AZ Kids at Elite 8 Duals

AZ Kids at Elite 8 Duals

WATCH ELITE 8 DUALS LIVE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY! (https://www.youtube.com/@cmptrained/streams)

This Saturday some of the best kids in the country will gather for Elite 8 Duals in Atlanta Georgia. If you’re not familiar with the Elite 8 event it’s where some of the best clubs in the country come together with line-ups chalk full of certified ringers from all over the country and face off in duals for the coveted Elite 8 Championship. The event features more ranked kids per capita than any other event in the country, and anytime the competition is that condensed it makes for must watch action for High-School wrestling fans. Past events have featured all of the current big names like Bo Basset, Jax Forrest, Moses Mendoza, and Antonio Mills just to name a few. Every participant will be sure to hit multiple ranked kids and it’s a great way to break-out and make a name for yourself.

Arizona’s Valiant Prep is in attendance with their stable of talented kids along with a few other Arizona kids on their team and scattered on a couple other teams. We’ll get you familiar with all the Arizona kids so you can keep an eye on them Saturday and Sunday. Pools have not been released yet, but it hardly matters as every team in attendance is chalk full of hammers. So just who is representing Arizona in this marquee event?

*Indicates an Arizona Kid

Valiant Prep Roster National Rank: Class Big Board Rank

106- Logan Raske

106- Ty Martin 14 62

113- Jarron Beltran* 59

120-Lazarus Mcewen 15 58

126- Kash Larkin* 20

126- Ernie Perez*

132- Angel Cejudo Jr.* 11 45

132- Giovanni Rivera*

138- Dean Anderson* 2 12

138-Joaquin Chacon* 80

144- Konner Larkin* 95

150- Marcus Killgore* 7@157 41

157- Jacob Morris

165- Chase Young

175- Kobe Cunanan* 18 36

175-Gary High 83

190- JT Smith 114

215- Ladd Holman 5 26

285- Andrew Arroyo Jr. 20

Valiant comes in with a roster with 10 Arizona kids. It’s extremely hard to build a nationally competitive roster with strictly Arizona kids so this is actually pretty high. The most proven here are Dean Anderson, who is a S32 Placer, Folk-National Champion, Pan-Am Champion (Where he beat Moses Mendoza), and U.S. Open U20 Finalist. Simply put, he’s really good at wrestling. After that you have Fargo U16 Champion Angel Cejudo Jr., who was not able to compete at Fargo this year but also placed at the Open in U17. Marcus Killgore sports a top 10 National Ranking at 157, he’ll be down at 150 for this event and could really be a problem there. He was an NHSCA Runner-Up last year and 4th at Fargo the year before. Joaquin Chacon was an NHSCA Champ last year and has been out for awhile but has all the tools to be a major impact here. The Larkin brothers will be a force, besides having the biggest last name in Arizona wrestling, they are both previous Fargo placers and I think they are only beginning to hit their stride. Kobe Cunanan is another Valiant hammer that is under a lot of people’s radar but make no mistake, the boy can wrestle. He’s a U.S.Open placer and will look to catapult himself even higher into the national limelight with some big wins at this event. After that you have Ernie Perez, who is only a freshman but is better than most people realize and could quickly get into the National Rankings with a good event here. Giovanni Rivera made the move to Valiant last year and hasn’t competed nationally much, but has two older brothers who are both D1 wrestlers at Westpoint and Air Force Academy and he looks ready to follow in their footsteps. Beltran has racked up every accolade you can coming up through the youth circuit and will look to add some high-school names to his hit list here. With a roster full of Arizona talent and a few national ringers, Valiant has the potential to have a great showing here.

Also appearing from Arizona and representing team Black Mambas are two Sunnyside kids, Xavier Chavez and Patrick Pina.

Xavier is ranked 11th in the Nation and had some big wins that helped bolster his raking at this event last year. He had a brutal path at Fargo and fell just one match short of placing, but he’s really good and will be a threat to anybody he wrestles at this event.

Pina at 126 is only a freshman, but he won a 16U Folkstyle National Title last year and while this is a big step up in competition, he looks ready to fill the part.

Overall, this should be a great event to see where some of our State’s best stack up against high-level national competition. The link to watch is posted below the headline of this article, so if you’re like me and jonesing for some wrestling action during this lull prior to season, tune in and catch some great wrestling.