Seabolt and Big Game shine a Premier National League wrestling championships

Billy Buckheit | Apr 15, 2025

Seabolt Wrestling out of Iowa was one of two teams which crowned nine champs at the Premier National League Freestyle championships. / Seabolt Wrestling

Over the weekend a gathering of wrestling clubs from across the nation took place in Kenosha, Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside for the Premier National League (PNL) Freestyle and Greco Spring Club Championships. Teams scores were tallied for freestyle but not Greco Roman.

The PNL is a competitive wrestling organization focused on youth and high school wrestling teams across the country. It organizes events, tracks team standings and fosters high-level competition among wrestling programs.

Sebolt Wrestling Academy out of Iowa tallied 215 points, distancing itself from second place Askren Wrestling Academy of Wisconsin by 23, 215-192. Iowa’s Big Game Wrestling Club was third with 137 points. Freestyle was contested on Saturday with the Greco going down on Sunday.

Sebolt Wrestling Academy led the way with nine titles, and they were spread over three of the classifications with three in junior FS, four in 16U FS, and two in 16U GR. The three junior champs were Nico DeSalvo (120), Nolan Fellers (157), and Dreshaun Ross (285).

DeSalvo had one of the more loaded brackets of the tournament and took out fellow Iowan, Alexander Pierce (Big Game), 7-5, in his finals match. In the semis, DeSalvo (No. 7 at 113) teched New York’s Cooper Merli (Journeymen Wrestling Club, No. 17 at 113), 10-0. In Pool C activity, Merli got by No. 14 at 113, Liam Davis (Spartan RTC @ LHP, FL), 8-5. Merli placed third and Davis won his consolation bracket to place fifth.

Fellers blanked his Sebolt comrade, Shane Hanford, 11-0 in the finals. Both are unranked in the country. Hanford beat Big Game’s Bas Diaz, 8-0, in the semis after Diaz had edged No. 16 Gabriel Delgado (Gold Rush Wrestling, NV), 3-2, in the quarters. Ross was the No. 2 215-pounder in the nation and moved to heavyweight where he ran up a 13-2 tech of No. 28 Tanner Gormanson (Askren).

Two of Sebolt’s 16U champs won crowns each day, Johnathan Thompson (88) and Parker Casey (165). Thompson’s FS win was earned with an 8-8 decision of another Sebolter, Cyrus Millage. Thompson’s GR title came on a 10-2 tech of Caleb Heyder (Sanderson Wrestling Academy, UT). Casey won his FS gold 10-0 against Askren’s Liam Richards and came close to another technical superiority win over Big Game’s Shannon Hughes, with a 15-8 count.

Eddie Woody Jr. (HM at 106) claimed the 16U FS title at 113 by teching Coy Mehlert (Immortal Athletics Wrestling Club, IA), 10-0. At 144, Calvin Rathjen locked down the crown with a 7-2 result with Hunter Avalos (Spartan Mat Club, TX).

Askren crowned five total champs across the four high school age divisions with Kellen Wolbert winning the 138-pound Junior FS title, two junior Greco champs in Adam Whittier (150) and Sullivan Ramos (165). In the 16U slate, they claimed one FS gold, Zahn Beal (120), and one in GR, Lincoln Swick (113).

Wolbert, who is ranked 11th at 144 by High School on SI, dropped down to 138-pounds and beat No. 28 Isaiah Schaefer (Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club, IN), 10-3, in the finals. Whittier upset No. 16 Noah Bull (Sanderson), 6-2, to reach the finals where he won by technical superiority over Isaac Balden (Gold Rush), 10-2. In FS a tech is achieved with a ten-point margin, in GR an eight-point gap is required for a tech.

Like Whittier, Ramos is unranked nationally, and he used an upset for his title, edging Honorable Mention Maximus Dhabolt (Sebolt), 4-3. Beal used a 10-0 tech of Scout Scott (East Idaho Elite Wrestling Club) to win his FS crown. Swick beat his fellow club mate, Collin Frey, by tech, 8-0.

