Benny Westcott
Five Sweet Home High School athletes competed at the 2023 USA Wrestling Junior and 16U National Championships at the FargoDome in Fargo, N.D., which took place July 14-22.
Rising sophomore Bailey Chafin won two matches in the 127-pound Girls 16U division to advance to the round of 16. She beat Hayden Mayo of Virginia in the round of 64 by a fall in 59 seconds. She then scored a 22-14 victory over Zoe Bennet of Texas in the round of 32, before being pinned by Lynn Horn of Oklahoma in 0:49 in the round of 16.
2023 graduate Jacob Sieminski, who has committed to wrestle at Southern Oregon University, won two matches in the Junior Greco-Roman division at 138 pounds before falling in the round of 32 in 1:41 to William Baysingar of Illinois. To get there, Sieminski pinned John Foye of Ohio in 0:11 and won 12-8 over Ty Saulter of Minnesota.
In Junior Freestyle, Sieminski won three matches in the consolation bracket after losing 16-12 in the round of 128 to Jveion Redmon of Georgia.
The first of his consolation wins was over Sebastian Armstrong of Rhode Island in 3:48. Sieminski then beat David Ensminger of New York in 1:31 and Gabriel Brown of Idaho by a score of 7-6, before being pinned by Riley Brunson of Idaho in 0:30.
His younger brother Kyle Sieminski won two matches in the 120 pound Junior Greco-Roman consolation bracket after getting pinned in 0:51 by Anthony Ruzic of Illinois in the round of 64. He beat Brennan O’Donnell of Illinois 12-2 in 1:42, and then pinned Curtis White of Texas in 0:36 before getting pinned by Moses Mendoza of California in 1:16.
Rising sophomores Dillan Davis and Tytus Hardee competed in the 113 and 120 pound divisions respectively, but did not win matches.