Top Upsets of Super32 Day 1
Top Upsets of Super32 Day 1
Top Upsets from Super 32 Day 1
Another season, another narrative. Welcome to Day 1 of the Super 32.
The most loaded tournament of the year provides the opportunity for those those that didn't fare well in the summer to breakthrough and for unheralded wrestlers to start a campaign of their own.
This, of course, must come at the expense of established competitors that populate the rankings. Below, we'll recap the biggest stars to fall and those who took them out.
#1
Thayne Lawrence (PA) dec. #3-Alex Lloyd (MN), 6-4
Thayne who? State 4th placers aren't supposed to beat the #3 kid in the nation. Lawrence is just a Sophomore. He's from a school called 'Frazier' that, despite living most of my life in Pennsylvania, I've never heard of. He did have a win over Sammy Hepler last year. Hepler, if you recall, once beat Brian Courtney.
#2
Brendon Fenton, OH dec. #6-Brody Teske (IA), 12-5
Incredibly, this wasn't the biggest upset of the day. But Fenton put the country on notice, and the match was never in doubt. I got four texts as soon as the match was over that all said 'Fenton is really good when he's 'on''. In other words, he can be inconsistent. The senior won a state title with a 28-7 record last year. But he certainly wasn't inconsistent on Saturday.
#3
Derrick Smallwood (KY) md. #3-Josiah Rider (CO), 9-1
Smallwood didn't place at his state tournament. On Saturday, he beat the returning Super 32 Runner-Up.
#4
Mike Vernagallo (NC) dec. #6-Phil Conigliaro (MA), 5-4
Vernagallo has a couple good wins (Justin McCoy at Disney Duals), but beating the Beast and Prep Champ Conigliaro was huge.
Dalton Rohrbaugh (PA) dec. #12-Cleveland Belton (CA), 11-9 OT
Belton won a state title as a Sophomore. Rohrbaugh, whose just entering his Sophomore year, went 1-2 at PA States.
#6
Dawson Sihavong (CA) dec. #5-Nick Raimo (NJ) 8-7
This isn't Sihavong's first big win; he pinned Beau Bartlett earlier this year and also has wins over Fargo finalist Aiden Medora, as well as some others. But he just took two unranked losses last week.
#7
Christian Nunez (CA) over #15-Ben Kamali, 5-3
Nunez enters his Junior year not having placed at the California State tournament. In the second round he started a deep 32 run. First he beat FloNationals Champ Ben Kamali before beating PA State Champ Doug Zapf.
The most loaded tournament of the year provides the opportunity for those those that didn't fare well in the summer to breakthrough and for unheralded wrestlers to start a campaign of their own.
This, of course, must come at the expense of established competitors that populate the rankings. Below, we'll recap the biggest stars to fall and those who took them out.
#1
Thayne Lawrence (PA) dec. #3-Alex Lloyd (MN), 6-4
Thayne who? State 4th placers aren't supposed to beat the #3 kid in the nation. Lawrence is just a Sophomore. He's from a school called 'Frazier' that, despite living most of my life in Pennsylvania, I've never heard of. He did have a win over Sammy Hepler last year. Hepler, if you recall, once beat Brian Courtney.
#2
Brendon Fenton, OH dec. #6-Brody Teske (IA), 12-5
Incredibly, this wasn't the biggest upset of the day. But Fenton put the country on notice, and the match was never in doubt. I got four texts as soon as the match was over that all said 'Fenton is really good when he's 'on''. In other words, he can be inconsistent. The senior won a state title with a 28-7 record last year. But he certainly wasn't inconsistent on Saturday. #3
Derrick Smallwood (KY) md. #3-Josiah Rider (CO), 9-1
Smallwood didn't place at his state tournament. On Saturday, he beat the returning Super 32 Runner-Up.#4
Mike Vernagallo (NC) dec. #6-Phil Conigliaro (MA), 5-4
Vernagallo has a couple good wins (Justin McCoy at Disney Duals), but beating the Beast and Prep Champ Conigliaro was huge.#5
Dalton Rohrbaugh (PA) dec. #12-Cleveland Belton (CA), 11-9 OT
Belton won a state title as a Sophomore. Rohrbaugh, whose just entering his Sophomore year, went 1-2 at PA States.
#6
Dawson Sihavong (CA) dec. #5-Nick Raimo (NJ) 8-7
This isn't Sihavong's first big win; he pinned Beau Bartlett earlier this year and also has wins over Fargo finalist Aiden Medora, as well as some others. But he just took two unranked losses last week.
#7
Christian Nunez (CA) over #15-Ben Kamali, 5-3
Nunez enters his Junior year not having placed at the California State tournament. In the second round he started a deep 32 run. First he beat FloNationals Champ Ben Kamali before beating PA State Champ Doug Zapf.