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Fargo Preview

Dan Altomare   |   Jul 12, 2018

PA team camp is officially underway and we're now just a week away from the biggest wrestling event of the summer. In a few short days, wrestlers from across the nation will converge on Fargo, ND to compete for national titles in freestyle and greco-roman! This year, BTSP is proud to sponsor a record-high 6 student-athletes who've shown tremendous commitment to the sport of wrestling this season. Below is just a short snippet with what you should know about each of our wrestlers   Steven Foster-106* (Greco-Roman Only) This season, Steven has stayed busy. He's placed 1st at the Germantown & Downingtown Regional Qualifiers, 4th at Northeast Regionals in East Stroudsburg, and 5th at the PAWF State Tournament in a very tough bracket. Steven has some really impressive wins against tough competition; it's going to be fun to see how he stacks up in his first competition of this size. The most impressive part about Steven?...It's only his 1st season in the sport of wrestling! Steven has boxed at a high-level since his childhood and just decided to take up wrestling this season at PAL Wrestling Club. He's caught on to the sport very quickly and improved markedly in a surprisingly short period of time. Tatyana Ortiz-106 To anyone following BTSP, Tatyana Ortiz's name should be practically a household name. Taty, as her friends and coaches call her, has been a staple of the Marianna Bracetti Wrestling team for 3 years now where she has had great success in folkstyle wrestling. Taty is no stranger to national-level competition. This spring/summer alone, she's competed in NY, MA, OK, TX, & VA at national tournaments. If she wrestles how we all know Tatyana is capable, there's no doubt she can come home with some hardware! For anyone looking to follow Tatyana, she'll be competing in greco (yes, that's against men & women) as well as women's freestyle! Zimir Rice-132* (Greco-Roman Only) After placing 1st at regional qualifiers & 2nd at the PAWF State Tournament in greco, Zimir Rice a young man with a ton of potential. Not only has he competed a lot, he's taken advantage of every single training opportunity offered to him and it's no surprise that thing are working out for him. It's been so much fun to watch Zimir grow this season. After competing in the UWW Pan-Am Trials (East Stroudsburg, PA) & UWW World Team Trials (Akron, OH), this kid is just starting to realize how good he really is. Angel Garcia-160 Angel is a returning All-American in Greco (3rd) and a tough loss in the blood round in freestyle last season was the only thing that kept him from becoming a double AA. This year's different. He's back for more; and he's hungry. In 2018, Angel has torn it up. He's climbed the podium at the UWW Cadet Pan-Am Trials (GR-1st), UWW World Team Trials (GR-3rd), & PAWF State Tournament (FS-3rd/GR-1st). Needless to say, he's among the nation's elite in the weight class. Angel is a real title contender in both styles and to anyone who has to step on the line opposite him, all I can say is....good luck. Luis Morales-170 Luis has wrestled tough all season and it's no surprise to see him as a part of this group. After suffering a hand injury near the end of his folkstyle season, Luis was unable to compete in the postseason or the beginning of freestyle/greco season; despite being one of the top guys at 152 in the NE Region. So far this spring, Luis has placed in multiple regional qualifiers and wrestled very tough out at the PAWF State Tournament. Finally back and healthy, Luis is feeling confident and we certainly like his chances. Daishawn Tilghman-220 Wrestling aside for a moment, we are incredibly proud of Daishawn. After suffering a significant knee injury during the 1st practice of the spring, Daishawn has spent the last few months getting healthy and he has yet to compete in freestyle or greco this spring. After a successful appeal to PAWF, however, Daishawn has been accepted onto the freestyle & greco teams! Where many kids would have hung up their shoes for the summer and given up, Daishawn didn't. His goal was to qualify for Fargo, and he wasn't going to let difficult circumstances stop him from achieving his goal. He diligently rehabbed, worked out as best he could each day, and made it back on the mat just a few weeks ago. Since then, he's been active at practice, the PRTC, & camps/clinics. Daishawn qualified for Fargo last season, but was unable to attend. After seeing the jump he made in folkstyle this season, (he recently became the 1st Overbrook wrestler in school history to win a District Title) he can definitely make some noise out in Fargo. -- While we love having the opportunity to create experiences like these for our student-athletes that have worked so hard, the reality is that high-level competitions like these are extremely costly. This year alone transportation, entry fees, food, & lodging will come to nearly $10,000. Without the generosity of donors and community partners, these kids would not have the opportunity to compete in an event like this. If you'd like to learn more about supporting our cause, you can visit our Donation Page. To follow all the action live, visit FloWrestling