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Clark, Dravis help Minnesota win national titles

Park Rapids' Ashton Clark and Cody Dravis wrestled on Minnesota teams that captured national titles. Clark wrestled at 106 pounds for Minnesota Blue that won the Junior National Greco-Roman Duals June 22-23 at Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dravis wrestled at ...

Park Rapids' Ashton Clark and Cody Dravis wrestled on Minnesota teams that captured national titles.

Clark wrestled at 106 pounds for Minnesota Blue that won the Junior National Greco-Roman Duals June 22-23 at Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Dravis wrestled at 160 pounds in helping Minnesota Storm win the Cadet Greco-Roman National Duals June 15-16 at York, Pennsylvania.

Minnesota Blue won all four matches in Pool A with a 56-13 win over Indiana, a 60-6 win over South Dakota, a 55-14 win over Tennessee and a 54-16 victory over Washington. Clark won two matches by technical fall by defeating Traye Owens of Indiana 10-0 and Jeff Gross of Tennessee 10-0.

In the Gold/Silver championship bracket, Minnesota Blue defeated Florida 47-22, California 42-25, Oklahoma Red 43-22 and defending champion Illinois 42-21 in the title match. Florida's Elijah Varona defeated Clark 11-0, Oklahoma's Wyatt Adams defeated Clark 10-0 and Clark defeated Illinois' Anthony Molton 4-4 by criteria with a late arm throw and stepout.

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Dravis posted a 2-1 record in helping the Storm win a national championship.

Minnesota Storm defeated Michigan Blue 57-19, Ohio Red 43-31 and Oklahoma 39-33 in Pool D matches.

In the Gold/Silver bracket, Minnesota defeated Missouri Red 48-27, Michigan Red 43-30, Washington 41-35 and Pennsylvania Blue 37-35 in the title match. Dravis was pinned by Michigan Blue's Keegan Moore in 1:03 before defeating Ohio's Drew Butera 7-0 and pinning Michigan Red's River Shettler in 2:53.

Clark also wrestled on the Minnesota Red team that placed fourth at the Junior Freestyle National Duals June 24-25 at Tulsa.

In Pool B matches, Minnesota defeated Colorado 45-23, Tennessee 51-14, Nebraska Blue 42-24 and Oklahoma Blue 35-31. Clark defeated Tennessee's Jeff Gross 10-0 and lost to Nebraska's Tyler Cunningham 8-3 and Oklahoma's Wyatt Adams 10-0.

In the Gold/Silver bracket, Minnesota defeated Pennsylvania 44-24 and Michigan Blue 46-21 before falling to Ohio 38-25 and New Jersey 50-17 to finish in fourth place. Clark dropped matches to Pennsylvania's Jaret Lane by pin in 1:20, Michigan Blue's Ravon Foley 10-0, Ohio's Oscar Sanchez 8-2 and New Jersey's Nicholas Shutzenhofer 10-0.

Dravis was a member of the Minnesota Storm team that placed fourth at the Cadet Freestyle National Duals June 17-18 at York.

The Storm won Pool D with victories over Pennsylvania Red (61-17), Missouri Red (43-31) and Iowa Gold (43-30). Dravis defeated Pennsylvania's Austin Watkins 16-6 and lost to Missouri's Jeremiah Kent 12-0.

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In the Gold/Silver bracket, Minnesota defeated California 54-20 before falling to Pennsylvania Blue 37-35. The Storm rebounded to defeat Michigan Red 39-36 before falling to New Jersey Red 44-30 for fourth place. Dravis pinned Michigan's River Shettler in 43 seconds and was pinned by New Jersey's Chris Foca in 5:30.

Park Rapids' Justin Dravis wrestled at 170 pounds for Minnesota Red that placed third in the Red/Blue Division at the Junior Freestyle National Duals and sixth at the Junior Greco-Roman National Duals.

At the Junior Freestyle National Duals, Minnesota lost to Michigan Blue 38-26, defeated Utah Red 60-9, lost to Kansas Blue 46-22 and defeated Oklahoma Red 36-30 to finish fifth in Pool D matches. Dravis lost to Michigan's Tyler Morland 10-0 and pinned Utah's Tanner Shields in 4:08.

In the Red/Blue bracket, Minnesota lost to Texas Blue 38-31 before defeating Tennessee 36-29, Indiana Gold 47-22 and Nebraska Blue 39-29 to finish third. Dravis lost a 10-0 decision to Jose Taylor in the Texas match.

During the Junior National Greco-Roman Duals, Minnesota Red defeated Arizona 32-31, lost to Ohio 51-16, defeated North Carolina 51-15 and lost to California 37-27 to place fourth in Pool C. Dravis defeated Arizona's Jason Moore 10-1, lost to Ohio's Victor Marcelli 10-0 and pinned California's Juan Rosales in 5:18.

Minnesota wrestled in the Bronze/Copper bracket and lost to North Dakota Blue 40-29, defeated Missouri 39-31, lost to Kansas 39-26 and lost to Nebraska Blue 39-26 to finish sixth. Dravis defeated North Dakota's Dale Silman 15-5 and lost a pair of 10-0 decisions to Missouri's Charley Genislo and Nebraska's Andrew Null.

"Minnesota always does well in these tournaments, usually placing in the top five," said Park Rapids head wrestling coach Matt Clark, who served as a coach on Minnesota's Junior team. "Ashton, Cody and Justin have made multiple National Dual teams over the years, but I think this is the first time we've ever had any Park Rapids kids on a national championship team."

1982 Dawson-Boyd High School graduate
1987 Moorhead State University graduate
Sports reporter for Park Rapids Enterprise since 1987
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