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 On July 19th, North Carolina's National team traveled to Fargo, North Dakota to the Cadet and Junior National Championships. The tournament is the pinnacle of high school wrestling. Imagine yourself, as a high school wrestler, competing with another state's top wrestler, and when the match is over you shake the hand of your opponent's coach. This is something every wrestler does many times in his career. At Fargo though, this coach might be an Olympic Champion like Kenny Monday (Team Texas) or Jeff Blantnick (Team New York). They could be a former NCAA National Champion like Daryl Weber (Team Virginia) or one of the many college coaches on staff for several of the state teams.
The event is held in the Fargo Dome at North Dakota State University. This is the school's indoor football stadium. In the Fargo Dome, there are twenty-five wrestling mats on the floor. The mat in the center is raised four feet off the ground, and it is used for the championship match during the All-American placing round of competition.
The freestyle and Greco-roman National Tournament at Fargo, North Dakota is the most prestigious event a high school wrestler can participate in. This event features over 4,000 of the best high school wrestlers in the country, and it is the largest tournament in the world for high school wrestlers. The wrestlers compete over a six day period for All-American honors. To achieve this, they have to place in the top eight of their weight class. Many of these weight classes have one hundred or more top level wrestlers in it. The event is watched closely by college recruiters across the country. To become an All-American in Fargo is an honor that can propel a high school wrestler to a college scholarship.
For many of the wrestlers at Fargo, this was an eye opening experience. For some others, it was just another match where they were vying for national exposure and All-American honors. Last Thursday, two North Carolina wrestlers earned All-American honors at this event.
 Chris Bullins (160lbs) of McMichael high school was North Carolina's top recruit in 2007. He earned double All-American honors for the second consecutive year. Last year at Fargo, Bullins placed sixth in Greco-roman and seventh in freestyle. At this year's tournament, Bullins finished seventh in Greco-roman, and he was the National Runner-up in freestyle. His freestyle bracket had 92 wrestlers with many of these having earned All-American honors the past two years. Bullins defeated eight wrestlers in freestyle; four were All-Americans including Greco-roman National Runner-up and double All-American, Alec Ortez of Oregon. In freestyle, Bullins only lost a close (1-0, 1-0) match in the finals to Scott Winston of New Jersey. Bullins was a four-time North Carolina high school state champion. He was coached in high school by his father Jon, and he helped lead his McMichael team mates to the state 2A dual team championships in his freshman and senior seasons. Bullins will wrestle for UNC Greensboro this fall.
Jacob Earp also earned All-American honors at Fargo. He is a rising senior at Watauga high school. Earp was a FILA All-American in April, and he competed with the FILA National Team in Germany this past June. Earp finished the freestyle tournament with a (6-3) record placing eighth in the 135lb weight class. This bracket featured 101 wrestlers. Earp did not compete in the Greco-roman tournament. He is one of the top wrestling recruits in North Carolina for 2008. Earp was an undefeated high school state champion in 2006, but missed the 2007 high school season due to an injury.
Two other wrestlers competed well in the Fargo Nationals. Austin Trotman finished (5-2) in the 95 man 171lb bracket in freestyle. Trotman is a two-time high school state champion for Mt Tabor high school. He will compete for Appalachian State in the fall. Phillip Goodwin of South Point finished (4-2) in Greco-roman competition. His only losses were to the tournaments fourth place and sixth place All-Americans. Goodwin injured his knee in his first freestyle match and had to injury default from the tournament. Goodwin is a two-time high school state champion, and he will wrestle for Gardner-Webb this fall.
For full results of all North Carolina's National Team members you can go to the Intermat web site at:
http://www.intermatwrestle.com/intl/fargo07/fargohome.aspx
For North Carolina wrestling news and information on the state's top wrestlers you can go to the NC Wrestling Scout Report web site at:
http://www.ncwrestlingscoutreport.com/index.php
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