Sullivan dominates on way to Junior Greco-Roman title
Three other Iowans earn medals

BY MATT PFIFFNER
At the beginning of action Tuesday in the Junior Greco-Roman Tournament at the Cadet/Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D, nine Iowans still had hopes of a national title.

By the end of the day, one Iowa wrestler - Elijah Sullivan of Council Bluffs Lewis Central - had realized that dream.

Sullivan, fifth at 140 last season, won gold at the same weight Tuesday with a dominating victory in the championship match over Jesse Baldazo of California.

It's been a goal of mine for a while," Sullivan said of winning Greco gold. "Before the high school season started our team does goals. And one of mine was to make the finals and win Fargo.

"It's been a dream of mine for the past few years to be a Fargo champ. It's pretty nuts."

Sullivan went a perfect 8-0 in the tournament, including a 6-0, 2-0 victory over Baldazo for the title.

In the first period, Baldazo attempted a headlock right away, but Sullivan slipped out of it and scored a takedown for a 1-0 lead. A throw-by takedown made it 2-0 and Sullivan used a pair of gut wrench turns for the 6-0 technical fall.

The second period came down to the final 30 seconds, with Sullivan on top in the par terre position. It only took him five seconds to turn Baldazo with another gut wrench for the 2-0 period win to take the match.

"I was talking to coach Zac Dominguez and he said I wouldn't have any trouble gutting him," Sullivan said. "I was pretty confident I could get him since I did earlier in the match."

Sullivan reached the finals with an impressive 3-0, 3-0 win over Cullen Morrissey of Wisconsin in his final pool bout earlier in the day.

Sullivan used a front headlock roll for his three points in the first period and scored a gut wrench and late takedown for the second period win.

After giving Morrissey his only loss in the pool and when Jacob Falk of Utah lost in that same round, Sullivan had defeated everyone left in his side of the draw and automatically made the finals without any round robin matches.

"I was hoping the kid I didn't wrestle got beat that round and he did," Sullivan said. "My brothers told me he lost when I was still on the mat. So that was cool."

Because of a pair of recently-rolled ankles, Sullivan will not take a chance wrestling freestyle. So the CBLC senior-to-be leaves town with a golden finish.

Three other Iowans wrapped up Tuesday's action with All-American honors.

Cory Clark of Southeast Polk finished eighth at 112, with a 6-1, 5-4 loss to Alex Calendrino of Michigan. Clark won his first five matches of the tournament, but fell in his final three.

Sullivan's high school teammate, Jay Hildreth, placed eighth at 135 with a 4-1, 6-0 loss to Anthonie Linares of California in the seventh-place bout. Hildreth also finished 5-3 in the tournament.

At 152, Justin Koethe of Iowa City West placed fifth in what was perhaps the toughest weight class of the tournament. Koethe dropped the first period against Cody Rodebaugh of California, 0-6, but rallied to win the final two periods to take the match, 2-0, 1-0.

Koethe, a Cadet Greco-Roman runner-up and Cadet freestyle champion last summer in Fargo, started the tournament 6-0, but lost to the eventual second and fourth-place finishers in his final two bouts of pool action.

The freestyle action begins Wednesday, with the Cadet wrestlers hitting the mats at 9:30 a.m. The Cadets will wrestle another session in the late afternoon and the juniors get started on Thursday.