Five Greater Akron/Canton national champions reflect on importance of wrestling in Fargo

When the 16U and Junior Freestyle and Greco-Roman National Championships begin Saturday in Fargo, N.D., 60 wrestlers from the Greater Akron/Canton area hope to give the nation a history lesson.

That is that the area is a hotbed for wrestling and one rich in tradition of winning national titles when it heads to the Peace Garden State.

Fargo has long been a launching pad and a place to cement your legacy. CVCA’s Jordan Decatur (2015, 2016, 2018) and Nathan Tomasello (2011, 2012) won multiple titles there as did Brecksville’s Austin Assad (2014, 2015). Last season, Aurora’s Dylan Fishback won a junior freestyle title and Copley’s Javaan Yarbrough took home a 16U freestyle crown.

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The area has won 11 national titles in the past 10 years and 21 crowns in the past 30.

The national championships has long been a who’s who of future stars and last season’s NCAA Division I Tournament proved it as 56 of 80 All-Americans had backgrounds in Fargo. Included in that were eight of the 10 champions.

In the past 16 seasons, 83.3 percent of all champions competed in Fargo at some point and 79 percent of the All-Americans did as well.

But don’t take our word for it.

The event was already trending on Twitter on Monday, a full five days before the event started.

Five former national champions from the area – David Carr, Decatur, Fishback, Tomasello and Yarbrough – gave their thoughts on what Fargo meant in their development.

Here’s what they had to say:

David Carr, Perry

2017 freestyle champion

The 2021 Iowa State national champion didn’t hold back when talking about his experience of winning his junior freestyle title in Fargo.

“As far as the competition, there’s no better tournament,” Carr said. “I remember like three returning Fargo champs and had the No. 1 guy at 160 and was 152 at the time. I was bumping up. I remember thinking, ‘Holy cow.’ It was nuts.

“Just looking at the guys who wrestled at Fargo and had great success later, I knew winning that tournament would set me up for success in college. Kyle Snyder and J’den Cox wrestled at Fargo. Logan Stieber won at Fargo. You look at how they wrestle in college and win national championships and All-American. It was something in the forefront of my mind.”

Carr, who was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler, beat a national folkstyle champion in Iowa’s Austin Yant, knocked out two-time state champs in Jaryn Curry of Oklahoma and Joe Lee of Indiana and then beat Greco national champion Tyler Dow of Wisconsin for his title.

“I know for me that tournament was the most fun I’ve ever had,” Carr said. “There aren’t too many tournaments where you’re having fun all the time. You’re with the best guys in Ohio or whatever state you’re at. It’s a privilege to be on the Fargo team. You want to show out. I didn’t have a lot of pressure. I knew I wanted to win, but I wanted to wrestle my best.”

Jordan Decatur, CVCA

2015-16, 2018 freestyle champion

Decatur didn’t waste any time at all in introducing himself to the high school world. Before he ever graced the halls of CVCA he was already a national champion, having won in Fargo for Team Ohio at the Cadet level.

“Probably the biggest thing about Fargo was the exposure the young talent gets,” Decatur said. “No one has seen you wrestle when you’re young, so freestyle is what a lot of the coaches and wrestlers look forward to. That’s one of the biggest things. It’s the competition as well. You’re facing all the top competition as well. There are 125-man brackets. You’re bound to wrestle the top kids in the country.

“After winning it, say you’re a Cadet, you have three or four years more to go. There’s a big target on your back, but it gives you more motivation to do it again. You have the formula to get it done. A lot of guys thrive early on when they’re doing big things and know the format of how things go down there.”

Decatur, who currently wrestles for Ohio State, went on to win Fargo two more times and is one of only eight Ohio wrestlers to win three national titles or more.

“There are always a lot of quality guys there,” Decatur said. “To keep level-headed, I always looked at the tournament one match at a time. It was never about the end goal of winning it. Focus on the man you have next on the bracket.”

