High School Wrestling Super Shake-Up on a Saturday dominated by Bosco, Brownsburg, Stillwater and Buchanan

Bosco Dominates Reno, Brownsburg Stuns at Carnahan, Stillwater Wins Wild KC Stampede, and Buchanan Crowns Six at Zinkin, as breakout stars shine and national-level championship performances take place across four major tournaments

Jorge Rios collects back points on his way to the 113-pound title at the Reno Tournament of Champions for St. John Bosco. / St. John Bosco Wrestling

We are presenting for your enjoyment a Super High School Wrestling Notebook filled with results from a Stellar Saturday of competition around the country.

We’ll start with one of the more difficult gauntlets of the year in Nevada with the Reno Tournament of Champions, then hop over to Indiana’s Carnahan Memorial, from there we’ll shift to the Midwest and Missouri’s KC Stampede, before ending out west at California’s Zinkin Classic.

California’s St. John Bosco rolls to easy Reno TOC title with five champions

St. John Bosco, whoich is rated as the sixth best team in the nation in our latest team rankings, won the team title comfortably over instate rival, No. 11 Poway, 301-240. Bosco put five atop the podium while Poway had no champions. No. 18 Gilroy was third with one titlist and No. 20 Allen, TX landed in fourth on the strength of their two champs.

No. 5 Luke Loren (106 pounds), No. 5 Jorge Rios (113), and No. 6 Jesse Grajeda (144 pounds) encountered fellow nationally ranked foes in their final bouts.

Loren fell behind early but changed the tone midway through and took out No. 10 Lincoln Valdez (Pomona, Colorado), 11-6. Rios was pushed by Honorable Mention Laz McEwen (Capital, Washington) but edged his rival, 7-6. Grajeda’s win was the easiest of the trio as he posted a 7-2 decision of Nevada’s No. 21 Drake Hooiman (SLAM! Academy).

No. 10 Sean Willcox endured a close match with Abraham Coronado (McQueen, Nevada), a wrestler who is just a few spots out of our rankings. No. 8 Michael Romero stuck Ben Ziola (Skutt Catholic, Nebraska) in 5:18 at 150 pounds.

No. 4 Nathan Carillo was third at 132 pounds for the Braves and Mason Savidan (190 pounds) placed fourth at 190.

No. 2 Moses Mendoza was up at 138 pounds from where we have him ranked at 132. Mendoza claimed Gilroy’s only gold without stepping on the mat as he received a Medical Forfeit from No. 16 Justin Beauvais (Mountain View, Arizona).

Allen’s two with wall charts were Honorable Mention Steel Meyers (165 pounds) and No. 8 Aiden Cooley (215). Meyers had a tough time with unranked Gunnar Lopez of Grandview, Colorado, before squeezing by on a 4-3 count. Cooley also had a tight one, winning 2-1 over Poway’s Daniel Moylan (No. 11 at 285 pounds).

Grandview did crown two champs despite Lopez’s setback as JR Ortega (120 pounds) and heavyweight Leland Day stood atop their weight classes. Ortega upset Honorable Mention Drake VomBaur (Severance, Colorado), 4-3, and Day also won a one-point affair, 2-1, versus Mullen, Colorado’s Dyes Denver.

Three Utah grapplers returned home as gold medalists, Corner Canyon’s Honorable Mention Tanner Telford (132 pounds), Layton’s No. 10 Austin Paris (157), and Juab’s Ladd Holman (190 pounds). Telford won 10-7 in the finals with Tas Storer (Poway). To reach the final, Telford mounted a comeback against St. John Bosco’s Carillo, scoring the winning takedown and eventual fall 4:59 into their semifinal.

Reno allows for multiple entries from teams and the two best guys at 157 happened to be from Layton as Paris faced off with his practice partner, Gavin Regis (HM at 165), and rolled to an 18-1 tech fall. Holman stuck Poway’s Dominic Dotson quickly, just 51 seconds into their match.

Liberty, Arizona’s No. 16 Ryder Schulte also used a pin for his win in the third period over Honorable Mention Kalob Ybarra (Pomona), 5:29.

Brownsburg overcomes host Crown Point and Illinois’ Marmion Academy to claim Carnahan Crown

The Carnahan Memorial gave us a glimpse of the flaws in using the Ironman standings for a team ranking barometer as No. 26 Brownsburg of Indiana outpaced two higher ranked teams to gain the team glory, outpointing runner-up, No. 23 Marmion Academy, 174.5-151, and No. 16 Crown Point (135.5), who were fourth behind No. 35 Dundee, Michigan (3rd with 142 points). No. 33 Detroit Catholic Central finished in seventh.

For as much national firepower that was at Carnahan, it’s surprising that none of Brownsburg’s champions encountered ranked wrestlers in their finals as No. 16 Case Bell (120 pounds), Ryan Hockaday (126), and No. 12 Braylon Reynolds (144 pounds) locked down their wins with relative ease.

