A series of close wins allowed Maddox Fields to bring home All-American honors from the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals in July.
The Melissa product went 6-3 in the 16U 138-pound bracket, earning eighth place after dropping his final two matches.
Fields was one of two Melissa wrestlers to bring home All-American honors from Fargo, joining Vinny Ferrari, who was a runner-up.
Fields did better in this trip to the Fargodome after a 2-2 showing last year.
“Going in there, my goal was really to just All-American and do better than I did last year,” he said. Obviously, I wanted to place higher, but I just went out there and gave it all I got.”
The sophomore-to-be at Melissa surpassed last year’s win total after three rounds with tech fall wins over Kolby Reid of Missouri and Braxton Shaffer of Michigan and a 10-1 decision over Logan Price of Florida.
The run on the championship side of the bracket ended with a loss to Julian Holguin from San Jose, California, 8-3. The trip in Fargo also ended with a loss to Holguin, 7-5, in the 7th-place match.
In between those two losses to the same foe, Fields went 3-1.
He had three close wins and a close loss.
Fields posted a 9-6 win over Adonis Washington, who wrestles for Joliet Catholic in Illinois. Washington once led 6-0 in the match before Fields rallied in the second period.
Then, Fields picked up an 8-7 win over Antonio Guebara from Kansas in the round before the blood round to stay alive.
“I found a way to win, but it wasn’t a pretty win,” Fields said.
In the medal-or-go-home match, Fields secured a 9-6 win over Marcel Hawkins from Oklahoma. Hawkins pulled within 7-6 late in the second period before Fields got two points late to pad his lead.
Marco Costa from California beat Fields, 6-4, in the consolation sub-semifinals. Fields pulled within a point with 16 seconds left, but couldn’t close the gap. Costa finished sixth in the bracket.
“This will keep me going,” he said. “Like, I’m trying to get even better next year and then just keep going from there.”
The All-American finish comes after Fields won a Class 5A UIL championship during the high school season. He followed up by winning the Texas USA Wrestling State Tournament by winning the freestyle championship, representing Cardinal Wrestling Club.
Fields was 29-6 in his first high school season and will be one of the top wrestlers for the Cardinals this upcoming school year. Melissa won the Class 5A title last season with seven all-staters and two state champions.
The success within the program pushes Fields.
“You got to keep pace and keep working hard to stay in the starting lineup,” he said.
