Fargo 16U & Junior Nationals Recap

Team New York brought home a total of 14 All-Americans across all styles over the past week in Fargo. The 6 All-Americans that the 16U Men's Freestyle team put on the podium was the most All-Americans that the 16U Men's Freestyle team has brought home since the 2016 Fargo tournament (10 All-Americans). New York natives now earning Fargo All-American honors in back to back years are Charlie Wylie, Victoria Alvarado, Peyton Mullin, Cam Howard, Will Soto, and Dunia Sibomana.

Camryn Howard put the country on notice this week as the #1 in-state recruit in the Class of 2028 put on a clinic in the 16U MFS 157 lbs bracket. Howard outscored his opponents 52-4 en route to the semifinals where he then knocked off two nationally ranked opponents in Justus Heeg and Asher Bacon the rest of the way to come home atop the podium. Howard follows up a 3rd place Fargo finish in 2024 with the big stop sign in 2025. He continues to show everyone why he is considered to be one of the top 10 recruits in the entire country for the 2028 class.

Gigi Sullivan made the 16U National Finals in her first Fargo appearance, and did so before her freshman year of high school even begins. She has the potential to be the first woman to win multiple Fargo National Championships since Alexis Porter in the coming years. Fargo history for those that do not know - Porter was a 3x Fargo champ (2012 16U 143 lbs, 2013 JR 148 lbs, 2014 JR 148 lbs). Someone who has recently placed at Fargo before their freshman year of high school is Cam Howard, and if that foreshadows anything about Gigi, she is well on her way to being etched into New York wrestling history books. She is already a superstar recruit!

Albeit competing for Team New Jersey, Charlie Wylie followed up her Fargo National Title in 2024 with runner-up honors in 2025. She outscored her competition 53-5 on her way to her second consecutive national finals appearance and continues to show the United States why she is widely considered a top 20 pound-for-pound women wrestler on the high school prep circuit.

Finnegan O'Brien is a top 75 recruit in the country in the Class of 2028 and at Fargo showed that even at top 75 he's still overlooked. He knocked off Blake Nevills of Idaho (#29 recruit in Class of 2028, Folkstyle Nationals Champ, State Champ) and also notched wins over Cael Puderbaugh of Kansas who took 6th at the 15U US Open. Other wins include Thomas Lindsay (#122 recruit in Class of 2028) and Gabe Bjerga (#55 recruit in Class of 2029) en route to his national finals appearence.

Stone cold Will Soto followed up on a 6th place finish from a year ago with a Fargo National Finals appearance this year. Soto is a top 100 recruit in the country and knocked off Arav Pandey (#18 recruit in Class of 2029) and Michael Bernambe (#73 recruit in Class of 2029) before his big win over nationally ranked Cruz Gannon of Iowa (#19 at 106 lbs).

Anthony Valls missed the entire 2024-25 high school season due to an injury, but was cleared to come back just in time for the Freestyle and Greco circuit this summer. Valls ended up looking as good as ever en route to winning the Jeff Blatnick in both Freestyle and Greco. He then followed that up by placing in the 16U Men's Greco-Roman tournament with a 5th place finish. Anthony Valls is Chenango Valley's first Fargo All-American since 2003 (Scott Dayton - 16U MFS, 84 lbs, 8th place).

Landyn Shaffer came in as the 22nd seed of the 16U Men's Freestyle tournament and went on an absolute tear, making it all the way to the national finals. He had some crazy good wins over Weston Borgers (ranked 18th in the country at 144 lbs), Riker O'Hearon (#20 recruit in the class of 2028, Utah state champ), and Joe Whitford (#16 recruit in the class of 2029, NHSCA 4th). Shaffer's sole loss came to Jovani Solis who is nationally ranked on all major wrestling outlets.

Maverick Beckwith missed weight at 138 lbs as he weighed in at 138.2, thus he was forced to wrestle up at 144 lbs, which was 20 lbs over his 2024-25 in-season competition weight. Beckwith still notched premier wins over Ross Davis (MO State 2nd), Jackson Paulsen (MO State 5th), Hunter Avalos (National Preps 7th), and James Anderson (OK State 4th) en route to his first Fargo All-American honors.

