Junior Duke Pickett exclaimed a victorious yell after stunning the partisan crowd of veteran Fargo wrestling junkies with a breath taking 3 period victory over Dylan Ness (top ranked 145 pounder in the united states, and scholarship athlete going to U of Minn next month).  Within minutes college coaches were asking me “who is Duke Pickett….what are his grades like?” .  These types of performances in Fargo are what get unknown wrestlers suddenly thrust into the national wrestling limelight.  Now standing in Pickett’s path to be an all-american is undefeated Kaleb Friedley of Missourri.  Jake Smith fell in his first match of the morning to Evan Silver (#1 ranked 112 pound wrestler in the US) and then again to Dylan Peters of Iowa to end his quest of becoming an all-american.  Also falling short in his bid was 119 pounder Caleb Richardson, who lost two excruciatingly close matches in this mornings action.  145 pounder Josh Clark came in with 1 loss and picked up his second loss to end the tourney with a 4-2 record.

Pickett will wrestle for 7th place in the Junior FS Medal matches after losing to his Missourri opponent and finishing 4th in his pool