Big Game finished third despite equaling Sebolt’s nine champs, all in the junior brackets, with four in FS and five in GR.

All four of Big Game’s FS gold medalists collected Greco titles as well. At 106, Ethan Humphrey won by tech, 22-12, versus Killian Kaweshige (Valiant Wrestling Club, AZ) in FS and by 9-5 over Aidan Ortega (Izzy Style Wrestling, IL) in GR. Jake Knight (HM at 120) captured his 126lb FS title with a 10-0 tech of Gage Spurgeon (Sebolt). Knight’s GR glory came on a 55 second, 8-0, tech of Greco Roman specialist, Saxton Scott (East Idaho).

No. 16 Timothy Koester authored a quick upset of No. 14 Liam Neitzel (Pinnacle Wrestling Club, MN), picking up the 10-0 tech in 1:14 in FS at 132. Neitzel beat No. 18 Deven Casey (Izzy Style), 14-4, in his semifinal. Casey pinned Brendan Jorden Agcaoili (Gold Rush) (No. 28 at 126), 2:16, in the third-place match. Koester had a tight encounter with Agcaoili in his semi, winning 10-9. Koester’s 132lb GR championship came on a 13-6 decision of Mason Carlson (Sanderson) (No. 26 at 126).

Big Game 175-pounder and Honorable Mention Lincoln Jipp went the same route as Koester, easily winning his FS final, 20-10, over No. 29 at 165, Riley Johnson (MWC Wrestling Club, NE), and engaging in a closer affair, 6-4, with Brodie Bedford (Spartan Mat Club) in GR. The fifth GR Champ came at 120lbs when Pierce (No. 18 at 113) pinned MWC’s Zaiyahn Ornelas, 4:51.

MWC was fourth with 101 points, just one ahead of fifth place Maurer Coughlin, and had seven total titles with three in the junior ranks and four 16U grapplers. At 113, Cruzer Dominguez (HM at 106) was a double champ in the junior 113 brackets, with heavyweight Preston Wagner joining him on the Greco side.

In FS, Dominguez teched Askren’s Camden Rugg, 12-2, in the finals and added a tech of Tennessee’s Tanner Tran (Young Guns Nashville, No. 17 at 106), by the same count in the semis. Dominguez’s GR gold came on another tech, 12-4, of Landon Thoennes (Pinnacle). Wagner’s title came in a round robin format where he pinned second place finishing teammate Roberto Macias Sidzyik, 2:09.

In the 16U Division, Kameron Green claimed 132lb supremacy in both disciplines, winning the FS one over fellow MWC wrestler, Brody Schmitt, 10-4, and the GR gold came on an 8-4 decision of Pinnacle’s Alex Gau. The other 16U GR titles by MWC were won by Riley Watts (138) and Andrew Rubino (175). Rubino came out ahead of Isaac Barrientos (Izzy Style), 7-4, in a round robin format. Barrientos won the 175lb FS title on Saturday.

Lake Highland Prep’s Spartan RTC (7th/98 Points) went home with five titles claimed by four wrestlers as Jayce Paridon (No. 7 at 138) hit pay dirt in FS and GR at 144. Paridon’s FS title came on a 10-0 tally of Sebolt’s Mac Crosson. Paridon survived a scare from Gold Rush’s Drake Hooiman (No. 22 at 138) in a semifinal match that highlighted the flukiness/craziness of the Olympic Styles, especially FS.

Paridon was holding a 9-0 lead and on the verge of a technical fall when Hooiman got a takedown in the second period then proceeded to rack up back points on a leg lace that would have been zero points in folkstyle but allowed him to end that series holding the advantage 14-9. All 12 back points came in an 18 second window. Paridon rallied back for a 17-15 win. Paridon decked Austin Gyorkos (Michigan Premier WC) in 1:17 in his Greco final.

