Another year of summer wrestling, another step forward for the Arizona wrestling community.
It's been the common theme in the Grand Canyon State in recent years after a renewed commitment to getting youth wrestlers some national exposure.
It is starting to pay off at the high school level as Arizona fared well this week at the Cadet and Junior National Championships in Fargo, N.D., in both freestyle and Greco-Roman disciplines.
"We started in September instead of the usual four months with the younger kids," said Tom Wokasch, who has run the Queen Creek program the last two years and is the Arizona USA Wrestling Kids Director. "It will pay off later when they are of high school age. This is the third year of a five-year projection when we really start seeing the payoff, but hopefully it doesn't stop there."
The great summer of wrestling by the Cadet-aged (15-16 years old) competitors continued in Fargo this week.
The Cadet team, coached by Jim Martinez of
Corona del Sol (Tempe) and Kyle DeBerry of
Desert Edge (Goodyear), set a new standard for Arizona squads as it finished sixth at the national championships in Fargo.
Arizona finished behind traditional powers Illinois (86 points behind 68 entrants), Minnesota (50 with 41), Wisconsin (41 with 26), California (39 with 36), and Pennsylvania (37 with 37) as the 24 wrestlers compiled 33 points.
The team had a best-ever six All-Americans including
Jeremiah Imonode of
Desert Vista (Phoenix), who finished fifth at 182.
The other five All-Americans were
Danny Vega of
Ironwood Ridge (Tucson) (second at 100 pounds), Gilbert resident Quentin Hovis (third at 106),
Ted Rico of
Combs (San Tan Valley) (seventh at 113),
Josh Kramer of
Verrado (Buckeye) (eighth at 113),
Vicente Guerrero of
Cibola (Yuma) (second at 160), Corona del Sol's
Bridger Barker (fourth at 170) and
Blake Smith of
Sabino (Tucson) (eighth at 182).
The previous best came in 2002 when future Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo and Nick Gallick guided the team to a ninth place finish, and there were a total of five All-Americans.
More recently — 2007 and 2008 — Arizona totaled four All-Americans.
The freestyle portion of the national championships in Fargo, N.D., didn't go as well, but who can complain when Arizona has two finalists?
The Cadets from Arizona continued their very impressive summer as they finished 10th overall behind four All-Americans.
Vega won the 100 pound national title, while Barker finished second at 170.
The other All-Americans were Hovis, who finished fifth at 106, and Kramer, who was seventh at 113.
The Juniors had only one All-American as
Mountain View (Mesa) graduate and incoming Arizona State freshman
Seth Monty finished seventh.
"The stop sign (the octagon shaped plaque given to placers) is the prized possession of summer wrestling," said Desert Vista coach David Gonzalez, who is also the USA wrestling state chairman. "It's what this tournament is known for and everyone wants the big stop sign at the end."
Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic and current Ahwatukee Foothills News staff writer, is a 19-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com or 480-272-2449.
