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Rodriguez, Foley, Hall win USAW Folkstyle Nationals

FloNational Coverage Section

3/28 - Holt sophomore Freddie Rodriguez continued his reign of

terror as he carried his dominance from last weekend's

FloNationals carried over to the USAW Folkstyle Nationals this

weekend in Iowa.

Rodriguez, who stormed through a pair of nationally ranked

opponents to win the 103lb title at Flo last weekend, moved up a

weight this weekend but the end result was similiar as he scored

a fall, technical fall, a major decision en route the Junior 112lb

Finals. In the finals Rodriguez downed returning Cadet Double

All-American Derek Elmore of Illinois 15-9 to win the title.

The only other Michigan prep to win a title was Tyler Foley of

South Lyon who won the Junior 105lb title. Foley, who is a 2x

all-stater after finishing 6th in Division 2 at 103 this year, knocked

off returning Folkstyle Nationals All-American Luke Schroeder of

Indiana 7-1.

Freshman state champ Adam Coon came back to finish 2nd at

215lbs after losing in the semifinals 10-8 to Minnesota state

runner up Michael Kroells. Kroells was a Cadet Freestyle

All-American last year at 189lbs, finishing 3rd and beating

Coon last summer in Fargo as well. They will both likely be top guns this year in Fargo at 215lbs and could very well meet again.

Lakeshore freshman Payne Hayden, who finished 3rd in the state this year in Division 2, finished 3rd at 140lbs, dropping his quarterfinal match to another highly touted freshman in Abraham Rodriguez of Oregon, who was a state runner up this year. After losing 7-5 to Rodriguez, Hayden came all the way back with four straight wins to finish 3rd in dominant fashion with two falls and two major decisions.

Martin Rodriguez, who will be a freshman at Holt next year and a likely top candidate to contend for the 103 Division 1 state title, finished 5th at 91lbs in the Cadet division. Rodriguez lost both his matches, in the first round and consolation semifinals, to the same wrestler - Sean Russell of Georgia.

The youth age divisions of the Folkstyle Nationals were very large and featured some of the country's best up and coming grapplers.

A handful of Michiganders fared well, including 2008 MI Grappler Youth Wrestler of the Year Mark Hall who won the schoolboy 128lb title in dominant fashion. Hall, who is from Davison but was a Kentucky state runner-up this year as a 7th grader, had little troubles wrestling opponents of his own age as he scored a first round fall and then proceeded to outscore his other four opponents 46-4, including a 14-4 finals win.

Justin Oliver, who will be one of Michigan's top freshman next year, finished 2nd at Schoolboy 105lbs, losing 8-7 to Michael Olsen of Missouri in the finals. After winning his true second match, Oliver finished the tournament 6-1 in a 46 man bracket.

Below is a full list of the Michigan wrestlers who placed.

Click here for full brackets.

Michigan Placewinners

Novice

95 - Brenden McRill, 5th

Schoolboy

84 - Lincoln Olson, 6th

105 - Justin Oliver, 2nd

112 - Dillon Decker, 6th

128 - Mark Hall, 1st

Cadet

91 - Martin Rodriguez, 5th