Photo Credit: Nick Sorrow (Jake Tucker Photography), Kaili Manuel (Amarisa Photography)

The most grueling high school tournament in the country is now wrapped up, and Michigan is bringing home a lot of hardware. On the boys side, Nick Sorrow was the standout, becoming a double All American and winning a national championship in Greco. Dakota Harmer of Lakewood was also a double All American.

On the girls side, Team Michigan is bringing home three champs and 10 other All Americans. Lyla Hensen won a 16U Stop Sign, while Lillee Denson and Kaili Manuel dominated to national championships on the Junior side. The Junior girls were in a battle for the team race with Pennsylvania, leading for a large portion of the tournament. Ultimately, Team Michigan ended as runner ups, falling just one point short of the team national championship. If we were to give out an outstanding wrestler of the tournament, it would go to Kaili Manuel, who was just on another level. She went 7-0 with 7 techs, outscoring the field by a staggering 80-4 spread.

We are actively working on updating our Fargo History and will publish that soon. Stay tuned!

By the Numbers

Boys 16U Freestyle: 58 Participants, 1 All American
Boys 16U Greco: 42 Participants, 6 All Americans
Girls 16U Freestyle: 31 Participants, 3 All Americans, 1 Champ
Boys Junior Freestyle: 58 Participants, 3 All Americans
Boys Junior Greco: 46 Participants, 3 All Americans, 1 Champ
Girls Junior Freestyle: 38 Participants, 10 All Americans, 2 Champs

TOTAL: 273 Participants, 26 All Americans, 4 Champs

2026 All Americans

16U Boys Freestyle

94 – Dom Sindone (Dundee), 7th

Junior Boys Freestyle

106 – Dakota Harmer (Lakewood), 7th
138 – Nicholas Sorrow (Hudson), 3rd
150 – Deacon Morgan (Rochester Adams), 6th

16U Boys Greco

100 – Gavin Boller (Detroit Catholic Central), 4th
120 – Dylan Phillips (Laingsburg), 8th
175 – Cael Tyler (Roscommon), 4th
190 – Ashton Prahin (Caro), 8th
215 – Lucas Lewandowski (Linden), 6th
285 – Michael Carter (Frankenmuth), 4th

Junior Boys Greco

106 – Dakota Harmer (Lakewood), Runner Up
138 – Nicholas Sorrow (Hudson), Champ
215 – Layne O’Neil (Fowlerville), 8th

16U Girls

105 – Tatianna Castillo (Lowell), 8th
115 – Emma Baker (Lakeshore), 7th
207 – Lyla Hensen (Hudson MS), Champ

Junior Girls

95 – McKenzie Mantei (Dundee), 5th
100 – Lillee Denson (SCS Lakeview), Champ
120 – Cheyenne Frank (Oxford), 4th
140 – Alexis Lazar (Brighton), Runner Up
145 – Belicia Manuel (Romeo), Runner Up
170 – Kaili Manuel (Romeo), Champ
190 – Kanata Richardson (Bloomfield Hills), 5th
207 – Maddie Hayden (Caledonia), Runner Up
235 – Mya Brandenburg (Allen Park), 3rd
235 – Halle Spears (Midland), 5th

Stock Up Report

These are not all of the outstanding performances, but they are just a few of the All American performances that deserve a second look from over the past 10 days. We had a lot of wrestlers on both the boys and girls sides that put together incredible tournaments, but these are just a handful of the wrestlers that saw their stock significantly rise due to their performances.

