The 2016 Fargo Nationals tournament starts July 16. You can watch the week-long extravaganza here.

Today we shift our focus back to 2007 Cadet 119. What I found most interesting about this tournament are the number of big names who didn't place.

Top Half:
Josh Kindig - PA boy Kindig won the top half going 9-0 beating Louis Trujillo.
Louis Trujillo - The New Mexico native went 8-1 falling only to Kindig. Trujillo knocked off Ian Fisher, Tanner Weatherman and Ryan Stahl.
Ryan Stahl - Indiana’s own came in for this half going 7-2 losing to Louis Trujillo and Josh Kindig. Stahl knocked off Joe Locksmith and Ian Fisher.
Ian Fisher - Coming in 4th here with a 6-2 record, FIsher fell to Stahl and Trujillo.

Bottom Half:
Tony Ramos - 8-0 on his side beating Daniel Deshazer, Bret Baumbach, RaVaughn Perkins, Derek Steeley and Chris Villalonga
Chris Villalonga - 7-1 falling only to Ramos. Chris knocked off Justin LaValle and Bret Baumbach.
Bret Baumbach - 5-2 losing to Villalonga and Ramos. Baumbach beat Nick Wilcox among others to finish 3rd in his half.
Derek Steeley - 5-2 in his half beating RaVaughn Perkins and losing to Ramos and Anthony Curcio.

The Placers:
1. Josh Kindig - NCAA Finalist for Oklahoma State
2. Tony Ramos - NCAA Champion for Iowa
3. Chris Villalonga - NCAA All American for Cornell, 4 time Prep National Champ
4. Louis Trujillo - Multiple state champ from New Mexico.
5. Bret Baumbach - NCAA Qualifier for Stanford.
6. Ryan Stahl - Purdue wrestler, 2x Indiana All-State wrestler.
7. Derek Steeley - Oklahoma State Champion.
8. Ian Fisher - 4x State champ from Oklahoma.

Amazing Also-Rans:
Ian Miller - NCAA All American and University Champ went 1-2, getting pinned twice by Ryan Arne and Chris Dardanes.
Chris Dardanes - NCAA All American who finished 2-2 here losing to Kyle Komata and Vinny Gallegos.
Nick Dardanes - NCAA All American who was 3-2 here falling to Justin LaValle and Mike Moreno while beating Chase Nelson.
Mike Moreno - Another NCAA All American who went 2-2 here losing to Justin LaValle and Josh Keszler.
Jake Sueflohn - Probably the best  NCAA wrestler to not place in the last few years. He’s beaten some monsters. He was 0-2 here losing to Anthony Curcio and Tracy Huffman.
RaVaughn Perkins - Senior World Team Member, Olympic trials champion who was 4-2 here falling to Tony Ramos and Derek Steeley.
Nick Wilcox - NCAA Qualifier for Bloomsburg who wound up 3-2 losing to Travis Metcalf and Bret Baumbach.
Tanner Weatherman - Round of 12 at NCAA’s for ISU who was 4-2 falling to Allen Tate III and Louis Trujillo. Weatherman did knock off Taylor Walsh.
Taylor Walsh - NCAA finalist and pin leader went 1-2 losing to Weatherman and Nick Nelson.

So there it is, the bracket dissected. In hindsight the DNP list is potentially more impressive than the list of guys who placed. It speaks to how competitive this tournament is and how far some of these guys have come in a few years.

Speaking of Tony Ramos...

Tony Ramos Ep. 1: The Kid Likes To Fight

Ramos Ep. 2

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