Team Massachusetts men’s teams share in a a group photo before competing at the 2023 US Marine Corps Junior & 16U Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota, July 15-22. (Photo courtesy of the Massachusetts Wrestling News Facebook page).

Team Massachusetts adds two All-American medals during men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments at 2023 US Marine Corps Junior & 16U Nationals

Three others from across New England reach All-American status in Fargo, too

After a historic showing during women’s freestyle tournaments inside the FargoDome at the 2023 US Marine Corps Junior & 16U Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota, July 15-22, which saw Team Massachusetts earn a Junior 127-pound title (Jackie Dehney) and a 16U 94-pond All-American medal (Sam Bertini ), the men’s 16U and Junior freestyle and Greco-Roman squads took to the mats – bringing home another two Fargo All-American medals for Massachusetts.

Musa Tamaradze (West Springfield, MA) added a Junior Greco-Roman medal after finishing in third at 120 pounds – the highest placement on the men’s side from Team Massachusetts. Additionally, Matt Botello added to the medal count for Team Massachusetts with a sixth-place finish in the Junior freestyle tournament at 132 pounds.

Tamaradze was able to advance to the semifinals in dominant fashion. His tournament began with back-to-back shutout technical superiorities, 11-0 and 8-0. From there, Tamaradze added a pair of convincing techs in the Round of 32 (winning 10-2) and Round of 16 (winning 12-1). Then, a third shutout technical fall, this on 9-0, sent him to the semifinals where he suffered his lone defeat at Fargo, falling to eventual champ Elyle Francisco (Alaska). Tamaradze bounced back with an 11-1 decision to clinch his spot in the third-place bout, where he won by injury default.

Musa Tamaradze secured 120-pound Junior division Fargo All-American honors for Team Massachusetts.

Watch Musa celebrate
with a backflip by clicking the above icon.

In total, Tamaradze concluded his tournament with a final record of 7-1 (including a forfeit win) and outscored opponents 60-13 en route to the coveted Fargo stop sign. None of his first five matches, which were all technical superiority wins, made it out of the first period.

“Musa was just locked in during the entire tournament. Taking third at Fargo Nationals is a major accomplishment and I’m so proud of him,” Massachusetts Wrestling Association Greco-Roman director Cruz Franco said. “He has put the time and effort in [to earn this]. I’ve been coaching him since he was five years old. I’ve been fortunate enough to see him grow and develop as a wrestler and a young man. He has a bright future ahead of him.”

Read what Musa, a rising junior at Northfield Mount Hermon, told
The Boston Globe
earlier this week
.

Musa Tamaradze poses with his Fargo All-American stop sign inside the FargoDome. (Photo courtesy of Massachusetts Wrestling News Facebook page).

On the Junior freestyle side, Matthew Botello, a native of Hingham, Massachusetts (who attends prep powerhouse Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania) placed sixth in the Junior division at 132 pounds.

Remarkably, Botello advanced to the quarterfinals without surrendering a single point to his first four opponents. Over that span, Botello tallied 32 points. In the quarters, he dropped a gritty 9-6 contest to finalist Kale Petersen of Iowa, in what was a very deep and credentialed 132-pound bracket. On the backside of the bracket, Botello added another shutout victory, winning 4-0. Plus he was on the winning end of a 14-10 offensive slugfest. Botello finished 6-2 overall at Fargo.

Matt Botello receiving instruction from his high school coaches during a match at the 2023 Fargo Nationals. (Photo courtesy of Matt Dehney).

“Matt Botello came in with the goal of winning this tournament,” Team Massachusetts freestyle coach Matt Dehney said. “You could see his focus in every aspect of his daily routine when he arrived. Matt is becoming a leader of Team Massachusetts, he is a professional in his approach. Our goal with Matt was just to keep him on target, make him feel comfortable, and stay relaxed. Matt worked extremely hard all spring and summer for this goal. We all knew he was ready.”

