Status: Fini

Twenty-six of Louisiana's up-and-coming wrestling stars made the trip to the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls to compete in the Bantam, Novice, Intermediate and Schoolboy Divisions of the USAW Cliff Keen Folkstyle Nationals this weekend.  The kids represented the New Orleans Wrestling Club, the Northeast Louisiana Wrestling Club, Team Louisiana and the Tiger Wrestling Club.

Many only competed in two matches on Saturday, but, like the Cadets and Juniors who finished their only day of wrestling on Friday, the experience of wrestling in a national tournament and in the UNI-Dome, an air-supported roofed stadium which has held as many as 22,000 fans for wrestling events, made the trip worth the 1,000+ mile drive.

The University of Northern Iowa Uni-Dome

Two Louisiana wrestlers earned All-American status in the Kids Groups. Nicholas Digerolamo (Team Louisiana) placed seventh in the Bantam 70 lbs. weight class.  He reached the quarterfinals with a 2:40 fall over a wrestler from North Dakota.  He lost his next two matches, but his Saturday advancement put him in the position to qualify for the 7th place match which he won 4-2 over Stone Thornton, the opponent he beat in the first round in 2:42.  (Bracket) Landon Reaux (Team Louisiana) placed 8th in the Intermediate 50 lbs. class.  He lost his first match but then scored wins of 16-0 and 6-0 over two opponents from Wisconsin.  On Sunday he lost to Minnesota's Koy Buesgens 5-2, but his Saturday wins still put him in the seventh-place match.  There he lost 7-0 to Missouri's Luke Lilledahl, but his 2-3 record was enough for eighth place and All-American status. (Bracket) Seven of the young grapplers won a match before being eliminated in the double-elimination tournament format. In his first match Eli Larriere (NOWC) defeated an Illinois opponent by a major 11-1 decision.  In his second match Zachary Drake (Team Louisiana) pinned a Wyoming opponent in 1:38.  Brady Butler (Tiger Wrestling Club) won his first match 4-0 over a north Dakota opponent and was leading 7-5 in his second before losing via a last second score by his opponent from Wyoming.  Colton Sonnier won his second match, over a Wisconsin opponent, via a nail-biting 7-6 decision.  Reed Bergeron (Team Louisiana) won his second match via a fall in 2:12.  Somewhat unfortunately though, that victory was over fellow Louisiana competitor Nathan Henderson (Northeast Louisiana).  Louisiana lightening (not the Ron Guidry kind, sadly) struck twice as Freddy Rice (Northeast Louisiana) second match win, a fall in 2:35, was over Northeast Louisiana teammate Landin McCoy.

A table of the wrestlers, their club associations, age groups and weight classes may be found below.  (An asterisk after wrestlers' names indicates that the LA Wrestling News editor was unable to find any match information pertaining to those individuals.)

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