CLUB WRESTLING: Sherrill, Bomba gain valuable experience at Fargo Nationals

Despite only winning one match each, Sandpoint High 2024 graduate Shane Sherrill and Sandpoint High rising junior William Bomba learned a lot from competing at this year’s USA Fargo National Championships, held July 13-20 at North Dakota State University’s Fargodome.

For Sherrill, who is committed to Doane University (NAIA) in Crete, Neb., it was his third time competing at Fargo. In Freestyle and Greco-Roman, Sherrill competed in the Junior division at 138 pounds and compiled a 1-4 record overall. Even though it wasn’t the outcome Sherrill wanted or expected, he said he’ll use this experience as motivation for his first college wrestling season.

“It was the worst I have ever done at Fargo, but that shows how tough it is every year,” Sherrill said. “It wasn’t the way I wanted to end high school wrestling, but I am ready for college and bigger things.”

Sherrill picked up his only win in Greco-Roman after defeating Kendal Porter of Wyoming by win. He then faced off against former Fargo national champion, Zane Donley, from Oklahoma; Sherrill was about to win by technical fall before Donley pinned him late in the match. Sherrill's other loss in Greco-Roman was to Kaedun Goodman of Nebraska. In Freestyle, he fell to Joseph Knackstedt of Illinois and Koltyn Grebel of North Dakota.

“For this year specifically, I didn’t care about placing or winning, I just wanted to get better before college,” Sherrill said. “The summer training I have been doing is what I am really focusing on. I’m working hard to get myself better for college wrestling — getting my styles where they need to be. I went out there and competed to make sure I was in wrestling mode and wasn’t rusty for what’s to come this fall.”

For Bomba, who took home a pair of Idaho 16U National Club Championships in Freestyle and Greco-Roman this past April, it was his first time competing at Fargo. Also going 1-4 overall, Bomba competed at 215 pounds in Greco-Roman and 285 pounds in Freestyle in the 16U division — it wasn’t intentional … there was a miscommunication with some paperwork.

“It's a really big difference, you can feel it a lot,” Bomba said about wrestling in two different weight classes. “I’m more of a Greco-Roman guy, which requires a lot of upper body strength, so wrestling 215 there felt better. There was some confusion when I got listed at 285 for Freestyle, so I started eating like crazy.”

Bomba got up to 230 pounds for his Freestyle matches, but then cut back down to 215 for his Greco-Roman matches.

“It’s really hard wrestling at those different weights, especially on the national level,” Bomba said. “You would think that at 16U, if you go up a couple of weights those kids would be a little pudgier … Oh man, no, not on the national level. It was crazy tough.”

Bomba notched his only win in Greco-Roman against the No. 30 seed, Owen Townsend of Virginia, which he said was really rewarding.

“We tied up for a second and then I ended up throwing him back and got a pin in 35 seconds.” Bomba said. “Even though it was my only win, that’s okay — it was a tough tourney. After that, I went against the No. 3 seed from Iowa (Mason Koehler) and No. 4 seed from California (Noah Larios).”

In Freestyle, Bomba was defeated by Lucas Feuerbach of Iowa and Dustin Dodd of Ohio.

Bomba said competing at nationals reminded him that he was far away from his goals as a wrestler … but not too far.

“It’s definitely in my grasp,” Bomba said of one day becoming the best wrestler he could be. “Some of these guys are able to get all the wrestling mats, all of the coaches, equipment, etc. right away. I don’t have all that yet, but going here, my mom said it showed her the potential that I have. I am going to get my own bags and mats and I’m going to really start training hard. I love this sport more than anything else in life. Wrestling, combat sports, it changed my life all-around, for the best.”

As for which weight Bomba said he’ll wrestle at this upcoming season, he said it will depend on a lot of factors, but it would ultimately come down to where the better competition was. Regardless, he's definitely one to look out for when the Bulldogs get back on the mat this winter.

Shane Sherrill, right, poses for a photo with Team Idaho head coach Chris Owens. Idaho, in the Junior Division, finished sixth in Greco-Roman and 28th in Freestyle. In the 16U division, Idaho finished 11th in Greco-Roman and 32nd in Freestyle.