff members, a plan was determined that would let him take the wrestlers first to the dorms, where they could unload their gear then walk back to the registration. However, when Coach Baker approached the driver to explain this plan, he was dumbfounded to discover that the driver was removing his (the driver's) luggage from the bus. The driver informed Coach Baker (in colorful language) that he was fed up with the job and the company, and he quit. With that, he took off walking away from the venue with his luggage, leaving the bus idling at the curbside of the Fargodome!

Everything worked out fine, as the first bus driver came back to help out with the stranded wrestlers. Apologizing profusely, she finished getting them where they needed to go, then moved the second bus to the far side of the Fargodome's parking lot, where it still remains today. At least one of the wrestlers videoed the driver's meltdown; I'll try to get a copy of it to post on this forum.

Tomorrow we start wrestling; hopefully with a great deal more control than that exhibited by our bus driver!

Oh brother or sister - unbelievable

We have the largest team in recent history at Fargo this year. A strong Cadet squad, coming off a 4th place Greco Duals finish and a 5th place at the Freestyle Duals, has some quality wrestlers, including returning Cadet All-Americans Kyle Haas (182) and Gavin Carter (195). Duwayne Villalpando (160) and Haas were both undefeated at the Cadet Greco Duals, and Haas matched that performance with an undefeated record at the Freestyle Duals. As a team the Greco squad defeated #1 overall seed Illinois, giving a peak into the depth of our squad.

Joining the Cadet boys in competition today will be the Girls' Cadet Freestyle team. We have five Cadets competing this year, joining the largest Cadet Women's team ever. All five of our Cadets will also wrestle later this week in the Junior Women's Freestyle tournament.

You can read more about this year's tournament at TheMat.com.

Links to brackets and results:

Men's Cadet Freestyle

Women's Cadet Freestyle

There have been a few changes at this year's tournament, with the most significant probably being the use of the challenge brick at all matches. In recent years the brick has been made available for medal round matches, but not the earlier matches. This resulted in forcing coaches to utilize a strategy for critical, late tournament matches. By having and using the bricks in the early rounds, our coaches are becoming more proficient in deciding when to utilize them.

The advantage of throwing the brick is that a call will be evaluated by an independent panel who will decide if the call should be changed. Getting a critical call changed does not rely on asking the officials who made the call to change their call. The downside is that the video must clearly support a change or the call will stand. If the call is not changed, the wrestler for whom the brick was thrown will lose one point.

While the use of the brick might seem like it would slow down the tournament, it actually seems to speed things up. With the brick available, coaches are no longer allowed to approach the chair with only a few exceptions. Because there aren't multiple discussions going on throughout the tournament (and sometimes throughout a single match), the match proceeds more quickly. So far I've only seen the brick used a few times, and in one of those instances the coach chose to take it back instead of proceeding with the process.

We have 1181 Cadet boys and 288 Cadet girls, the best in the nation, competing on 24 mats in the controlled chaos that is Fargo. If you love wrestling you've really got to make it up here at least once!

The first session of the boys Cadet Freestyle is drawing to a close and, while we had some bright spots, it was a tough session for the team overall. Of the 36 wrestlers who started the day, 11 have been eliminated. On the positive side, we have 14 who did not suffer a single loss. Our overall won/loss record is 25-33, which we hope to improve in the next session.

The girls did not get a lot of mat time this morning, with only a single match each. The Cadet Freestyle girls' team has an overall record of 2-4 thus far.

Our six Cadet girls were all eliminated in the afternoon session. The team is regrouping and preparing now for the Junior Freestyle competition. We have 13 girls entered in that tournament.

At the conclusion of this afternoon's session we have 10 wrestlers remaining standing out of the 36 who started the day. Three of them are undefeated: Duwayne Villalpando (160), Kyle Haas (182) and Gavin Carter (195). Our won/loss record this session was 20-26.

Here are the other seven Cadets who will be wrestling tomorrow:
Jordan Habben
Zachary Keal
Keegan Slyter
Jared Simma
Devin Gomez
Charles Neuman
Tony Caldwell

The Kansas Fargo Press Guide is ready at the link below. Enjoy!

https://bit.ly/2miAk3n

Special thanks to Pat Kelly for all the work he does in putting out a great media guide!

In addition to all the wrestling at Fargo, there are also quite a few meetings designed to take advantage of the presence of all of the states gathered together at one time. One meeting that was held tonight was the business meeting of the USAW Kids/Cadet Council. At this meeting it was announced that Scott Edwards was named the USAW Kids/Cadet Person of the Year!!! There is quite a lot of tough competition for this prestigious award and a real acknowledgement by the national membership that they recognize the hard work that Scott puts into providing opportunities for our youth to become involved in our great sport.

CONGRATULATIONS, SCOTT EDWARDS!!!!

