While we hope to provide a full recap in the coming days that includes the results from each of the six LebCo wrestlers who competed at the Fargo National Wrestling Tournament, we wanted to highlight Northern Lebanon’s Aaron Seidel’s extraordinary accomplishment. Below is a recap of Seidel’s climb to the top of the podium at the county’s most prestigious wrestling tournament.
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Aaron Seidel has won the PIAA State Championship three times during his illustrious high school career wrestling at Northern Lebanon High School. Last year, Seidel won the NHSCA National Championship. He then finished as the runner-up at the Fargo Junior National Championships. Seidel returned to North Dakota in 2024, intent on adding the prestigious title as the Junior National Champion in the 126-pound weight class. To accomplish his goal, he would have to take on the best talent from across the United States. Seidel would once again be up for the challenge.
After a bye in the Round of 256, Seidel squared off against Mineeota’s Aidan Carlson and won the match 10-0 in just 1:14. This would mark his first of five contests that ended with a “Victory by Superiority.”
In the Round of 64, Seidel again notched a 10-0 VBS, winning against Jeremiah Lawrence of Illinois in the 1st Period. The match lasted just 1:14.
The Round of 32 resulted in much the same as the earlier matches, with Seidel taking 2:16 to defeat Kansas’s Brock Johnson by VBS (10-0).
Seidel then won in the Round of 16 again by VBS (10-0) over Iowa’s Mac Crosson in the 1st Period (2:14).
In the Quarterfinals, Seidel faced one of Indiana’s best wrestlers, Gavin Jendreas. While this contest lasted until the 2nd Period, it ended at 4:53, with Seidel winning 13-2.
The Semifinals pitted Seidel against fellow Pennsylvanian Nathan Desmond. Having wrestled for Bethlehem Catholic for two years, winning States each time, Desmond transferred during his senior year to Wyoming Seminary, where he won the Pennsylvania Prep School Championship and Prep School National Championship. He is a Penn State commit. Despite this impressive resume, Seidel earned a hard-fought 7-2 victory to advance to the Finals.
In the Championship, Seidel again faced an opponent with an impeccable record, Koufax Christensen. An Iowa State Champion, Christensen has committed to continuing his wrestling career at the University of Oklahoma. Again, this did not matter to the determined Seidel, who used 2:42 of the clock to run the score to 10-0 to win the match via Victory by Superiority.
Overall, Seidel won his National Championship by outscoring his seven opponents by a total score of 70-4. Any way you slice his performance, it was a show of pure domination in what is considered the country’s toughest high school tournament.
For his efforts, he won the much sought-after “Stop Sign,” the plaque given to each winner. Seidel also had the honor of being the 50th Pennsylvania wrestler all-time to win the Junior Men’s Freestyle Championship.
Seidel is now one month away from beginning his senior year at Northern Lebanon, where his primary focus will be earning his fourth straight PIAA Championship before heading to Virginia Tech.
Aaron Seidel of @NL_Wrestling_ | @PAUSAW_ talks about his win over fellow PA star Nate Desmond and #Fargo2024 Finals #PAPOWER @USAWrestling pic.twitter.com/iuSk0lXMp3
— PA Power Wrestling (@PAPowerWrestle) July 17, 2024
PIAA State Wrestling Championships: Seidel Wins Third Straight Gold
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