Bell blanked Dundee’s Mason Haines with an 11-0 major decision. Hockaday’s 11-6 win over Marmion’s Aidan McClure was the closest of the three. Reynolds routed Samuel Mosier (Delta, Indiana) with a 21-6 technical fall.

Four others grabbed hardware for Brownsburg as No. 25 Traevon Ducking (113 pounds) and No. 29 Tommy Gibbs (150) fell short in their title bids. Honorable Mention Parker Reynolds came in third at 157 pounds and Gavin Fields was fourth amongst the heavyweights.

Marmion’s champs, on the other hand, all faced ranked foes, with two of them pulling off upsets for their glory. Nicholas Garcia (No. 4 at 126 pounds) won a 14-5 major decision over No. 15 Nate Rioux (Avon, Indiana) in the 132-pound final. At 113 pounds, unranked Preston Morrison pinned Ducking with a second left on the clock, 5:59.

Demetrius Carrera was previously ranked but lineup juggling for Ironman put him out of his two customary weight classes (132 and 138 pounds). Carrera defeated Honorable Mention and Ironman placer, Evan Stanley (Lowell, Indiana), 4-2 at 138. Carrera also took out No. 26 Mason Goelz (Avon), 4-0, in the semis.

Dundee’s two golds came from No. 9 Blake Cosby (157 pounds) and Don Beaufait at 165 pounds. Cosby teched Honorable Mention Jackson Bradley (Cowan, Indiana), 20-4. Beaufait had the most shocking result of the finals when he picked off No. 5 Liam Kelly (Mt. Carmel, Illinois), 6-5. Kelly shot up the ranks after his third-place finish at Ironman a week ago.

Crown Point’s champions were favored and came through as expected with Clinton Shepherd (150 pounds) and No. 10 Ceasar Salas (215) securing their wins the easy way on a tech and a pin respectively. Shepherd is ranked fifth at 144, where he was for Ironman, but moved up and teched Gibbs, 20-4. Salas flattened No. 23 Danny Hoke (Graham, Ohio) in the final frame, 5:09.

Three others from Indiana reached the top rung of the podium, No. 6 Connor Maddox (Westfield, 106 pounds), No. 13 Kameron Hazelet (285) of Lowell, and Boonville’s Sam Howard (190 pounds).

Maddox battled with No. 23 Colton Wyller (Marmion Academy) and put up an 11-5 outcome. Wyller downed No. 17 Hudson Chittum (Cleveland, Tennessee), 7-3, in his semifinal. Hazelet scraped by Cleveland’s Gabe Moore, 8-7. Howard put an 11-1 major decision on the bracket against Lemont’s Judah Heeg.

Graham’s Kyler Crooks from Ohio accounted for the final winner at 175 pounds with a 15-0 tech fall as he dismantled Dundee’s Avery Lane.

Oklahoma’s Stillwater wins a ridiculously tight team race at KC Stampede, one-point ahead of Georgia’s Buford

Unfortunately, we did not realize the team race was this tight at the KC Stampede as we settled in to watch the finals. Once underway, a glance revealed that fans on hand were enjoying entertaining battle for the first-place trophy.

When it was all said and done, No. 14 Stillwater scored one more point than Buford to grab the trophy (178.5-177.5). Lurking right behind them in third with 175.5 points was Liberty of Missouri. Iowa’s fourth-place Dowling Catholic was within striking distance with 172.5 points.

No. 13 Edmond North, Stillwater’s bitter in-state rival, finished fifth with 168 points. At Ironman, Edmond North finished ahead of Stillwater, hence their current rankings, another glimpse of the fallacy of some Ironman placings.

Of those teams, Stillwater had four in the finals, Dowling Catholic was posting up three, Liberty and Buford had one each. Stillwater won half of theirs, while Dowling went 1-2. Liberty’s Mason Bindel (215) lost and Buford’s rep, No. 2 Ariah Mills (113 pounds), won. So, with a few things going differently in that final round, perhaps Dowling Catholic walks out with the top honors?

That’s not how it works though, and Stillwater got the job done with No. 5 Ignacio Villasenor (126 pounds) and No. 23 Eric Casula (132) putting on title winning performances. Villasenor got by No. 8 Mikey Ruiz (Canyon Randall, Texas), 10-3. Casula endured a close match with Mason Milsaps (College Park, Texas), 4-2.

Taking silver home for Stillwater were Bryar Hooks (138 pounds) and No. 20 at 175 pounds, Luke Hamiti (190). Jet Kline won a bronze at 113 pounds by upsetting Honorable Mention Oscar Gauna (Goddard, Kansas) in the consolation finals. Calan Manley was fourth at 144 pounds and Griffin Sensintaffar placed seventh at 120.

Edmond North was the only other squad with two titlists, No. 16 Garrison Sartain (150 pounds) and No. 1 Joseph Jeter (175). Sartain downed No. 25 Chance Ruble (Seckman, Missouri), 5-2. Jeter handled Baylor, Tennessee’s Titus Norman (No. 18 at 165 pounds), with a 20-10 major decision.