Charlie DeSena (No. 15 at 144) was up at 150lbs in the junior FS brackets and won an 11-11 decision versus Bull (Sanderson). No. 16 Bull defeated his club partner, No. 15 Jason Worthley, 11-10, in a mild upset. In Pool G matches, DeSena took out No. 25 Carson Weber (Izzy Style), 15-13.

Lucas Boe (No. 7 at 157) moved up a weight to 165 and handled the unranked Declan Koch (Askren), 5-1, in the finals. Boe downed Dhabolt, 10-6, in his semifinal. No. 27 Alex Smith used a 40 second, 8-0, technical fall to gain the Greco gold against Big Game’s Gatlin Rogers. Smith finished second in FS to Sam Howard (Maurer Coughlin) on a 14-14 score. Smith beat Howard in the GR semis, 8-0.

Maurer Coughlin claimed three more championships, all in 16U. Their FS titlist was Spenser McCammon, who won a 10-8 match with Mason Moody (Askren) at 106lbs. The two top dogs in GR were Connor Maddox (106) and Deacon Dressler (157), Maddox teched McCammon, 13-4, and Dressler also won by tech, 10-1, over Askren’s Devin Johnson.

Gold Rush had a double champ, Satoshi Davis (215), plus one other gold medalist, Anthony Delgado (138). Davis’ 16U FS win was finished in 56 seconds, 11-0, with Michigan Premier’s Brayden Meeuwsen. His GR result was a 5-0 decision of Roman Fraser (Spartan Mat Club). Delgado picked off No. 28 Isaiah Schaefer (Maurer Coughlin), 6-1, in Junior Greco.

Black Fox Wrestling Academy out of Colorado had a 16U dual champ, Cooper Mathews (126) and an additional 16U FS gold winner, Jack Simpson (138). Mathews posted a 10-0 tech of another Black Fox grappler, Kyle Menuez, in FS and then a 14-5 tech of MWC’s Dominic Olson in GR. Simpson beat WMC’s Watts in FS, 12-3, then lost to him in the GR finals, 10-2.

Another two-way winner in 16U, Colin Rutlin, was the only champ Thoroughbred Wrestling Academy from Missouri presented. Rutlin won the 150lb FS title 16-6 versus Izzy Style’s Aiden Arnett. The GR crown came by 13-0 tech against Pinnacle’s Rex Ayshford.

The last double champ competes for Immortal Athletics, Brenden Heying (190). Heying captured the Junior FS gold with a monumental upset of No. 8 Robert Kucharczk (Spartan RTC), 3-2. The unranked Heying added the GR title on Sunday by a 3-1 decision of Andy Franke (Big Game). Immortal also crowned a 16U GR champ at 94lbs in round robin action with Ty Martin beating Sebolt’s Knox Ayala, 8-0.

The Spartan Mat Club had two champs in the Greco brackets. On the junior side, Luke Burgar, who is not ranked in the nation, upset No. 16 Gabriel Delgado (Gold Rush), 13-6, to win the 157lb weight class. At 144, Hunter Avalos took home at 16U title with a 5-3 win over Izzy Style’s John Hanrahan.

The other 16U FS champions were Miro Parr-Coffin (Inland Northwest Wrestling Training Center, WA) at 94lbs, Alexander Hall (Greater Heights Wrestling, MO) at 100, and Valiant’s Kobe Cunanan (157). The last two 16U GR gold medalists were Michigan Premier’s Brody Compau (100) and East Idaho’s Scout Scott (120). Scott won a 4-4 decision with Inland Northwest’s Ryder Owen.

I want to close with a ranking’s announcement. The first set of the postseason rankings will be released the week of the US Open.

Team Scores (Top 10)

1-Sebolt Wrestling Academy, IA 215

2-Askren Wrestling Academy, WI 192

3-Big Game Wrestling Club, IA 137

4-MWC Wrestling Club, NE 101

5-Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club, IN 100

6-Spartan RTC @ LHP, FL 98

7-Izzy Style Wrestling, IL 77

8-Valiant Wrestling Club, AZ 64

9-Pinnacle Wrestling Club, MN 61

10-Sanderson Wrestling Academy, 55