The Predicament.com-your ultimate Iowa wrestling source

BY MATT PFIFFNER
Two out of four ain't bad.

The Iowa Junior freestyle team had four wrestlers compete for national titles Saturday afternoon in Fargo, N.D. to close out the 2010 Cadet/Junior Nationals.

The first two Iowa finalists - Jake Ballweg of Waverly-Shell Rock and 140 and Nick Moore of Iowa City West at 160 - struck gold with dominating victories.

It didn't go as well for the next two Iowans, as Matthew Riley at 189 and Cody Krumwiede of Waverly-Shell Rock at 215 both lost their title bouts by fall.

TWO CHAMPS
Ballweg was the first of the four Iowans to hit the raised stage for a chance at gold.

The match started with Edwin Cooper of Illinois on the offense, but Ballweg was able to easily fight off early takedown attempts. After a scoreless two minutes, they went to the coin flip, which went in Ballweg's favor. It only took the Waverly-Shell Rock three-time State champ a couple seconds to lift Cooper up with a single leg hold and finish for the takedown and 1-0 period win.

In the second period, Ballweg found an opening and took it, as he hit a duck-under for a takedown and then locked up a tight ankle lace. Ballweg turned Cooper with the lace several times and before Cooper knew what hit him, the period and match was over with a Ballweg 7-0 win.

"I knew he had a quick double with his long arms. I was just trying to stay away from that," Ballweg said. "That shot just opened up and I took it."

Ballweg is the third brother to wrestle in Fargo. Brothers Matt and Mark never made a title bout, so Jake made his final opportunity at gold count. Middle brother Mark, who Jake will join at the University of Iowa this fall, was in Fargo to help his preparation.

"My middle brother Mark is up here and he got me ready the whole time," he said.

Some of the top seniors stay away from the Cadet/Junior Nationals to concentrate on college, but Ballweg said it was important for him to be here.

"It's just important to keep competing. It's important to wrestle and get experience," he said. "I'm here because I wanted to win and wanted it so bad."

Moore also had extra motivation coming into this year's Fargo tournament. His older brother, Nate, had won several titles at the event, but injuries the past two summers meant Nick didn't get a chance to join him as a National champion.

Nick Moore got a final chance at high school glory this week and took advantage of it, with a dominating run through the 160-pound bracket.

After beating teammate Michael Kelly in the final round robin bout Friday night, Moore set his sights on Robert Kokesh of South Dakota in the finals.

Moore went to work early, scoring a takedown and turns for a quick 5-0 lead. Kokesh scored a takedown off a front headlock by Moore later in the period. The next time he tried that move, he would end up on his back, as Moore was ready for it and tossed Kokesh to the mat and earned the fall for the National title.

"I just wanted to win. I kind of shut down when I got up by five," Moore said. "He's good in that position when you have the front headlock."

Moore said the main reason he came back to Fargo for a last time was to get his hands on the big octagon-shaped award.

"I've never won this tournament and never got one of those big stop signs," he joked. "I got hurt twice and have had limited chances to win this tournament. It's been the main fire in my stomach. I wanted to win this really bad."

As for the big win over teammate Kelly the night before to reach the finals, Moore said he couldn't think of Kelly as a teammate during the match.

"You take it out of it. If you want to win this tournament you have to beat everybody," he said. "You have to take emotion out of it, because he's going to. That's one more edge he would have."

Ballweg and Moore now take their talents to the University of Iowa and join older brothers in the program.

RUNNER-UP FINISHES
Riley fell behind Morgan McIntosh of California 3-0 early in the first period and then was taken down again for a 4-0 deficit. McIntosh wrapped up a standing leg lace and turned Riley over to his back for the fall in 1:10.

Krumwiede was taken down by Tanner Hall of Idaho to fall behind 1-0 in the first period. Hall got two points for a turn, but Krumwiede finished on top with Hall on his back for two points of his won, for a 3-2 Hall lead.

The two went to their feet for the rest of the period, where Krumwiede was unable to mount an attack in a 3-2 loss.

In the second period, Hall took Krumwiede down again early and trapped the arm. He turned him once for a 3-0 lead and on the second turn, he held Krumwiede on his back for the touch fall in 38 seconds.

MEDAL MATCHES
Jay Fresh got a very busy afternoon for team Iowa started in the seventh-place match at 98. He took on Izaak Tobin of Oregon.

