Hobbs Earns Double All-American Status!

Heavyweight Michael Hobbs has accomplished what no other DGS Mustang wrestler has accomplished, he earned All-American status in both Freestyle and Greco at the Asics National Championships in Fargo, ND this July.  Hobbs also earned All-American status at the Cadet level last year as he earned 7th place in Greco.  However, Hobbs accomplishment this year is even greater since he was also competing against wrestlers who will be wrestling in college next winter, including the #1 HWT in the nation, Adam Coon who is the heir apparent at HWT at the University of Michigan to former Mustang, and 3X NCAA Qualifier, Ben Apland.

Hobbs started his run with a 7th place finish in the Greco Tournament which takes place over the course of two days.  Hobbs won five matches in route to his All-American finish.  Hobbs then took a day off and started the freestyle tournament, going 5-3 and earning 8th place in Freestyle.  This is a rare accomplishment and IL only had a handful of wrestlers who were double All-Americans.  Team IL swept not only the Greco and Freestyle at the Junior level, but also at the Cadet (FR and SO) level too!  Hobbs also competed on Team IL for the National Duals, which IL swept at ALL levels and ALL styles.  All of Michael's hard work and dedication to off-season wrestling has paid off with some remarkable experiences and a chance to be a part of perhaps the most dominating run in Freestyle and Greco that any state has ever scene.

Graduating senior Thomas (Junior) Nimakoh also competed at the Greco National Championships in Fargo, winning his first two matches by tech-fall before dropping two decisions and being eliminated from the tournament.  Keep in mind that Junior has been wrestling for only about 18 months and to compete at this level in that short amount of time is unheard of.  We will certainly miss Junior's dedication to the sport next season.