Wrestling Notebook: Multiple Fargo Winners and Dean Hamiti to Compete Against Russia

STILLWATER – Multiple future Oklahoma State wrestlers won at Fargo this weekend, and a national champion Cowboy is competing with Team USA against Russia this week.

The famed Fargo Nationals were this week, and we saw some impressive matches. Let’s start with the impressive win at heavyweight for No. 1 seed Dreshaun Ross. He was going up against the No. 2 seed, Coby Merrill, who’s an Iowa State commit. 

It came down to the final seconds with Merrill up 2-1 before a caution and point for fleeing the mat gave Ross a 2-2 win on criteria.

Ross was a three-time 16U Fargo champ.

Then a match that had to have had David Taylor and Co. drooling. It was at 138 pounds between Jordyn Raney and Kellen Wolbert, with Raney winning 19-14. It was an exciting and high-scoring match between two OSU 2026 commits.

Now, onto the national champion Cowboy. It was announced yesterday the national men’s freestyle teams from the United States and Russia have agreed to a dual meet next week.

As part of the Professional Wrestling League, the two teams will face off on July 21 in Budapest, Hungary. 

“I think this is a great opportunity for us to develop dual meet concepts for our athletes,” said Bruce Baumgartner, the president of USA Wrestling. “This could lead to even more excellent opportunities in the future. I was involved in some of the early USA vs. Russia dual meets in the 1980’s. They were beneficial for both nations and for our sport. We are in a different time right now, and we have not done one of these duals for a number of years. These duals not only help promote wrestling, but also provide quality matches for our athletes to help prepare for future competitions.”

On the team for the Americans is Dean Hamiti at 79 kg. He’ll be facing Mokhmad Nasirkhaev, the 2024 World Military Championships silver medalist. 

According to the release from USA Wrestling, “The event “PWL 9. Russia vs USA Freestyle Wrestling Dual” will be broadcast live on the international streaming platforms WRESTLINGTV.RU / SPORTRUSSIA.TV on July 21 at 7 p.m. Budapest time. Budapest is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time zone.”