The success of Team Massachusetts is increasing year after year, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone.

“This kind of success at Fargo is becoming the standard. It is not just the effort of the coaching staff while at Fargo. The focus of freestyle and Greco is getting more and more important in the entire state,” Dehney said.

Alongside Tamaradze and Botello, three others from across New England earned Fargo hardware while taking part in the nation’s largest and most challenging high school freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments.

Per USA Wrestling
, “The combined USMC Junior and 16U Nationals, hosted in the FargoDome in Fargo, N.D., is recognized as the largest wrestling tournament in the world.


In 2023, not only did the tournament see substantial growth in overall participation, but it also saw growth in five of the six national tournaments included in the week-long competition. USA Wrestling blitzed the overall record with 7,134 entries this year, blasting through the 7,000 athlete barrier and topping the 2022 record of 6,646 athletes by 488 athletes, a healthy increase of 7.3%.”

In Rhode Island, the smallest state in the union, Gabriel Bouyssou (of Scituate High School in Massachusetts) claimed a fifth-place finish in the Greco-Roman Junior division at 145 pounds. Last year, in 2022, he was a 16U Greco-Roman Fargo champ, making Bouyssou the first-ever Fargo champ in Rhode Island history. This year, in 2023, he continued adding to his pile of Fargo plaques. With his latest All-American honor, Bouyssou is now a five-time Fargo All-American, making him the state’s most decorated Fargo champion,
according to FloWrestling.

Graphic courtesy of RI Wrestling Association Instagram page (@riwawrestling).

Bouyssou ran through the field, blanking every opponent (43-0 combined) until his semifinal loss to Illinois’ Kannon Webster, who bested Bouyssou, narrowly, 7-6 on the way to winning it all. Bouyssou ended his Greco-Roman tournament with a 5-2 record overall.

Gabriel Bouyssou finished fifth at the 2023 US Marine Corps Junior & 16U Nationals in the Junior Greco-Roman division at 145 pounds.

At the 16U level Preston Marchesseault (of Ponaganset High School in Rhode Island) earned a fifth-place finish of his own, but in freestyle. To start, there were three shutouts, 10-0, 12-0, and 10-0. From there, a feisty 3-1 win over Iowa’s Brayden Koester sent Marchesseault to the semifinals. There, he lost to Georgia’s Ryder Wilder who was runner-up at the weight. Marchesseault ended his tournament with a 4-2 overall record.

“Having at least one All-American for the last several years really shows how good our kids are and what they can accomplish when they attend these national tournaments,” said Hamlet Suazo, who helped coach Team Rhode Island in Fargo. “Nothing will ever test you more like traveling to a national tournament and wrestling different styles in the same week. Gabriel and his longstanding success at Fargo over the years is proof of this.”

Elsewhere, Connecticut’s Chase Kastner (Southington, CT) finished in sixth at 94 pounds in the Greco-Roman tournament to earn his first Fargo medal. He won four straight – a combination of shutouts and one-point decisions – before losing to Iowa’s Hayden Schwab, who won the weight. Hayden is the son of Northern Iowa wrestling head coach, Doug Schwab.

Caption courtesy of Connecticut Wrestling Online: Southington’s Chase Kastner, center with trophy, finished sixth in the 16U Greco-Roman competition. (Photos courtesy Sarah Jadach).

Lastly, BTSNE wants to recognize Aaron Johnson of Vermont who suited up for Team New York’s 16U freestyle squad and picked up an opening-round win at 182.

You can watch replays of every match, see brackets and results, watch post-match interviews, highlight packages,
live on FloWrestling
. Additionally, don’t forget to check out the
USA Wrestling’s Special Section
with all the coverage of the 2023 US Marine Corps Junior & 16U Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota, July 15-22.

Because of your generous and continued support, BTSNE is proud to continue to provide our athletes with unique competition and experiential opportunities on and off the mat. None of this would be possible without your help!

Sincerely,

Beat the Streets New England

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