Dylan Fishback, Aurora

2021 freestyle champion

From the moment the 195-pound bracket came out, the buzz was all about Fishback, who now wrestles for North Carolina State, facing Dublin Coffman’s Seth Shumate, who currently wrestles for Ohio State.

A clash of two multi-time state champions and nationally-ranked standouts, the two were drill partners for Team Ohio and the buzz exploded in the FargoDome.

“I like to say Northeast Ohio is the densest area of wrestling in the country,” Fishback said. “There’s just a culture where you can go 20 minutes down the road, there’s so many clubs that help each other whether they’re working together or it’s the competition in general. They push each other and help each other all the time.”

Fishback dug himself a 2-0 hole, but a five-point throw eventually gave him a 6-2 advantage. He used that edge and eventually pinned Shumate for the title.

“It definitely gives a lot of confidence, let alone winning it,” Fishback said. “Placing at the tournament is huge, especially at the Junior level. It kind of proved that anyone could do it. It was what I was meant to do.”

“It’s probably one of the biggest stages in high school wrestling or at least one of them. It just gets you a lot of exposure to national level kids and especially college coaches. You can make a name for yourself with college coaches watching. It definitely prepares you for the next step in competing with those guys.”

Nathan Tomasello, CVCA

2011-13 freestyle champion, 5x All-American

It’s hard to talk about Fargo without talking about Tomasello, who is also one of the eight Team Ohio standouts to win three national titles.

“It’s the biggest thing in the summer,” Tomasello said. “Everything leads up to it and then you have a break until preseason starts [in high school]. I went five years in a row. As a Cadet, twice and as a junior three times. It’s such a cool experience when you’re in high school and before that.

“You’re representing your state and you’re with elite people. You get to wrestle with kids from all over the country. If you All-American at that or win it, you’re getting looks from different Division I schools. It’s what you dream about as a kid. It’s getting to the highest level.”

Tomasello’s road was different back then as wrestlers were put into pool brackets. That meant 13-14 match weekends and a grind that today’s wrestlers don’t see even in 128-man brackets where they wrestle seven times to win a title.

In winning Fargo three consecutive years, Tomasello, a four-time state champion, gave a sneak preview of what became a national title and four All-American showings at Ohio State.

“When you get to the finals, it’s such a surreal experience. You’re on a big stage just like the NCAA National Championships. They call you out and it makes you feel pretty awesome. It’s nerve-wracking, but it’s exciting. …Right after that, you get calls from all these college coaches.

“It’s such a special place. It’s loaded with good coaches as well as good people and kids that have big aspirations. That’s the biggest thing. You’re in the right culture and you can’t help but get better and it shows.”

Javaan Yarbrough, Copley

2021 freestyle champion 2x finalist

Yarbrough is back for more as a member of both junior freestyle and Greco teams this season, but he already knows how big Fargo is.

As a member of both 16U teams – formerly Cadet – Yarbrough made it to the finals in both styles for Team Ohio.

“It made me think about a lot more things,” Yarbrough said. “I knew I had to get my weight up and it showed me how much more physical I needed to be on the other kids. It wasn’t more stress, it was more, I’m here and now, what do I have to do from there? It made me nervous, but it made me feel like I belonged. I’ve competed with the best and now I’m one of them. I had to show why I’m there.”

Yarbrough didn’t give up a single point in freestyle until the finals where he ran into two-time national champion Haakon Peterson of Wisconsin.

Peterson scored four points, but he wound up on his back and was pinned in the finals.

Yarbrough returned to the finals in Greco, but finished second to Peterson, who avenged his earlier loss.

“In Northeast Ohio, we all make each other better,” Yarbrough said. “That’s what makes all of us good. We all get each other prepared for the tournaments. The brotherhood is big. It gets you prepared for everything so you can go out there and beat each other up.”

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Fargo was catapult for Decatur, Yarbrough, Fishback, Perry, Tomasello