Short Time from Fargo: Phase II Greco & Juniors – Short Time Ep. 81

There was a lot to take in on Tuesday at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota. We had Greco-Roman Phase II World Team Trials, Junior Greco-Roman Finals and Junior Women’s freestyle finals. Tuesday’s the craziest day here in Fargo, so sit back, relax and take your time, because it’s time for another Fargo Update coming up NOW on the Short Time Wrestling Podcast. LET’S START BY GETTING INTO ALL OF THIS STUFFThe Army's Justin Lester made his seventh U.S. World Team with two straight victories over Pat Smith of the Minnesota Storm in the Phase II Trials at 71kg. Lester, a World bronze medalist in 2006 and 2007, made things look easy in the first match of the best-of-three series, teching Smith 9-0 in 54 seconds. The second time around, it was a bit more of a battle as Lester got past Smith 2-1. Smith took the early lead with a pushout, but Lester matched him with a pushout of his own to effectively take the lead. Smith tried pushing the pace, but Lester tacked on a pushout with 32 seconds remaining to cement his lead and join the team heading to Uzbekistan in September. Joe Rau, who won a Junior Greco-Roman title for Illinois back in 2009, earned a spot on the U.S. World Team at 80kg after defeating 2012 Olympian Ben Provisor in two straight matches. Rau beat Provisor in the first match 1-0 with the decisive point coming on Provisor's second caution. In the second match, Rau, wrestling for the Minnesota Storm, used a pushout from a front headlock position in the first period. It would be the only point of the match as Rau would again win 1-0. It's Rau's second World Team berth of the summer. He recently competed at the World University Championships in Hungary at 85kg.JUNIOR GRECOCalifornia's Randon Miranda started out the night with a 14-4 techincal fall victory over Connecticut's Zack Murillo at 100 pounds. Miranda captured the second leg of the Junior Triple Crown. He won the Folkstyle Nationals earlier this year. Miranda led from start to finish, but got in trouble early after Murillo stepped over and put Miranda to his back. Miranda built a 7-2 lead until Murillo stepped over again, but Miranda avoided trouble and then scored three more takedowns to ice the victory.Arizona's Danny Vega won the state's ninth overall Junior Greco-Roman title with a 7-2 victory over Todd Small of Georgia at 106. At the Cadet level, Vega as second in Greco last year and won a freestyle championship. Like Miranda, he's still eligible to win the Triple Crown after winning Folkstyle Nationals earlier this year. Idaho's Dorian Sapien took home the title at 113 pounds with a 12-6 victory over Kansas' Corbin Nirschl. Sapien fell behind early, but hit a big four-point armspin that changed the pace of the match. Sapien won Idaho's ninth all-time Junior Greco-Roman title. Skyler Petry's stellar summer continued as the Minnesota native topped New Jersey's Anthony Cefolo 2-1 at 120 pounds. Petry scored a takedown early in the match and only gave up a late point. Petry, bound for the University of Minnesota, becomes Minnesota's 34th Junior Greco-Roman champion. Utah's Taylor Lamont wrestled up to the Junior level and came away with a national title. Lamont doesn't compete on Sundays, and he's still in the Cadet age group, so since the Junior tournament started on Monday, he competed there and it didn't seem to make much difference. At 126 pounds Lamont fell behind early to Kegan Calkins of Illinois, but after Lamont tied it up with a takedown, he launched Calkins with a nice reverse lift for five points. It's all the scoring that would take place in Lamont's 7-2 win. New York's William Koll picked up a title with a punishingly dominant 11-0 victory at 132 pounds over New Jersey's William Kui. Koll countered a headlock attempt to get a takedown, then hit a big five pointer to build a 7-0 lead. Koll then finished Kui off scoring a takedown and a two-point gutwrench. Koll is the son of Cornell head coach Rob Koll.Want an ad-free version of the show AND the best in wrestling news from around the world? Sign up for the Daily Wrestling Newsletter presented by Resilite on Substack at https://www.mattalkonline.com/news Links to FollowJoin the Discord: https://www.mattalkonline.com/discordDaily Wrestling Newsletter: https://www.mattalkonline.com/newsContribute: https://www.mattalkonline.com/contributePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/mattalkonline The Short Time Time Wrestling Podcast is proudly supported by Compound Sportswear: https://www.mattalkonline.com/compound Quick Subscribe: https://www.Podfollow.com/shorttime