Bishop McCort Wrestlers go 3-0 in the Fargo Freestyle Finals
On Wednesday, July 16, 2025, Bo Bassett, Melvin Miller and Jayden O’Farrill competed in the Fargo Freestyle Finals, representing their home state of Pennsylvania.
Bassett and Miller competed in the Junior brackets with Bassett wrestling at 144 pounds and Miller wrestling at 165, while O’Farrill competed in the 16U brackets at 175 pounds.
Both Bassett and Miller were favored going into Fargo and both received the No. 1 seed in their respective weight classes. O’Farrill was granted the No. 6 seed in his weight class.
All three wrestlers had outstanding tournaments from start to finish and each of their stats proves how dominant they really are and how bright each of their futures are.
To start Bishop McCort’s night on Wednesday, Bassett went up against Indiana’s Clinton Shepherd and Bassett did not waste any time in this match.
Bassett got straight to his offense and his relentless pace was too much for Shepherd. In just one minute and 23 seconds, Bassett pulled off the bow and arrow finish and got his second fall of the tournament.
None of Bassett’s matches went the distance as he racked up five tech falls and two wins by fall. He only gave up one point the entire tournament and if you combined the amount of time he wrestled in all his matches, it is still less than the length of two entire freestyle matches.
After a couple of matches, both O’Farrill and Miller wrestled at the same time with Miller wrestling on Mat one and O’Farrill wrestling on Mat two.
Miller faced off against the No. 2 seed Sullivan Ramos from Wisconsin and the match started quickly with both guys trading two point takedowns. The rest of the match was all Miller as he scored 11 unanswered points to claim another Fargo title.
Miller was one of three wrestlers in the whole tournament to make it to the finals in back-to-back years and was the only one to win back-to-back freestyle titles with Justin Farnsworth losing to Rylan Seacrist and Shepherd losing to Miller’s teammate and brother, Bassett.
Only one of Miller’s matches went the distance as every other one of his matches were won by tech fall as well as O’Farrill, whose only match that went the distance was in the final against the No.1 seed from Maryland, Salah Tsarni.
The match started off slow with no points being scored in the first minute and 15 seconds with O’Farrill going on the activity clock and giving Tsarni a chance to take the lead. However, O’Farrill used the same inside trip he used in the semis to get four points on the board. Tsarni got the reversal for one to make the match 4-1.
With just seconds left in the first period, Tsarni scored a late two points to make it a one point match going into the break. Tsarni stayed on offense and scored another two points to take the lead 5-4 with just a minute left in the match.
However, O’Farrill did not back down and forced Tsarni to step out for a one point to take the lead by criteria with his four point trip earlier in the match.
With just seconds in the match, both Tsarni and O’Farrill were on the edge of the mat and the referee called a step out on O’Farrill which gave Tsarni the lead with four seconds left.
Howard Forrest and his son and teammate of O’Farrill, Jax Forrest, threw in the challenge brick in hopes of changing the call made on the mat.
The replay showed that Tsarni stepped out before O’Farrill, giving him a 6-5 lead and finishing the match as a Fargo champion. Both matches finished simultaneously and Miller and O’Farrill shared a moment on the mat that not many people could ever have.
Pennsylvania will look to continue their dominant Fargo performance with Junior and 16U Greco-Roman starting on Friday, July 18 and finishing on the 19.
Massimo Buonagurio is a second-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact him, email mkb6750@psu.edu.
Photo Credit: Tony Rotundo