Fresh scored the first point of the match with a first-period takedown and held off a push out attempt in the final seconds for the 1-0 period win. Tobin dominated the next two periods, 4-1 and 6-0, to win the seventh-place bout.

Colby Knight of Iowa stepped onto the seventh-place mat next at 105 against Michael Bedard of North Carolina.

Knight scored an early takedown and used leg laces for turns for a 4-0 lead. The first period would end with that same score. Bedard scored an early takedown of the second, trapped Knight's arm and turned him several times for a quick 7-0 victory to force a third period.

In the third, Knight gave up the first point on a push out, but scored a takedown later on to knot the score at 1-1. There was no more scoring the rest of the match and Knight won the period based on scoring the last point, to earn the seventh-place medal.

A pair of Iowans battled for medals at 112. Dylan Peters met Derek Elmore of Illinois for third-place honors and Cory Clark faced Jordan Kingsley of Minnesota in the fifth-place match.

Peters was dominated in the first period, losing by a 7-0 score.

The Denver-Tripoli State champ scored a pair of takedowns to start the second period for a 2-0 lead, but Elmore scored two points on a lift to tie the score. A reversal by Peters gave him a 3-2 period win.

In the third and deciding period, Peters hit a big double leg takedown to send Elmore to his back for three points. That came with 25 seconds left in the match and Peters went on to the 3-0 period win to take the bronze medal.

"I knew going in if I could survive the first period I'd be strong in the next two," Peters said. "I'm happy with third. After getting beat in Greco, it's just nice being on the podium."

On the next mat over, Clark scored a workmanlike win over Kingsley for the fifth-place award. A Clark takedown with 35 seconds left in the first period gave him a 1-0 period win. In the second, Clark went on top 1-0 with an early takedown and added two more takedowns later in the period for a 3-0 period win to take the match.

Peters said the two friends were glad they didn't meet in a place match to end the tournament.

"We're kind of glad we didn't have to wrestle each other," Peters said. "We roomed together this week and didn't want to end the week wrestling each other."

At 119, Eric DeVos matched up against Conor Youtsey of Michigan in the seventh-place bout.

Youtsey scored an early takedown in the first and second periods for 1-0 leads and used a defensive strategy to keep DeVos away from his legs, for a pair of 1-0 wins. DeVos had to settle for the eighth-place medal.

Michael Kelly faced Steven Keogh of Minnesota in the third-place match at 160. Kelly dropped a tough match the night before to Iowa teammate Moore and had to settle for a chance at the bronze.

Kelly obviously didn't let the loss the night before effect him, as he drilled Keogh in two periods.

Kelly scored an early takedown in the first period and added two more for a 3-0 first period win. In the second, Kelly had a takedown and turn early on for a 4-0 lead and tacked on two more takedowns to end the period and the match with a 6-0 win.

Two Iowans were scheduled to hit the mats at 171. Evan Knight faced Stephen McPeek of Texas in the third-place bout and Mike England met Patrick Rhoads of Missouri for fifth-place honors.

Knight suffered an injured eye in Friday night's session and was not able to compete and had to settle for fourth-place honors in his final trip to Fargo.

England scored an early takedown and added another for a quick 2-0 lead. A leg lace turn made it 4-0. England tossed Rhoads to his back late in the first period and was awarded the fall with a second left in the period for the fifth-place award.

"I just wanted to finish off with a win and sixth didn't sound good to me," the Centerville prep said. "I just ended up in a good position and tried hard to get it."

England started the tournament with a loss, but had a shot at the finals in his last match Friday night. A loss there dropped him into the fifth-place bout, but he was still pleased with his tournament.

"At the very start of the tournament I don't know what happened that first match," he said. "I regrouped after that and came back and wrestled well the rest of the tournament."

The final Iowan to wrestle on the outside place mats was 285-pounder Austin Blythe. He took on Derek Papagianopoulos of Massachusetts for third-place honors.

Blythe was taken down for the only point of the first period and then got taken down out of bounds to his back in the second in a 0-1, 0-3 loss. Blythe just had trouble getting any offense going against the smaller wrestler and had to settle for fourth place.

The Williamsburg two-time State champ said this will likely be his last trip to Fargo, as he plans on heading to Iowa City after his senior season to get ready to play football for the Hawkeyes.