Ok, let’s get one thing straight right now. Our Cadet teams are looking pretty powerful.

Returning Cadet World Champs – Yianni Diakomihalis and Gable Steveson – will be returning to the World Championships in hunt of their second title. But the cast of guys that will be joining them on the freestyle team are some serious hammers as well.

The Greco team churned out some great competition as well in Akron. Jacob Warner, who won in both styles, but will focus on Freestyle, was definitely the talk of the Greco tournament. Freshman phenom Cohlton Schultz won the title at 100kg as he tossed the competition around the mat last weekend to claim his spot.

All-in-all, it was a great weekend. But like at every tournament we had guys stick out with their extraordinary performances.

Let’s take a look at the guys who will be heading to the world championships that gave us some of the best performance of the Cadet tournament.

Jacob Warner (IL)

The double Fargo champ, who did it again this weekend when he took the 85kg titles in both freestyle and Greco, was the epitome of a one man wrecking crew. Warner ran through the Greco tournament recording all his wins by technical fall.

On the way to his title he gave up just two-points, which came in his first match against Lucas Davison, but it still resulted in a 10-2 technical fall. After giving up those two-points, Warner blanked everyone he faced. Then the next day he continued to dominate as he won the freestyle title.

His biggest test came in the finals when he faced Michael Beard. Beard attempted to take it to Warner, but in the end he was no match for him. Warner finished up with 12-3 and 11-3 wins over Beard to claim the spot on the Freestyle World team.

Listen here as Warner discusses his World Championship goals.

Roman Bravo-Young (AZ)

Let me first apologize to the two-time double Fargo Champ for picking against him. Had I know he was bringing this type of heat I would have never done it. But wow, what a show. RBY took it to everyone he faced. The person expected to give him a run (Nick Raimo) was not up for the task as he was one of the many victims in RBY’s path that was put through the ringer.

Bravo-Young put up nine first period points on Raimo before finishing things off in the second with a quick takedown. He nearly went unscored upon through the entire tournament until Jordan Decatur was able to score a total of four points between the two matches they wrestled in the finals. He teched everyone, with the exception of match two against Decatur that was 8-2. But he got the 13-2 tech fall over Decatur in match one.

Vito Arujau (NY)

Vito has such a solid freestyle base. It’s almost as if he was made for it. Surely, it’s safe to say that the apple did not fall far from the Vougar tree. Anyway, he was light years ahead of the competition this past weekend. Like the other two beasts above, Arujau claimed shutout tech falls over one guy after another until he met Sasso in the finals.

Despite the close scores of 6-3 and 8-3, it was apparent that Arujau’s freestyle experience and base to his style was clearly superior. Last year, Vito was a runner-up to Yianni, who I will get to next, so this was definitely his time to shine.

Yianni Diakomiahlis (NY)

It’s impossible to leave Yianni D off this list. There really is much to say about him. It’s like another day at the office when he steps on the mat. He’s got sucgreat motion and fluidity to his style that is tough to compete with.

Just ask the rest of the field at 63kg. Yianni tuned up everyone and still looked as fresh as he did when he started the tournament. When it was all said and done, he outscored his opponents by a combined score of 69-0. That’s right, out of his seven matches, no one scored on him. Impressive.

Cohlton Schultz (CO)

I’m sure Matt Linland is happy about this guy. Schultz is exactly what our Cadet Greco team needs; a big man who can move and loves to throw people. And don’t let his mild-mannered, nice guy act fool you. When he steps on the mat he’s a pretty bada** dude.

In one of the most entertaining matches of the tournament, Schultz went head-to-head against FloNational Champion Noah Adams in a throw or be thrown style battle. They each took turns picking up points, but in the end it was all Schultz. Besides Adams, no one came close to threatening him on the way to filling the 100kg spot on the Cadet World Team.

Real Woods (IL)

Apparently, Izzy Style can go Greco too. Real Woods had it all on his way to making the Cadet World Team. Even though he was just as dominant as everyone else here, he also had to grind out a 3-2 win in the quarters over Colin Valdiviez.

Other than that, no one could measure up to Woods. As a matter of fact, Valdiviez was the only guy to score on him. In the finals he quickly snagged a pair of 8-0 techs over Jaleel Hollingsworth.

Travis Wittlake (OR)

When I think of Wittlake, I think, grinder. He’s just tough. And he can battle. He stays in the fight and just goes for it.

His matches weren’t all quick and painless where he went out laced a guy up and was sipping Gatorade before you knew what happen, even though he did have those. Wittlake had to bring all his tools to get the job done. He needed his offense, defense and some of that special grit to get the job done. And that’s what makes him stick out. He’s a battler.

Gable Steveson (MN)

Last but certainly not least, it’s the returning World Champ. Steveson is back and he seems a bit meaner than last year. And that’s even more reason to feel confident in him as we approach this year’s world championships.

Steveson was dominant against some pretty tough guys like Schultz and Noah Adams who he defeated in the semis and finals. However, he was tested by Adams in match one and narrowly came out on top as the West Virginia product gave him a scare to the tune of a 2-1 win in Steveson favor. But things were certainly different in match two as he dominated to an 11-0 tech.