Bo Bassett and Melvin Miller Dominate Clarion Open as Iowa, Florida, and Nevada Shine at PNL Fall Championships

High school stars went toe-to-toe with college wrestlers at the Clarion Open while the Premier National League Fall Championships crowned a wave of new champions from across the country

Top high school wrestlers went toe-to-toe with college grapplers at the 2025 Clarion Open in Pennsylvania. / Clarion Wrestling

The big day for wrestling at the high school level this weekend was on Sunday, November 1st, as a number of high schoolers took on the challenge of mixing it up with some college wrestlers at the Clarion Open in Pennsylvania. In the middle of the country, the Premier National League (PNL) held their fall championships with medals being awarded on Sunday at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.

Bassett and Miller win Clarion Crowns

Bishop McCort, Pennsylvania teammates, Bo Bassett (150 pounds in our rankings) and Melvin Miller (165), who are ranked No. 1 at their respective weights in the most recent High School on Si Boys’ National Rankings, came in as unseeded wrestlers and walked out with helmets and wall charts (champions received a medieval helmet at mat side).

Bassett dominated all of his competition

No one told Bassett, or he just didn’t care that there were college wrestlers in this 149-pound bracket because he treated them the same as he does his high school foes, dominating with tech falls and a major decision in the finals. Bassett’s finals opponent, Cornell’s Jaxon Joy, was familiar to Miller, but not Bassett, as Miller and Joy split matches when Miller was a freshman.

Bassett looked well prepared for what Joy was serving as he ended the first period up 3-0 after a spin behind takedown and accumulated 59 seconds of Riding Time. More of the same ensued in the second with Bassett picking up an escape, and then a stall point to go up 5-0 before they collided heads on a shot that ended with a Bassett spin behind and an 8-0 advantage.

After being attended to for some time by the trainer, Joy was escorted off the mat (we assume for a concussion test). Following a lengthy delay, Joy returned to action and Bassett went to work building up his Riding Time, pushing it over a minute and picking up two back points on a tilt to grow his lead to 10-0.

Joy chose top to begin the final frame and kept Bassett down the entire period with Bassett gaining one more stalling point and giving up a point on a caution to make the final, 11-1.

To reach the finals, Bassett teched the number two seed, Southern Illinois’ Caleb Tyus, 21-6, in the semis and third-seed Nathan Higley (Bellarmine), 24-7, in the Round of 16. There were also a 19-4 quarterfinal tech and a medical forfeit while up 14-2 in his first match.

Miller faced a stiffer challenge on his way to the top of the podium

Miller’s path to victory at 157 pounds involved tighter outcomes than Bassett as his finals bout with Cornell’s Benny Rodgers ended with a 9-6 final tally. Miller fell behind 3-0 then came back to tie it at four as the first period closed. An escape and takedown would come in the middle of the match for an 8-4 lead. The junior kept Rodgers down long enough in the third to gain the Riding Time advantage before Rodgers escaped and was awarded one on stalling by Miller.

In the semis, Miller got by Ohio State’s top-seeded Brandon Cannon, who was a Blue-Chip Recruit from Colorado coming out of high school, 8-5. In his first bout, Miller took out fourth seeded Hayden Whidden of Southern Illinois, 10-4.

Other Bishop McCort wrestlers also impressed

Two other McCort grapplers made noise at Clarion with No. 18 Jackson Butler (150 pounds) advancing to the fifth/sixth place match and Sam Herring (No. 5 at 138 pounds) falling in the blood-round at 141 pounds. Butler’s match with Bellarmine’s Zac Cowan was marked as uncontested, with Cowan listed as fifth.

The wrestlers needed to reach the semifinals to wrestle for third place. With this format, there were no consolation semifinals, and the blood-round was the “Consi of 4” round.

Other ranked wrestlers also competed

Our number one guys at 120, Pennsylvania’s Landon Sidun (Norwin), and 126, Ohio’s Grey Burnett (Perrysburg), squared off twice at 125 pounds, with Burnett winning their second encounter in the blood-round on a reversal in the third period, 2-1. They met in the Round of 32 in the championship bracket with Sidun taking that one, 4-1. Burnett’s match with New Jersey’s Anthony Knox was not contested with Knox as the fifth-place guy.

