Upper weight wins seal Cadet freestyle crown

[Rob Sherrill]

After some anxious moments, Illinois now has its name on a second Wells Fargo team title here at Fargo.

Illinois came from behind with three championships and some key place wins in the upper weights to hold off Minnesota, 77-75, for the Cadet Nationals freestyle crown.

Jered Cortez (112), Ben Whitford (125) and Brian Murphy (140) were champions, with Whitford becoming one of four double champions.

Cortez was awarded a takedown with 12 seconds left in the second period in a 1-0 victory over Jack Hathaway of Iowa. Hathaway hung onto Cortez's foot for nearly 20 seconds trying to avoin the score, but the hip-over-hip position won it for Cortez.

Whitford's three-pointer on the edge gave him a 7-1, 3-1 victory over Mike Labry of Ohio.

Murphy scored a crotch lift in each period and sealed the win with a second-period as he beat Tim Fox of Ohio, who also was a Cadet National Greco-Roman finalist.

Bryce Brill (119) won the first period against Thomas Gilman of Nebraska with a takedown at the buzzer, but Gilman won the final two periods. And after Sam Brooks (171) scored a spectacular back-arch throw for three points on the edge against eventual double champion Jordan Rogers of Washington, it was all Rogers after that. He twice used a head and near leg combination to put Brooks on his back, pinning him with the second one. Rogers had first-period pins in both finals.

Glenn Climmons of Georgia, the 160-pound champion, was voted the OW.

The top 10:

1. ILLINOIS, 77
2. Minnesota, 75
3. Iowa, 47
4. Missouri, 42
5. Ohio, 39
6. Pennsylvania, 37
7. California, 29
8. New Jersey, 26
9. Michigan, 25
10. (tie) Washington and Wisconsin, 22

Despite the lower-weight finals wins, Illinois trailed Minnesota by one point throughout much of the early part of the finals, not pulling ahead for good until Jack Dechow (171), Brad Johnson (189) and Taylor McGiffen (215) scored placing wins. Minnesota also won just one of its four finals matches, with Jake Short coming out on top at 135.

So here's how the All-Americans finished:

84 - Carlos Fuentes, seventh
105 - Sebastian Pique, fourth; Mark Duda, eighth
112 - Jered Cortez, CHAMPION; Barlow McGhee, sixth
119 - Bryce Brill, second
125 - Ben Whitford, DOUBLE CHAMPION
130 - Zane Richards, third
135 - Angelo Silvestro, fourth
140 - Brian Murphy, CHAMPION
152 - Tim Corse, eighth
171 - Sam Brooks, second; Jack Dechow, third
189 - Brad Johnson, third
215 - Taylor McGiffen, fifth