Image Courtesy Richard Immel http://www.rimmelpics.com

Six North Dakotans remain, with West Fargo’s Jared Franek Hettinger’s Kyle Burwick and Belcourt’s Ronald Wilkie the lone North Dakotans still in the hunt for Junior Freestyle national championships.  Ryan Ripplinger, Matt Kaylor, and Parker Wahl, all of Bismarck, also remain alive on the consolation side.  Franek and Burwick were both dominant, scoring technical fall victories in each of their victories today. Wilkie scored a 11-0 technical fall to start the day and the edged and then edged Nevada’s Connor Bourne to make the round of sixteen.

Ryan Ripplinger came within a hair of making it four North Dakotans on the championship side.  After defeating Pennsylvania’s #14 ranked Colton Camacho in the round of 64, Ripplinger led Terrell Barraclough of Utah 10-7 with under :20 seconds on the clock but was unable to hold on for the victory.  The Bismarck High three-time state champion then defeated Justin Sampson of Minnesota 8-1 to advance on the consolation side.  Matt Kaylor lost his round of 32 bout 4-1 to Santos Cantu of Oregon, but rebounded in the consolation with a 14-9 win over Illinois’s Nick Stemmet.  Parker Wahl scored a technical fall in his first bout of the championship bracket before falling to Alex Cramer of Illimois 10-0.  Down 5-2 to Shawn Modello of Ohio in the consolation, Wahl came through a scramble on top and secured a fall to advance.

All Cadet wrestlers were eliminated this morning prior to the placement rounds, with Clay Radenz of Bismarck scoring the most successful tournament at 4-2.