New Jersey’s No. 2 Jayden James (Delbarton) made it through to the fifth-place match after falling to another Jersey grappler, Alessio Perentin, 4-1, in his first match. Amongst James’ wins was one by fall over Pennsylvania’s No. 21 McKaden Speece (Wilson), 1:37. James’ placement match with Ohio State’s Ethan Birden was not contested, but unlike the others, they were both listed as placing sixth.

Indiana’s No. 5 Matthew Staples (New Prairie) fell one match shy of placing at 157 pounds. The following were two wins from placement, New Jersey’s No. 2 Paul Kenny (Christian Brothers Academy, 133), Pennsylvania’s Dom Deputy (Chestnut Ridge)(133, No. 12 at 126 pounds), Florida’s Honorable Mention Kyle Gallo (Zephyrhills Christian)(184 pounds, 190), and heavyweight, No. 4 Dean Bechtold from Owen J. Roberts of Pennsylvania.

Iowa leads the way at PNL Fall Championships with four Junior Division Champions

Most of the boys that appear in our national rankings competed in the Junior Division of the PNL Fall Championships. The 106-pound and 113-pound weight classes were the only ones in the 16U brackets in which a ranked wrestler of ours appeared.

Iowa added a fifth champ to their four juniors when Diego Robertty (No. 23 at 106 pounds) claimed the 16U 113-pound title with an 11-4 decision of Indiana’s Spencer McCammon. Honorable Mention Brody Compau (Rockford, Michigan) won a battle of honorable mention entries in the semis, 1-0, over Florida’s Lucas Layne (Lake Highland Prep). Compau used another one-point decision to claim the 16U 106-pound gold, 8-7, over Minnesota’s Nathan Hoopman.

Two of Iowa’s Junior Champs gained their top statuses on upsets as Indianola’s Mac Crosson (No. 16 at 150 pounds) and Starmont’s Keaton Moeller (190) were unexpected atop the podium. Crosson’s 157-pound final came against No. 3 Zeno Moore of Lake Highland. Two escapes were it for the scoring until late in the third when Crosson picked up the winning takedown in the 4-1 victory.

At 190 pounds, Moeller surprised Honorable Mention Sam Howard of Boonville, Indiana, 3-1. Iowa’s final two champs in the junior brackets handled their business with little trouble as No. 25 Cruz Gannon (Dowling Catholic) posted a tech fall of Illinois’ Aidan Ortega in the 106-pound final.

At 126, Ankeny Centennial’s Cale Vandermark (No. 21 at 120 pounds) was cruising in his final with South Dakota’s Shea Richter (Watertown), having registered two takedowns for a 6-1 lead when Richter had to default. Richter looked to be done after the first period but tried to power on.

Illinois’ No. 14 Brody Kelly (Mt. Carmel) defeated Lake Highland’s No. 21 Jackson Angelo 4-0 in the semifinals then took on Iowa’s Maximus Dhabolt (Ankeny Centennial, No. 4 at 165 pounds) in the 175-pound final. Dhabolt hung tough, but Kelly built an early lead on a couple takedowns with the wiry Dhabolt scoring on two reversals and a takedown. Two escapes and a stalling point were added to Kelly’s count in the third for the 10-8 final.

Nebraska’s unranked Eric Casula (Stillwater) picked off two ranked rivals on the way to the 132-pound title. In the finals, it was Honorable Mention Max Dinges (Penns Valley, Pennsylvania) who was discarded, 12-6. No. 20 Yandel Morales (Lake Highland Prep) was downed 5-4 in the semis.

New York’s No. 24 Cooper Merli rekindled a Spring PNL meeting with Lake Highland Prep’s Liam Davis (No. 6 at 113) in the 120-pound final. Merli won that Freestyle encounter, 8-5, and put a 4-1 score on the bracket in this one with an escape and second period takedown accounting for all his scoring. With Merli’s transfer to the New York Military Academy, who is part of the National Prep Tournament scene, the two will likely have a few more encounters this year.