Here is a snapshot of how the individual Cadet Freestyle wrestlers have done so far:

www.usawks.com/results/Fargo/CadetFS1.pdf

This morning's session will be the busiest of the week, with the entire Junior Freestyle tournament beginning competition while the Cadet Freestyle tournament progresses towards determining who will be an All-American. You can see a tournament preview for today's action at TheMat.com.

There are 34 Kansas Junior's who will be hitting the mats this morning, including several wrestlers who have made their marks nationally. Jalin Harper (160) was a 2017 Junior Freestyle All-American, while Wyatt Hendrickson (195) will be moving up after finishing as a Cadet Freestyle All-American last year. Two of our Juniors were undefeated at the Junior Duals (Hendrickson and Conner Ward (145)), and several others had outstanding records there as well, including Harper, Grant Treaster (113), Joey Hancock (152), Terrance Adeleye (182) and Bubba Wilson (152). Kyle Haas was also undefeated at the Junior Duals, but he's busy competing (and so far thoroughly dominating) at the Cadet Freestyle championships!

Duwayne Villalpando and Kyle Haas both won their quarterfinal matches and are guaranteed All-American status. Villalpando went first, wrestling on Mat #1. He took a quick lead and was one turn away from a tech fall when he got a little loose with his hold and allowed his opponent (Luke Rasmussen from Illinois) to catch him on his back. This was just a speed bump for Duwayne, however, as he then proceeded to pick up where he left off, taking the tech fall in the first period. He has yet to have a match go into the second period.

Haas also faced a tough opponent (Colton Hawks from Missouri) who put a few obstacles in Haas' march to the stop sign. Haas scored first on a push-out, but then got caught pushing when Hawks hit a lateral drop, picking up four points and the lead. This is the first time this tournament that Haas has trailed, but it didn't last long. Haas showed Hawks that he could deliver better than he received, as he threw Hawks with a lateral drop of his own and held it for the fall. Like Villalpando, Haas has not been in the second period yet for this tournament.

Two down, four to go!

Tony Caldwell managed to salvage something from the afternoon session for the Cadet Freestyle team. We entered the session with four wrestlers sitting one win away from All-American status. That's a tough round, and we suffered through three straight losses before Tony hit the mat. He took a commanding 10-1 lead in the first period and appeared to score the winning points at the end of the period, but the officials ruled that time had expired. The coaches threw the challenge block, but the decision was upheld and his opponent (Josiah Hill from California) received a point. Caldwell wrestled cautiously in the second period, waiting for Hill to make a mistake and, when he did, scored on a takedown for the technical fall and a guaranteed All-American finish!

Both Duwayne Villalpando and Kyle Haas came up short in semi-final matches. Villalpando was hit with a caution-1 late in the match, setting up his opponent (Connor Oneil, New Jersey) for a 13-12 victory. The officials discussed hitting his opponent with an identical call at the end of the match, which would have given Villalpando the win, but opted to white-paddle the call.

Kyle Haas faced an opponent in Nathan Haas (California) who had a very similar physique and wrestling style. Most of the time it appeared like a chess match, with both waiting for the other to make the first mistake. Ultimately it was Haas who was not prepared for a shot that gave his California opponent the margin he needed for the 3-1 victory.

Both Villalpando and Haas will wrestle one more match this session to determine if they'll wrestle tomorrow for 3rd or 5th. Tony Caldwell has a couple of matches left today and could be wrestling for anything from 3rd to 7th tomorrow at this point. Update: Caldwell lost his match 4-0 and will wrestle Broderick Reese (Oregon) tomorrow for 7th place.

Here is a quick summary of our Junior Freestyle results from the first day. If anyone questions the quality of the competition up here, just check to see the outstanding wrestlers on the list who are struggling at this tournament. They come here in the hopes of becoming an All-American, but also for the knowledge that comes from the workouts, the competition, the coaches and observations that they gain over the week.

www.usawks.com/results/Fargo/JuniorFS1.pdf

Kyle Haas won his consolation semifinal match 5-1 and will wrestle for 3rd.

Duwayne Villalpando received a medical red card for his knee and will injury default out to 6th place. He received a medical yellow card yesterday and was hopeful that it would improve enough to allow him to wrestle today, but that didn't happen.

Here are our Cadet Freestyle All-Americans:
Kyle Haas - wrestling for 3rd
Duwayne Villalpando - 6th
Tony Caldwell - wrestling for 7th

Getting ready for our Cadet medal matches and thought I'd give a quick update on the Juniors. We have four remaining, with one All-American and three close enough to see the brass ring. Wyatt Hendrickson is in the semifinals and a win away from the championship match. Jason Henschel, Conner Ward & Cordel Duhart are all in the blood round - a win will make them All-Americans while a loss will eliminate them. Either way, things are going to be decided later this evening. As a team the Juniors have posted a respectable overall record of 58 wins vs 63 losses.

I am finally in Fargo!! My computer just does not like this place!! Kyle Haas did win his 3rd place match! Mike already reported on Duwayne. Tony Caldwell finished 8th!!