IA Wrestle Fargo Recruit Preview

Since we have officially hit on all of the native Iowans that will be attending the Fargo National Championship, which starts tomorrow (!!), we can get into the recruits that will be attending as well. I have reached out to quite a few of the recruits to get some confirmation that they are going, but I will admit I didn’t get a chance to talk to all of the recruits from all three universities. I have only removed recruits that have confirmed with me they are not headed to Fargo.

Hawkeyes:

One of the lead candidates will be Mike Kemerer, who talked with us a little bit about how much a Fargo title would mean to him after pursuing it all these years (interview to come later). Kemerer will be moving up to 152 pound for Fargo, a weight that will feature one of the biggest names in the 2016 recruiting class in Mason Manville. The returning Junior National Champion, Manville will be a tough task for Kemerer to go through, but the old adage of to be the best you have to beat the best will apply.

Sophomore Jason Renteria will be a name to watch in the Cadet 120 pound field in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. He went a combined 9-0 at the Cadet National Duals, and was able to get a big win en route to Illinois’s freestyle team title. Retneria is just getting back to training in the International styles after focusing on folkstyle for the better part of the last few years, so he is still a little rough around the edges. That said he has said he is focused on doubling up this weekend, but knows he needs to take things one match at a time.

This will be Wisconsin’s Jeremiah Moody first crack at the Junior National tournament after competing in Cadets for the past few seasons. Last year Moody took fourth in freestyle and third in Greco-Roman Cadet tournaments. Moody is a wrestler that has only recently taken to the sport full-time and with that leaves plenty of room for development. It will be interesting to see how he measures up against the Juniors.

Panthers:

As you can see, the Panthers have a rather small out of state recruiting class (mainly because the instate talent Schwab landed was insane), but Paden Moore of Minnesota will be back for one last chance at a Fargo title in the 160 pound bracket. Last year Moore was hit with two hard losses. The first being to Iowan breakout Bryce Steiert with a 2-0 loss and then he suffered another loss to Oklahoma standout out Joe Smith. Moore has had a solid 2015 season, winning a state title for Jackson Central and hopefully he can go out on a high note before joining the Panthers.

Cyclones:

Once again Cyclone fans will have a vested interest in how Missouri native Colston DiBlasi performs in the 160 weight class. DiBlasi was at 152 pounds last summer and he just missed out on making the stand in both Greco-Roman and freestyle. During the folkseason we saw DiBlasi shift around between 160 and 170, and it looks like he is good to go for 160 next week. Up until this year he was a wrestler that was nationally ranked at his weight so he also has a pinch of the underdog feel to him. Any opponent that tries to look past a match with DiBlasi could pay for it.