Barrick Earns All-America Wrestling Honors
Mercersburg’s Cody Barrick ’10 earned a piece of area wrestling history by garnering All-America honors at the Accelerade Cadet National Greco-Roman Wrestling Tournament in Fargo, North Dakota.
The tournament is universally recognized as the elite age-group event in prep wrestling, according to Blue Storm head coach Rick Hendrickson, who believes Barrick is the first Mercersburg wrestler to attain All-American status at the Cadet level in the national Greco-Roman Tournament. Greco-Roman is one of two Olympic styles of wrestling contested, and limits participants to using just their upper bodies to gain position and score. The Cadet division is for ages 15–16.
“This is an outstanding accomplishment for Cody, for the Storm Wrestling Club, and for this area,” Hendrickson says. “This has been a breakthrough spring and summer for Cody; he has jumped into the national spotlight with his state Greco championship, and now an All-American finish.”
Barrick, wrestling for the Pennsylvania state team, opened the tournament with three straight wins and went 4–2 to qualify for a spot in the consolation finals. His best match (a win over Minnesota’s Dan Cox for seventh place in a 140-pound match) was arguably his last one, as he hit Cox with five-point throws in each of the two periods, to record a technical fall at 6–0, 7–0. Barrick rolled in his first three matches, easily defeating Cody Lords of Idaho and Cody Manderscheid of Minnesota, then pinning Shohei Takagi of California. He sandwiched a pin of Brayden Wienke (Wisconsin) between defeats to Trent Debraga (Nevada) and eventual national runner-up Justin Gonzales (Colorado).
Team Pennsylvania built upon its tradition of success in the Greco-Roman Cadet Nationals, outdistancing Wisconsin for first place by a 61–59 edge. The squad won four individual titles and had several additional All-Americans.
Mercersburg's other representative on a Pennsylvania state team, Bobby Wolford ’07, was 0–2 in the Junior National Tournament (ages 17–18) at 145 pounds. However, Wolford, who will wrestle for NCAA Division II power Pitt-Johnstown next season, went 2–2 at the Asics/Vaughn Junior National Freestyle Tournament, which was also held in Fargo. He was among 90 wrestlers competing in the 152-pound class.
Wolford opened with a technical fall of Matt Booth (Wyoming), then lost a tight decision to Kyle Dooley (Illinois). He then defeated Seamus Waples (Colorado) before falling to Robert Kellogg of Iowa in the fourth round.
"Bobby just started wrestling freestyle this past spring, and he has made tremendous progress," Hendrickson said. "He is a student of the sport and a fierce competitor, so it's not surprising that he's done well in this style of wrestling. This was a great launching experience for his collegiate career."
Coming off his All-American performance in the Greco tournament, Barrick struggled in freestyle, going 0-2.
"I think that Cody just had a letdown, to be honest," Hendrickson said. "It's a war in both of these tournaments and it's really tough to bounce back after an emotional highlight like he experienced in Greco. He'll be back, that's for sure."