Winn, Grajales repeat as champions at ASICS/Vaughan Cadet Greco-Roman Nationals
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
07/25/2005
Two returning Cadet National Greco-Roman champions were able to defend their titles with impressive performances in the gold-medal round at the ASICS/Vaughan Cadet Greco-Roman Nationals at the Fargodome in Fargo, N.D., July 25. Winning Cadet National titles for the second year in a row were Eric Grajales of Florida at 98 pounds and Deron Winn of Missouri at 189 pounds. Winn was also named Outstanding Wrestler in the tournament, after a dominant performance the entire week. Grajales defeated the same wrestler he faced in the 2004 Cadet National finals, Nathan Furches of Kansas, this year by a 13-2 technical fall in 6:00. Last year, when they were competing 84 pounds, Grajales won by an 11-1 technical fall. Winn opened up the offense in his finals match against Marcel Dubose of Michigan, 14-3, in 2:13. Winn had a number of throws in the first period to lead 11-3 at the break, then added a three-point lateral drop throw in the second period to end the match. The tournament finals started with a pair of falls in the lightest weight classes, as Andrew Long of Iowa won the 84-pound class and Tyler Cox of Wyoming captured the 91 pound class. Long pinned Wade Adams at the 1:51 mark of the first period for his gold medal.Cox, who was trailing 11-3, hit a headlock and pinned David Taylor of Ohio with just one second left on the clock in the first period, at the 1:59 mark. There were five technical fall victories in the finals. Joining Grajales and Winn with dominating technical falls in the finals were Nikko Triggas of California at 112 pounds, Michael Mangrum of Washington at 119 pounds and Torry Line of Minnesota at 160 pounds. Triggas broke open a tight match with a number of tilts late in the second period to beat Bo Beckman of Utah by technical fall, 13-3, in 3:48. Mangrum scored an 11-1 technical fall over Trenton Washington of Nebraska in the finals match. Line also had a dominating performace, stopping Tito Pica of California, 11-0 in 3:49. The most exciting final to go down to the last second occurred at 135 pounds, where Shane Nay of Missouri edged Jake Salazar of Utah, 5-4. Salazar took a 4-2 lead on a headlock with 35 seconds left. Nay scored a quick reversal to make it 4-3, and then scored two points on a front headlock turn with only one second left on the clock for the victory. In an all-Minnesota final, Jacob Deitschler edged Travis Rutt, 5-3 at 130 pounds. Rutt took a 3-0 in the second period on a throw from the clinch, but Deitschler tied the match with a reversal and exposure points at 3-3. Deitschler won the match on a two-point exposure with 1:18 left in the final period. The gold-medal match at 152 pounds went down to the clinch, when Michael Chairs of New York defeated Chris Hacker of Oklahoma, 5-2 in 4:05. The match was tied at 2-2 at the end of regulation, and Chairs hit a hip toss in just five seconds from the clinch to win the match. One of the most explosive performances came at 215 pounds, where Tyrell Fortune of Oregon stopped Dom Bradley of Missouri, 11-3. Bradley hit a throw in the first period to lead 3-0 at the break. However, Fortune reeled off 11 straight second-period points on two throws and two gutwrenches for an exciting comeback win. At 125 pounds, DeVaughan Perkins of Nebraska had a strong performance in beating Dak Adamson of New Mexico, 6-2. It was the second straight year that Adamson was a silver medalist in the Cadet Nationals in Greco-Roman. Other individual champions were Bo Touris of Ohio at 105 pounds, Alec Ortiz of Oregon at 140 pounds, Eren Civan of Maryland at 145 pounds, Andrew Buck of Washington at 171 pounds and Myles Caragein of Pennsylvania at 275 pounds. Touris wrestled well in the second period to edge Tyler Clark of Illinois, 3-1. Ortiz was dominant throughout in an 8-1 finals victory over Vince Ramos of Illinois. Civan won his gold medal by defeating George Bancroft of Florida in the finals, 6-1. After jumping to a big early lead, Buck stopped Richard Lopez of Oklahoma, 9-6. Caragein won the key positions to control Zack Rey of New Jersey, 5-1 Two returning champions fell short in their quest to win another Cadet National Greco-Roman title. Returning champion Brian Owen of Washington was beaten in the roundrobin competition at 112 pounds, when he was pinned by Bo Beckman of Utah in 2:23. Owen placed fourth. Another returning champion who was beaten earlier in the tournament, Luke Rebertus of Maryland. Reburtus lost to Tito Pica of California, and Pica won the round-robin in their pool, and has advanced to the gold-medal match. Reburtus placed fourth. The Most Falls award went to 125-pound runner-up Dak Adamson of New Mexico, who pinned six opponents in a combined 11:17.