Mills stuck Dowling Catholic’s Jack Wallukait, who defeated Gauna as well, in 2:18. Dowling’s champ was No. 14 Cruz Gannon, who posted an 11-0 major of Parker Hansen (Ozark, Missouri). Heavyweight Brady Hagan was Dowling’s second silver medalist.

Four from the home state kept titles from vacating the premises, North Point’s Brody Kell (138 pounds), No. 15 Jet Brown (Odessa, 157), Lafayette (Wildwood)’s No. 11 Carter Brown (215 pounds), and Kyler Kuhn (St. Pius X) at 285.

Kell pulled off two unexpected wins to be declared champ, and it started with No. 13 Kiernan Meink (Millard South, Nebraska) and a 3-2 round of 16 win then ended with a 2-1 tiebreaker win against Stillwater’s Hooks. Brown teched Meink’s teammate, Brady Danze, 20-2.

Brown beat Liberty’s Bindel, 11-2. Kuhn is the dude that gifted Hagan his overtime loss, 5-2, in sudden victory.

Neighboring Kansas boasts two golden boys in Brock Johnson (144 pounds) and No. 25 Everett Joyce (190). Johnson is an honorable mention entry for us and worked to a 16-1 tech of Pat Provost (Ft. Zumwalt North, Missouri). Joyce tangled with Hamiti and put up a 9-2 score for the win.

Creighton Prep’s Honorable Mention Cruzer Dominguez gave Nebraska its lone champ with a 9-2 decision of Kaison Schreier (Fort Osage, Missouri). Florida’s Miguel Rojas of Lake Highland Prep was the 165-pound winner, 4-2, over Randall, Texas’ Daniel Acosta.

Buchanan rolls to expected victory at its Zinkin Classic, crowns six champions

The point totals at the Zinkin Classic were gaudy with No. 3 Buchanan holding 376 points at the end. No. 12 Clovis was sitting in second with 280.5 points, followed in the standings by No. 17 Clovis North (228.5).

Headlining Buchanan’s heroes was No. 3 Thales Silva at 106 pounds, who met No. 4 Michael Bernabe (Clovis) in the finals and discarded him with a 4-2 tally. It was Silva’s second recent win over Bernabe (Arballo Hammer finals) after losing to his rival at Super 32.

Most of Buchanan’s starters were up a weight class from the lineup provided to us by coach Troy Tirapelle. Their optimal lineup should be unveiled at January’s Doc Buchanan Tournament. Ashton Besmer (No. 3 at 132 pounds) pinned No. 21 Raymond Rivera of Clovis in the 138-pound final. No. 14 at 150 pounds, Ivan Arias, was challenged by No. 21 Christopher Creason (El Diamante) in the 157-pound title bout, winning 10-7.

Rocklin Zinkin (No. 2 at 120) won the 126-pound title 20-3 over Camarillo’s Caine Martin. At 144, CJ Huerta (No. 11 at 138 pounds) posted a 7-2 decision of Clovis North’s Christopher Arreola. Thales’ brother Thiago squared off with his teammate, Jax Vang, in a match that could have doubled as a wrestle off, with Silva gaining the advantage, 1-0.

In many tournaments, California allows multiple entries at weight for teams.

Three others reached the finals for Buchanan but could not gain the last victory needed, Paul Ruiz (132 pounds, No. 9 at 126), Blake Woodward (165), and Patrick Roberts (175 pounds). Placing third at 126 was David Chacon. Raiden Bishop (190 pounds) and Sammy Seja (215) were fourth. Landing in sixth were Joe Toscano (150 pounds, No. 8 at 140). Toscano defaulted shortly into his semifinal match.

Clovis put four on top of the awards stand, Anthony Garza (120 pounds, No. 6 at 113), James Curoso (175, HM at 165 pounds), Honorable Mention Adan Castillo (215), and Andrew Arroyo (285 pounds).

Garcia kept No. 23 Aiden Garcia off the board in a 9-0 major decision. Curoso got past Roberts, 4-2. Castillo won by fall versus Liberty-Brentwood’s David Calkins (No. 30 at 190 pounds). Arroyo posted a 4-1 score in his match with Clovis North’s Jackson Reilly on the final line of his bracket.

Clovis North claimed two championships with the deeds being done by No. 9 Siraj Sidhu at 132 pounds and No. 8 Jonathan Rocha (190). Sidhu authored what could be an upset, depending on your perspective, when he defeated Paul Ruiz, 7-5. Rocha won with a fall over Vacaville’s Brady Wright.

The final golds were taken home by Everett Alvarez’s Jacob Perez (honorable mention) at 165 pounds with a 10-2 major decision of Woodward and on a 16-0 tech at 150 by Camarillo’s Josh Requena over Emiliano Hernandez (Hesperia).