Sanders wins Cadet Triple Crown; Kyler repeats as Cadet freestyle national champion
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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
07/30/2004
Fargo, N.D. - The possibilities for Cadet Triple Crown winners began with four wrestlers at the start of the ASICS/Vaughan Cadet Freestyle National Championships at the FargoDome. But on Friday evening, only one of those four would remain: 105-pound Zachary Sanders of Minnesota. Sanders dominated his competition until the finals, but did enough to get by, using two takedowns to defeat Collin Marcicki of Michigan 3-0 in the finals. Another wrestler in the finals attempting to win a Cadet Triple Crown was 84-pound Eric Grajales of Florida. However, Grajales was dominated by Borislav Novachkov of California in a 14-4 technical superiority loss. Matthew Kyler of Pennsylvania, competing at 98 lbs., defeated Tyler Graff of Colorado 3-1 to win his second consecutive title in the Cadet freestyle division. Kyler was the only returning champion to repeat. 112-pound Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. Kennedy won 10 matches in the tournament, six of them by technical superiority, on his way to the gold medal. In the finals, Kennedy downed Daniel Rodriguez of Nebraska 10-0. The finals saw five close, and at some points wild, matches. The first was at 91 lbs., where Anthony Valles of Connecticut overcame a 9-2 deficit to Kyle Lang of Ohio to win 10-9 in overtime. Late in the first period, Valles began to mount his comeback, using three takedowns and two, two-point exposures to tie the score and sent the match into overtime. In the extra period, Valles was able to finish a shot attempt 40 seconds into the extra frame for the win. At 125 lbs., Oklahoma's Lance Thompson trailed Mike Gagliano 5-0 before mounting a comeback of his own to win 11-10. Thompson scored two points on a gut wrench to take an 11-9 lead before holding on for the victory. Brandon Sitch of Washington won his second title of the week, earning a Greco-Roman crown on Monday, with a 3-2 victory over Jon Reader of Michigan at 140 lbs. Sitch and Reader were both Cadet freestyle All-Americans last year. At 171 lbs., Sonny Yohn of Colorado took an early three-point lead over David Thompson of Ohio, but needed an overtime period to earn his first national title. Yohn squandered away leads of 3-0 and 4-2 in the match, but his takedown 44 seconds into the overtime period gave him a 5-4 win. Never to be shut out of the excitement, heavyweights Ben Kuhar of Ohio and Derek Altona traded leads throughout their finals match, but Kuhar scored the last points to earn the 7-6 victory. With the match tied at 3-3, Kuhar took control with two exposure points before an Altona reversal cut the lead to 5-4. With only 15 seconds left, the two big men went into a scramble, with the officials awarded two points to each wrestler, giving the win to Kuhar. In the tournament, four wrestlers won double titles, capturing both Greco-Roman and freestyle national titles. Along with Sanders, Kennedy and Sitch, Matt Vacanti of Nebraska won double titles after his finals win at 119 lbs. Vacanti downed Keith Sulzer of Ohio 4-2. Two other champions had strong performances in their finals matches: Sean Nemec of Ohio at 135 lbs. and Rob Waltko of Pennsylvania at 152 lbs. Nemec turned a 1-1 match with 2003 Cadet freestyle All-American Luke Ashmore of Texas into a late, first-period fall using a takedown to put Ashmore on his back. Waltko dropped Byron Sigmon of North Carolina 11-1 early in the second period. Also winning Cadet freestyle titles were Mike Benefiel of Illinois at 130 lbs., Eric Medina of New Jersey at 145 lbs., Scott Giffen of New Jersey at 160 lbs., Patrick Flynn of Pennsylvania at 189 lbs. and Tyler Hemmesch of Minnesota at 215 lbs. 215-pound Ryan Flores of California won the Gorrarian Award for the most falls in the least amount of time. Flores pinned five opponents in 8 minutes, 40 seconds. Flores placed third in the tournament.