After finishing fourth at the New York state tournament in February, Caitlin Maragioglio has gone on quite the run this summer, and her stock has certainly gone up. Maragioglio finished 2nd at the Jeff Blatnick and did so wrestling up two weight classes, then she finished 3rd at the Phil Portugese and in doing so avenged her loss to Noli Paddock from the Jeff Blatnick. Maragioglio wrestled down at 125 lbs at Fargo and came in as the #8 seed. She outplaced her seed, finishing in 6th place!

Victoria Alvarado and Peyton Mullin are now multiple time Fargo All-Americans. Gabrielle Severin came one match shy of All-American honors in the junior girls division, which begs the question of how is Victoria Alvarado still not in the national rankings? Both Sara Pauls and Lily Blenk both came two matches short of All-American honors.

Controversially falling short of placement in the Junior Men's Freestyle division, Dunia Sibomana bounced back in Greco and outscored his opponents 49-7 en route to the semifinals and a second All-American berth in Greco. His only two losses came as 7-5 and 4-4 (criteria) scores.

Jake Nieto, now at Massapequa, came up a couple matches short of All-American honors in Freestyle but broke through in Greco placing 6th in the nation. Hans Wiederkehr (Schalmont) won six (!) matches on the backside of the bracket to secure All-American honors at heavyweight in Greco.

James Capasso (Ballston Spa) placed 8th in 16U MFS and his biggest win was over Isaac Barrientos of Illinois, who placed 5th at the state tournament this year. He also notched a solid win over Ben Marques of New Jersey who was a state qualifier in the single class state this year.

Brennan Sprague (Monsignor Farrell) went on quite the run in Greco and most notably beat Titan Friederichs who is currently ranked 15th in the entire country. Sprague's only losses came to Paliku Chang (Hawaii) and Boden Banta (Idaho) who took 2nd and 3rd in the bracket.

As this years 16U Men's Freestyle team podiumed the most All-American since the 10 All-Americans in 2016, let's look back on those All-Americans below.

Fargo History - 16U Men's Freestyle All-Americans

Terry Adams (Monsignor Farrell), 8th at 100 lbs
Greg Diakomihalis (Hilton), 3rd at 106 lbs
Dylan Ryder (Half Hollow Hills West), 8th at 106 lbs
Adam Busiello (Eastport South-Manor), 6th at 113 lbs
Jacori Teemer (Long Beach), 1st at 132 lbs
Kiernan Shanahan (Shenendehowa), 6th at 138 lbs
Frankie Gissendanner (Penfield), 1st at 152 lbs
Jacob Logan (New Rochelle), 6th at 160 lbs
Tyler Barnes (Ballston Spa), 2nd at 170 lbs
Jayson Gomez (Eagle Academy), 7th at 285 lbs

And now this years Fargo All-Americans.

Junior Women Freestyle‍

*110 lbs - Charlie Wylie (Port Jervis), 2nd

16U Women Freestyle

105 lbs - Gigi Sullivan (Monroe Woodbury), 2nd
125 lbs - Caitlin Maragioglio (Bellport), 6th
145 lbs - Victoria Alvarado (Warwick), 6th
235 lbs - Peyton Mullin (Dundee), 6th‍

Junior Men Freestyle‍

*165 lbs - Liam Carlin (Burnt Hills / Green Farms Academy), 4th

16U Men Freestyle

157 lbs - Camryn Howard (Bellport), 1st
106 lbs - William Soto (Newburgh), 2nd
132 lbs - Finnegan O'Brien (Chaminade), 2nd
138 lbs - Landyn Shaffer (Deposit-Hancock), 2nd
144 lbs - Maverick Beckwith (Norwich), 7th
175 lbs - James Capasso (Ballston Spa), 8th

Junior Men Greco-Roman

120 lbs - Dunia Sibomana (Long Beach), 4th

16U Men Greco-Roman

120 lbs - Anthony Valls (Chenango Valley), 5th
138 lbs - Jake Nieto (Massapequa), 6th
285 lbs - Hans Wiederkehr (Schalmont), 8th

* Charlie Wylie competed for Team New Jersey while Liam Carlin competed for Team Connecticut. Their results did not go toward New York medal count.