Greenbrier girls wrestling coach, Donell Bradley will be coaching Team Georgia’ women’s team and helping with the men’s squad at the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Wrestling Junior and 16u Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota next week.
Joining her will be 10 wrestlers from the CSRA.
On the women’s side, it will be Greenbrier’s Jordan Epstein (100) JR Freestyle and Esperanza Huitron (120) JR Freestyle.
The eight competitors from the men’s side are as follows: Yasser Valdez (106) 16U Freestyle, David Mathieu (132) 16U Freestyle and Greco-Roman, Jack Mathieu (165) JR Freestyle and Greco-Roman, Cian Birtwistle (215) JR Freestyle and Greco-Roman, Karter Watson (132) JR Freestyle and Greco-Roman, Caleb Hatcher (144) 16U Freestyle and Sebastian Melendez (157) JR Freestyle and Greco-Roman, all from Greenbrier, with Nathaniel Lowe (175) JR Greco-Roman, representing Harlem.
Melendez, Epstein and Watson will wrestle next season at Huntington, Newberry and Montreat colleges, respectfully.
The USMC Nationals, aka “Fargo,” is the largest junior-level wrestling tournament in the country. The tournament contains four different divisions for wrestlers to compete in: 16U Men, Junior Men, 16U Women and Junior Women.
Within the men’s division, grapplers can compete in two different styles: Freestyle and Greco-Roman. These styles differ vastly in comparison to the normal Folkstyle wrestling that most are used to seeing at the high school and college levels.
For example, in Folkstyle and Freestyle wrestling are similar in that wrestlers can use their entire body to gain, employing leg trips and leg grabs to gain a competitive edge. But in Greco-Roman style, wrestlers can only use their upper body and cannot grab legs or use legs for attacks.
Scoring wise, wrestlers are awarded points for takedowns, reversals and exposures, which is turning an opponent’s back to the mat, as well as escapes. Similar to scoring in Folkstyle, with the addition of riding time. Scoring for Greco-Roman wrestling is focused on throwing and upper-body techniques.
The women’s division will only consist of Freestyle wrestling.
Of the 10 wrestlers heading to Fargo next week, only four — Huitron, Epstein, Melendez, and Mathieu — will be making a return trip from last year’s tournament.
Huitron went 0-2 in last year’s tournament, but Epstein made a solid run in 2023, winning three straight bouts after dropping her second-round match before eventually losing her last match and finishing the tournament with a 4-2 record.
On the men’s side, Mathieu went 0-2 in Freestyle and 3-2 in Greco-Roman in 2023. Melendez finished the tournament with a 1-2 record in what was considered the toughest weight class.
The women’s action will start on Saturday, July 13 with matches wrapping up on Sunday night. The men will start right after on Monday, July 14 and will conclude with the championship matches on a raised mat in the middle of the FargoDome, on Saturday, July 20.
Sending 10 wrestlers to a tournament of this magnitude is a big deal for an area that is not widely known for its wrestling scene, and for Bradley — an avid proponent of growing high school wrestling’s footprint both locally and beyond — she sees it as a major sign of progress.
“I am happy to see where we are coming as an area,” Bradley said. “The number of competitors we have had in the last few years, it shows where we are going, and people are starting to take notice.”
Every match will be streamed on FloWrestling.org, where you can follow along through the brackets or purchase a subscription to watch the matches live.