Lake Highland Prep was responsible for both of Florida’s Junior Champs with No. 5 Charlie DeSena (150 pounds) and No. 3 Lucas Boe (165) standing atop their podium pics. The titles came in drastically differing fashions.

DeSena destroyed unranked Camron Duffield of Parkway South, Missouri with a 21-6 technical fall that only took 2:48 to achieve. Boe faced off with someone he sees on a daily basis in the Highlander practice room in teammate, No. 6 Nadav Nafshi. Today’s 7-2 outcome reveals work needs to be done if Nafshi hopes to take the 165-pound spot in the lineup.

As evidenced by his rating, Nafshi would be the starter on 99% of the teams in the country, but he’s in upper weight rich Lake Highland Prep, swimming in that competitive pond. There are two Lake Highland Prep wrestlers at 175 pounds in our rankings, Angelo and Honorable Mention Miguel Rojas, so there are going to be some talented wrestlers living the backup life after some difficult lineup decisions are determined.

Valiant Prep from Arizona will have their wrestlers removed from the rankings once we reach the start of the season. There were rumblings that they may try to gain entry into the National Prep Tournament in Lehigh, but nothing seems to have come from that, so as per usual, their wrestlers will be removed and placed back in once we get to the other side of the campaign.

For now, they still reside on our report and two claimed PNL Gold, No. 23 Dean Anderson (138 pounds) and No. 6 at 215 Kal-El Fluckiger (215/285). Anderson beat Honorable Mention Cody Trevino (Bettendorf, Iowa) by major decision, 13-1. Fluckiger needed overtime to get by California’s Brian Haran (Gilroy), 8-5 sudden victory.

Wisconsin grapplers accounted for the other two golds as Union Grove’s No. 22 Camden Rugg (113 pounds) and No. 3 at 138, Kellen Wolbert (Oconomowoc, 144) completed title runs. Wolbert blitzed Valiant Prep’s Nick Meza, 18-0. Rugg defeated Lake Highland’s Liam McGettigan, 5-2. Rugg dropped a 17-1 tech on Illinois’ Niko Odiotti (Loyola Academy)( No. 11 at 106 pounds) in the semis, and McGettigan also took out a ranked 106-pounder, No. 17 Connor Maddox (Westfield, Indiana), with a major decision, 17-7.

The Ladies at PNL were paced by Nevada and Oklahoma

There were just seven girls’ weight classes on the docket at the PNL Fall Championships with ten-pound gaps down low and larger jumps up top. Wrestlers from Nevada and Oklahoma accounted for four of those wall charts.

Reed’s Maya Fiodorova (No. 19 at 120 pounds) used a 10-0 technical fall in 1:04 to defeat another Nevada Girl, Hailey Worden, in the 130-pound final. The girls used Freestyle rules and Kaliya Klise also collected a tech at 100 pounds versus Illinois’ Lily Enos, 14-3 (4:45).

Oklahoma followed the same pattern as Nevada with one ranked champ, Union’s Ki’Morah Cathey (140 pounds), and an unranked designee in Edmond North’s Autumn Jones (190). Cathey is ranked 26th at 125 pounds but is now up in weight and decked Iowa’s Mariah Benedict in 2:36. Jones stuck Illinois’ Anali Wilson two straight in their best of three series, 1:06 and 1:26.

The 155-pound champion, Minnesota’s Audrey Rogotzke (Stillwater), is ranked 17th at 145 in our most recent edition of the girls’ national rankings. Rogotzke pinned Oklahoma’s Mya Dobrinski, 2:18.

Wisconsin’s Cora Stewart (Grafton, No. 22 at 115 pounds) won the 120-pound crown with a 6-2 decision of Kansas’ Presley Beard. Utah’s Eva Zimmerman (Hillcrest) is ranked 25th at 105 pounds but appeared at 110 where she won the gold with a 10-0 tech fall of California’s Jaelle Cortez (Gilroy).

One last note: updated girls’ rankings will absolutely be coming out this week. Hopefully the boys as well. Our last set of each came out before Super 32. We apologize for the delay in updating them, but we did not want to rush through the brackets and miss anything. Sheets were created for new wrestlers that emerged and that takes time as well. The next update will include everything through this weekend (Nov 1st and 2nd).