Satisfaction in Fargo

While some high school athletes spend the summer watching TV or playing video games, members of the Spring Hill Wrestling Club competed in a national Greco-Roman and Freestyle tournament.

Nick and Dustin Soto earned All-American honors this past weekend in the Junior and Cadet Nationals, held in Fargo, N.D.

Nick Soto, who as a freshman for Springstead High finished 5-3 overall, placed sixth in the Cadet Freestyle tournament with a 9-3 record.

Soto went against 91 other wrestlers in his weight class and lost the match for fifth place.

His brother Dustin, a two-time Hernando Today All-County Wrestling selection, finished eighth in Greco-Roman tournament, going 9-3 at 105 pounds before losing the match for seventh place to Drake Medeiros of Hawaii.

Later, Dustin was 2-0 in the freestyle part of the tournament, but injured his left knee in the third match and had to withdraw.

"He beat Medeiros in his second match and was leading in the third one when the guy he was wrestling shot on him and screwed up his leg," said Springstead Head Coach Eric Swensen.

The Spring Hill club coach said that the injury to Dustin Soto, who went 38-10 with 24 pins in his junior year, still bothers him. "He's still hobbling around and he's supposed to get an MRI this week. It's serious, but I don't think he'll miss his senior year of wrestling because of it."

The tournament, called the largest wrestling tournament in the world by the promoters, is called 'The Super Bowl of the summer tournaments we go to' said Swensen.

"We do these national tournaments for two reasons," Swensen pointed out. "First, it makes the local tournaments seem a lot smaller. If you go up against some local kid, you won't be intimidated after wrestling the state champ of New York during the summer."

"Secondly, it's the exposure for the college coaches. When we were trying to get Schuyler Swanton recruited, the college coaches didn't ask me how he did in state. The question was, How did he do in Fargo?"

Along with the two Soto's, Swensen took Springstead varsity wrestlers Shawn Landgraff, Scott Wern and Kenny Cox to the national competition.

Swensen also said that wrestling in both Greco-Roman (a style that limits holds to just the upper body) and freestyle were good for his kids.

"It definitely helps," he added. "A lot of coaches say 'It's not the same in high school. But it's still wrestling against the best wrestlers in the nation."

Swensen said that if his Springstead team wants to one day be able to go up against some of the better teams in the area like Bradenton-Manatee or Miami-South Dade or Brandon, going to tournaments like the one in Fargo are crucial.

"You watch teams like Brandon. I took five kids up to Fargo, they had 12. It's an uphill battle but we're trying to create a habit," said the Springstead coach. "We need to get our kids to wrestle over the summer and get them into college. All these things will take time, but it will put us at a level to be able to compete with those schools."