Three of four returning Junior Freestyle champs undefeated after Day 1 of competition
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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
07/28/2005
Fargo, N.D. - Three of the four wrestlers who had won past titles at the ASICS/Vaughan Junior Freestyle National Championships left the FargoDome after the first day of competition with undefeated records. Rollie Peterkin of Massachusetts posted a 4-0 record at 119 lbs., even though he had to irk out an 11-9 win over Cory Fish of Washington in his final bout of the evening. Zach Bailey of Missouri and Brent Metcalf of Michigan also went 4-0 - at 135 and 145 lbs., respectively. 2003 national champion Patrick Feeley of Rhode Island lost 17-11 to James Nicholson of Iowa at 112 lbs. There are also 10 past Cadet freestyle national champions competing in this year's Junior Division. Eight of those wrestlers are undefeated after the first day of competition. The eight undefeated past Cadet champions are Boris Novachkov of California at 98 lbs., Bryan LaShomb of Virginia at 119 lbs., Brandon Sitch of Washington at 145 lbs., Neil Erisman of Kansas at 160 lbs., Logan Downes of Pennsylvania at 171 lbs., Hudson Taylor of New Jersey at 189 lbs. and Sonny Yohn of Colorado, also at 189 lbs. Cadet champions Mike Benefiel of Illinois (152) and Scott Giffin of New Jersey (160) both suffered one loss on the day. Benefiel was defeated by Chase Pami of Nevada, 4-0, and Giffin was downed by Bulla Tuzon of Hawaii, 16-14. Returning All-American Levi Mele of Wyoming lost two matches on the first day to be eliminated from competition at 119 lbs. Mele's second loss was by fall to Ben Ashmore of Texas at 119 lbs. Also at 119 lbs., All-Americans Brad Pataky of Pennsylvania and Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois squared off early in pool competition. Pataky came away with a 10-0 win. All-American Ian Moser of Delaware moved up to 125 lbs. for this tournament, and was defeated by another returning All-American, Conor Beebe of Illinois, 9-7, in his last bout of the evening. Two other All-Americans survived close battles on the day. Jayson Ness of Minnesota defeated Brandon Precin of Illinois, 5-4 in overtime, at 130 lbs. and Wesley English of Indiana defeated Jason Brew of Michigan, 9-8, in his first match of the competition. Overall, 11 of this year's Junior Greco-Roman national champions remain undefeated. Along with Novachkov and Metcalf, Marty Eng of Oregon (105 lbs.), Matthew Kyler of Pennsylvania (112), Franklin Gomez of Puerto Rico (119), Shawn Jones of Idaho (125), Adam Frey of Pennsylvania (130), Reece Humphrey of Indiana (135), David Craig of Florida (171), Louis Caputo of Missouri (189) and Brent Jones of Virginia (215) are also on the path to becoming double champions. Junior freestyle competition will resume tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. (Central Time). TheMat.com will provide complete coverage.