FARGO, N.D. — The Fennimore wrestling program recently concluded another successful summer wrestling season at the US Marines Corps Cadet and Junior Greco/Freestyle National Championships at the FargoDome, July 14–22.
Five current members of the Fennimore wrestling team competed in the Greco national championships, as did former Golden Eagle Alston Nutter.
Nutter finished second at 138 pounds in the Greco Junior division, while Aiden Nutter, Mason Lull, Brody Lee, Alex Birchman and Braden Leffler each completed in the Cadet division, giving Fennimore five national qualifiers, the most of any high school represented on Team Wisonsin.
Alston Nutter, who left Fennimore High School after his sophomore year in 2016 to pursue his Olympic dreams by enrolling in Northern Michigan University’s Greco Olympic Training site program full-time.
Nutter finished his Fennimore career with a career high school record 98–7, an individual state championship and state-runner finish up, while helping the Golden Eagles win the WIAA Division 3 2016 Team State Championship.
Last month, Nutter breezed through the first five rounds of the 138-pound Junior division with victories of 12–0, 10–0, 12–2, 18–8 and 10–0 to reach the semifinals. He then blanked Oregon’s Aristotle Rockwell 8–0, before suffering an 11–9 loss to Washington’s Mason Phillips in the 138-pound championship match.
“Alston had a nice tournament,” said Steldt. “He looked great at 138 pounds and had a great tournament with some crowd appealing throws.”
Nutter’s younger brother Aiden Nutter went 6–2 and placed fifth at 120 pounds in the Cadet division.
Aiden Nutter opened the Fargo Nationals with easy victories of 8–1 and 14–4, but survived an overtime match with Illinois’ Reese Durlacher to advance.
He then defeated Oklahoma’s Ryder Ramsey 7–3 before upsetting Minnesota’s Regan Schrempp 14–10 in the quarterfinals.
Schrempp was a Minnesota state runner-up last winter. Fennimore head coach Chad Steldt called the victory over Schrempp, the biggest of Nutter’s young career.
Nutter then suffered a 12–2 loss to eventual 120-pound champion Phillip Momey of Nebraska, and fell to fourth-place finisher Brayden Roberts of West Virginia, before closing out the tournament with a 3–1 victory over Washington’s Austin Almaguer in the fifth-place match.
“Aidan had a calmness about him that gave him a great shot at winning the whole tournament,” said Steldt. “He beat several state placewinners. He came up short in the semifinals, but came back to get fifth. This was a huge stepping stone for Aiden. Calm, collective, extremely focused, all were important parts to his wrestling. And his patent pending lateral throw was superb.”
Nutter was a individual WIAA state qualifier last winter at 120 pounds.
Lull finished 2–2 at 113 pounds, as did Brody Lee at 94 pounds.
Lull placed sixth at 106 pounds at last year’s WIAA Division 3 state tournament as a freshman.
Lee, who won a Northern Plains regional title at 94 pounds earlier this summer, will be a freshman this fall at Fennimore.
Birchman (126 pounds) and Leffler (182 pounds) each went 1–2 at the Fargo Nationals.
