Fargo. To some, it’s just a really cold place in North Dakota. To others, it’s the title of an Oscar-winning Coen Brothers film.
To high school wrestlers, it’s Mecca.
“We’re banking on having eight All-Americans this year,” Waynesville wrestling coach Jeff Davis said. “We put in a lot of effort for this thing and I think the boys are ready.”
The annual USA Wrestling Junior & Cadet National Championships, held in Fargo, draws the top high school talent from around the nation, and this year eight Waynesville High School wrestlers will compete for All-American standing.
Only the top eight in each weight class will be able to call themselves that.
“All these guys are going with the intent to be All-Americans and ultimately to be National Champions,” Davis said.
The interesting twist in the Fargo competition is that wrestlers don’t compete using normal high school rules— known as “folkstyle”. Instead, wrestlers in Fargo compete using Olympic wrestling styles— Greco-Roman and Freestyle.
Wrestlers represent their state in competition and each state sends three wrestlers in each weight class. Each state has a different qualification process and in Missouri, the state champion in the Greco and Freestyle competitions— different from the MSHSAA state championships— qualify.
Waynesville had two state champions— graduated senior Eric Mateo, in the 130 weight class at the Junior (ages 17-20) level, and Lemuel Johnson, a rising sophomore in the 105 weight class at the Cadet level (ages 16-17).
Also on the team are Todd Magoon, Sean Magoon, Gabe Asano, Andrew Wallace, Sam Cyr and Andrew Hempstead— all of whom qualified by finishing in the top three in a regional tournament.
Greco-Roman is tough
Most high school wrestlers acknowledge that it’s a bit tougher to win at Greco-Roman than at folkstyle— mainly because of the restrictions on where wrestlers can grapple each other.
In high school folkstyle, wrestlers can grab at the legs of opponents. Greco-Romans cannot.
Mateo, who won a state championship in both disciplines as well as a MSHSAA folkstyle championship, excels at Greco but knows how tough it is to be great.
“It’s all upper body, since you can’t grapple legs,” he said. “Strength and conditioning is key to success.
“A lot less people do it, because it’s a bit harder,” he said. “So it’s not as hard to advance but it’s harder to win it all since you’re wrestling the very best guys from each state.”