16U and Junior Boys

• Deacon Morgan (Rochester Adams) – Morgan, a 2x state runner-up, turned a lot of heads with his performance in Fargo. The rising Senior battled his way to the semis in Junior 150lbs, placing ahead of a handful of nationally ranked studs. In the quarterfinals, Morgan beat Hunter Stevens, who was previously committed to the University of Wisconsin. In the semis, Morgan fell to the eventual champ Davis Parrow, and he would ultimately finish 6th
• Dakota Harmer (Lakewood) – Harmer had a great week as a whole, going 9-3 between the two styles. Wrestling at 106lbs in Juniors, Harmer started off with an 8th place finish in Freestyle. To follow that up, Harmer rattled off 4 straight wins in Greco to reach the national finals, ultimately dropping a devastating and controversial 1-1 match to Ty Martin of Iowa.
• Lucas Lewandowski (Linden) – Lewandowski really shined in Greco, where he won his first four matches to reach the semis. In the semis, he dropped his match to Kade Splinter, who would go on to pick up a quick tech fall in the finals to win it all. Watch for Lewandowski to have a massive season this year for Linden!
• Nick Sorrow (Hudson) – It was tough for a 4x state champ and previous Fargo All American to do much to increase his already high stock, but Sorrow found a way. He battled through a tough Junior 138lbs Freestyle bracket to finish 3rd. He then followed that up with an incredible Junior Greco performance en route to a Stop Sign. There was not a better way for the Michigan State commit to end his high school career.
• Ashton Prahin (Caro) – Between the two styles, Prahin picked up 7 wins, but he really shined in Greco. 5 of those win came in Greco en route to an 8th place finish. Prahin had a fantastic Freshman year, picking up 55 wins, and he finished the season in the regional blood round. As a freshman upperweight, that’s impressive, but picking up hardware in Fargo puts him on another level.

16U and Junior Girls

• Lillee Denson (SCS Lakeview) – It’s hard to say the stock is up for the #2 ranked wrestler in the country, but not many wrestlers in the entire tournament put together a run like Denson. The only word to describe Denson’s run to a Stop Sign is “dominant”. At 100lbs in Junior Freestyle, Denson earned four techs, and her combined match score was 54-5, and she threw in a pin for good measure. Denson’s 25 team points were one of the biggest factors in Michigan’s exciting team race. Denson’s 11-3 win in the finals was over #3 nationally ranked Justice Gutierrez of Colorado.
• Mya Brandenburg (Allen Park) – Brandenburg went 6-1 on the tournament at 235lbs, with her only loss coming in the semis to the eventual runner up Rogers of Texas. Brandenburg’s biggest win came over fellow Michigan Grappler standout Spears, who entered the tournament ranked 4th in the country.
• Cheyenne Frank (Oxford) – Cheyenne Frank perhaps had the best run out of any of our Michigan Grapplers. She beat 3 girls ranked top-10 in the country en route to a 4th place finish. Frank beat #9 Mai Graham (Virginia) by a 14-4 tech, #10 Kaylyn Harrill (Nebraska) by a 12-0 tech, and #4 Reagan Mathers (Arizona) by a 9-2 decision.
• Lyla Hensen (Hudson MS) – Hensen is proving early on that she’s going to be one of the toughest high schoolers in the country for years to come. Hensen entered the 16U tournament as a rising Freshman and dominated her way to gold. Like Denson, Lyla Henson earned 25 team points for Team Michigan, taking first with a tech and a pin.
• McKenzie Mantei (Dundee) – Mantei actually wrestled both 16U and Junior girls this week, and she was outstanding in both. Mantei put together an 8-4 combined record, reaching the podium up an age group in Junior Girls. On the 16U side, she reached the consi round of 16, going 2-2 on the tournament. Simultaneously, in Juniors, Mantei went 6-2, winning her 5th place match with a 6-5 decision over #12 Walker (Virginia)

Other Notable Performances

• Mason Katschor (Dundee): Double digit wins on the week, going a combined 10-4 across both styles
• Gavin Boller (Detroit Catholic Central): A placer in Greco, and a combined 9 wins on the week
• Isabella Crompton (Frankfort): 5-2 on the week in Junior Girls at 115lbs, falling just one match short of the podium
• Belicia Manuel (Romeo): Already proven, but just solidified her national ranking with a runner-up performance in Junior Girls
• Maddie Hayden (Caledonia): 2 techs and a pin en route to a finals appearance, up a weight from her typical competition weight. Her only loss was to #7 in the nation Molina of Illinois.
• Alexis Lazar (Brighton): Like Belicia Manuel, Lazar has been on the national scene for a long time. She further proved how tough she is with a national finals appearance
• Jaxson Boucher (Lakewood MS): Looked the part as one of the state’s top incoming Freshman, going 4-1 in 16U Freestyle before an injury kept him from the podium
• Cael Tyler (Roscommon): Already one of the top wrestlers in the class, Tyler climbed even more. He was a Greco All American, and he was blood round in Freestyle, just one match away from being a double All American