The 2016 Cadet and Junior Nationals in Fargo ended in a bang for PINnacle Wrestling School with Griffin Parriott, Jake Allar, and Owen Webster win the Junior Freestyle National title with technical falls in the finals!
5 Wrestlers came home with "stop signs" as National Champions this past week winning 7 titles.
Emily Shilson started the week off by dominating the Cadet Women's freestyle division, as well as the Junior Women's freestyle division. Emily only gave up 2 points in the two tournaments, and finished each match by either technical fall or pin! She was also the outstanding wrestler of the Junior Division.
Griffin Parriott became the first wrestler to win Greco and Freestyle titles at Junior Nationals in the same year. I consider this the toughest thing to do in High School Wrestling, as it is not only two different styles, but you wrestle back-to-back. The biggest improvement Griffin made was in his mental mindset. In the finals of Greco, and a 3-1 lead, Griffin was put into a throw position. In the past, he may have fleed the position, but this match he picked his opponent up, and threw him down for the exclamation point win. His finals of freestyle he also had a lead in which he may have tried to "hold on" in the past, but this time, he kept scoring points and tech falled his opponent for the double title! He was 1 of 2 wrestlers in the United States to double up.
Mitchell McKee continued his Greco dominance. On his way to the title, Mitchell only went in to the 2nd period once. Mitchell is now a 3 time Junior National Champion(2 greco, 1 free) and 2 time Cadet National Champion(2 greco), with 7 finalist appearances. Interestingly enough, he has the same number of fargo titles and finalist appearances as his coach.
Jake Allar and Owen Webster crushed their final opponents 10-0. Allar used a lead leg single, then another single from a 2on1. Once on top, Allar got a nice lock on the ribs and finished his opponent with gut wrenches. Owen wrestled an extremely smart tournament all the way through. In the finals Owen started off with a 4 point front head, and then his patented "Saitiev" low shot to an ankle lace.
Final All-American numbers: 7 Champs, 26 All-Americans
Cadet W Freestyle - 1 Champ
Junior W Freestyle - 1 Champ
Cadet Greco - 1 finalist, 6 All-Americans
Cadet Freestyle - 4 All-Americans
Junior Greco - 2 Champs, 7 All-Americans
Junior Freestyle 3 Champs, 7 All-Americans
STATS:
Domination-
Mitchell McKee outscored his opponents 61-0 in Greco, and added 1 pin
Griffin Parriott outscored his opponents 69-2 in Freestyle
Emily Shilson had 2 points scored on her, in both tournaments combined, and never went a full match.
We currently have 5 Junior National Freestyle title holders on the roster; Hunter Marko, Mitchell McKee, Griffin Parriott, Jake Allar, and Owen Webster. All 5 also have won titles at Fargo in Greco-Roman.
9 Wrestlers earned All-American in BOTH Styles
A total of 65 PINnacle wrestlers competed in over 90 styles
Patrick McKee has taken 3rd in 5 consecutive national tournaments.
Our seniors hold 12 Cadet and Junior National Freestyle and Greco titles(McKee 5, Marko 3, Webster 2, Parriott 2)
All-Americans
Emily Shilson 1st Junior WFS 97, 1st Cadet WFS 95
Griffin Parriott 1st Junior Greco 152, 1st Junior Free 152
Mitchell McKee 1st Junior Greco 138, 4th Junior Free 138
Jake Allar 1st Junior Free 160
Owen Webster 1st Junior Free 182
Patrick McKee 3rd Junior Greco 113, 3rd Junior Free 113
Tyler Eischens 2nd Cadet Greco 132, 7th Cadet Free 132
Brent Jones 5th Junior Greco 132, 5th Junior Free 132
Paxton Creese 3rd Cadet Greco 88, 7th Cadet Free 88
Alex Lloyd 6th Junior Greco 145, 7th Junior Free 145
Peyton Robb 5th Cadet Greco 126, 5th Cadet Free 126
Greg Kerkvliet 3rd Cadet Free 195
Colby Njos 5th Cadet Greco 113
Alex Crowe 5th Junior Greco 138
Curtis Lemair 6th Cadet Greco 120
Grant Parrish 6th Cadet Greco 160
Calvin Germinaro-Nahring 8th Junior Greco 138
Congrats to all who participated. Many had great tournaments, and came up just a match or two short. Hopefully this drives you to be better. We are extremely proud of the fight shown from all of the wrestlers! As I have said all year, this is a special senior class that may never be replicated, but always remembered. We will miss our boys, but can't wait to continue to help them in any way we can through their wrestling careers.
