Sandpoint’s Shane Sherrill won multiple matches at the 2023 USA Junior and 16U Wrestling National Championships held July 14-22 in Fargo, N.D. at the FargoDome en route to a Team Idaho national championship, the state’s first ever team title.

In the Junior Freestyle division Idaho took 12th place out of 48 states and Puerto Rico (only Mississippi and Vermont did not field teams). Sherrill had both of his freestyle matches on the first day of the tournament roughly five hours apart. After losing both matches, Sherrill had to wait until July 18 to get back on the mat; he was determined to turn things around.

“After being taken down in my first matches of the tournament, I knew I needed to maintain my composure,” Sherrill said. “I made some simple mistakes, but remained confident in myself and practiced everyday until my next matches in Greco.”

In the Junior Greco-Roman division, Idaho took home first place with 141 points topping Iowa, Illinois and California by sizable margins. The top finish by Idaho before this year was fourth place. Sherrill shutout his first Greco-Roman opponent in just 15 seconds, winning 8-0, and defeated his second opponent by the same margin. He would lose his next two matches, but said he considered his trip successful and was proud to help prove Idaho is one of the top wrestling states in the country.

“It was a cool experience, I learned a lot,” Sherrill said. “I’m excited to hopefully do it again next year.”

Between the boys and girls divisions, Idaho had four national champions and 19 All-Americans in a year that had a record number of entries; 7,134 wrestlers took to the mats of the FargoDome and roughly 100 of those wrestlers were from Idaho. Some notable Idaho performances include: Missouri commit Mack Mauger of Blackfoot placed third in freestyle and won the national championship in Greco-Roman; he has now won five national titles. Oregon State commit Aden Attao of Borah won a national championship in Greco-Roman and was second in freestyle; he now has three national titles. Finally, Saxton Scott of Idaho Falls was named an All-American and the most outstanding wrestler in 16U Greco-Roman.

As for Sherrill it was his second time qualifying for the national event, and after a long training block he has now shifted his focus on the upcoming football season. Once the winter season comes around again, Sherrill will surely take to the mats for his senior season and said he is excited to be led under new head wrestling coach Josh Ratigan who was a part of many SHS state championship runs in the early 2000’s.