Brooks Black takes sixth at Junior Nationals
Last season, Brooks Black left Fargo, N.D., with a pair of trophies. The Dover heavyweight, considered one of the top wrestling prospects at his weight in the nation, won both Greco-Roman and freestyle titles at the Cadet National Championships. This year, Black moved up an age group to the junior division. And not surprisingly, the competition got tougher. Black didn't leave Fargo empty-handed. He finished sixth in the junior freestyle competition at the USAW Cadet/Junior National Championships, which wrapped up Saturday. Black lost his fifth-place match to Illinois' Austin Marsden, 2-2, 3-0. Still, there was plenty for Black to take from the weekend (he did not wrestle in the Greco-Roman tournament). A rising junior at wrestling powerhouse Blair Academy (N.J.), Black was among the youngest in his field. Many of the wrestlers he faced, including Marsden, are recent high school graduates with Division I rides in tow. Kennard-Dale's Chance Marsteller made the biggest waves in Fargo this week, winning Greco-Roman and freestyle cadet championships without surrendering a point. For more on that, head here.