With over 1,400 athletes in the field, and many weights having more than 100 wrestlers present, the brackets were robust and the chances for quality wins abundant. Many wrestlers in the tournament had results for which they should be proud, and results that can be viewed as transformational for their wrestling careers. Below is a listing of five wrestlers that saw their "stock" rise based on the happenings in Greensboro, N.C. this past weekend (listed in weight class order).
Carter Dibert (Franklin Regional, Pa.), 113 pounds
The Arizona State verbal commit finished his sophomore season as a state champion when he reversed a tiebreaker loss in the WPIAL final by securing a 7-2 victory over Dylan Chappell (Seneca Valley, Pa.) in the big-school state final at the GIANT Center. However, Dibert entered last weekend's Super 32 as a relatively unheralded competitor, having not been ranked at 106 to end the 2018-19 high school season.
In the round of 32 on Saturday afternoon, Dibert upended state champion and Cadet freestyle All-American Brady Hankin (Woodland Park, Colo.) 13-6; Hankin would end up placing eighth in the event. The next round saw Dibert lose his lone match of the two-day tournament, 4-3 to eventual champion Jacob Rivera (Selma, Calif.), a state placer last year at 120 pounds. Two subsequent wins would put him in the match to place, where he secured an 8-3 victory over state champion Diego Sotelo (Marmion Academy, Ill.), who ended 2018-19 ranked in the top 10 nationally at 106 and was a 2018 placer in the Super 32.
Dibert's next win came 3-2 over Joziah Fry (Coventry, R.I.), a New England champion and Junior freestyle All-American this summer; then it was a 5-3 consolation semifinal victory over Jeremiah Reno (Liberty, Mo.), who had placed third at this tournament the previous two years and is ranked top 50 overall in the Class of 2021. To cap his tournament, it was a 3-2 win for Dibert over Braxton Brown (Allen, Texas), a two-time state champion who had finished 2018-19 ranked No. 5 nationally at 106 pounds.
Patrick Noonan (Stroudsburg, Pa.), 132 pounds
A wrestler who clearly is not lacking in talent, as shown by the high-quality wins and credentials that he has had over his career, Noonan will enter his senior year of high school with zero state tournament victories. He went 0-2 as both a freshman and junior in Hershey, while his sophomore season was derailed by injury before the post-season. Finishing fourth in a very deep 132-pound weight class serves as further demonstration of his ability level.
The run of notable wins started in the round of 64 with a pin over two-time state placer Sam Freeman (Brighton, Mich.) before hitting a real notable outcome in the round of 32, a 1-0 win over No. 64 overall senior Chris Rivera (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.). Noonan lost by fall in the round of 16 to eventual champion Joel Vandervere (Warren Township, Ill.). Then on Sunday morning, Noonan needed a pair of high-quality wins just to earn a podium position, 6-1 over No. 87 overall senior Kellyn March (Canton, S.D.) and 1-0 over No. 36 overall junior Henry Porter (Gilroy, Calif.).
Having earned a placement, Noonan continued his tournament run with an 8-3 win over National Prep runner-up Skyler Smith (Liberty Christian, Texas) and a 5-1 consolation semifinal victory over No. 28 overall senior Anthony Clark (Delbarton, N.J.). His tournament concluded with an 8-4 loss to Wyatt Henson (Francis Howell, Mo.), the No. 13 overall junior nationally.
Bretli Reyna with his belt after winning the Super 32 Challenge at 145 pounds (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com)Bretli Reyna (South Dade, Fla.), 145 pounds
While Reyna placed fourth at 132 pounds in the Super 32 Challenge last year, he entered the fall outside the top 100 in the Class of 2020. Subsequent to last year's tournament, he failed to place at the Walsh Ironman and in Junior freestyle, losing to two other wrestlers that also fell short of placement position in each tournament. On the other hand, Reyna showed clear ability in finishing 56-3 with a third state title during his junior season of high school and then winning the Grappler Fall Classic the weekend before the Super 32.
This past Saturday, Reyna was completely dominant through four bouts on the way to the quarterfinals, winning each by a major decision. In that quarterfinal match, it was a 9-6 victory over No. 71 overall senior Joseph Zargo (Bergen Catholic, N.J.), followed up by a 9-7 overtime victory over No. 76 overall senior Ed Scott (DuBois, Pa.) in the semifinal. All that to set up a finals clash with No. 6 overall senior Joshua Saunders (Christian Brothers College, Mo.); Reyna would score two takedowns in the first period to jump out to a 4-1 advantage, before Saunders rallied to tie the bout 7-7 before the end of regulation; Reyna would win 8-7 in the tiebraker (ultimate) when Saunders was called for locking hands. The two-day performance earned him Outstanding Wrestler honors for the Super 32 Challenge among lower weights.
Brian Soldano (High Point, N.J.), 160 pounds
As a freshman, Soldano was one match from placing in the single-class New Jersey state tournament at 160 pounds, losing matches to wrestlers that would finish in fifth and eighth place. During the off-season he was runner-up at the NHSCA Freshman Nationals and placed seventh in 16U freestyle at 170.
The opening match of his tournament came against two-time state placer Cayleb Atkins (Goodard, Kans.), a match that Soldano won by the score of 7-2. In the round of 64, he came through with a significant 11-10 victory over the very talented Jaxon Smith (Woodland, Ga.). The next match was an 11-4 defeat to state runner-up Enrique Munguia (Elyria, Ohio). Soldano would need three wins to get out of Saturday, the last two of which came against state champion Elliott Rodgers (Indianapolis Cathedral, Ind.) and New England regional third place finisher Brevin Cassella (Nashoba, Mass.); he prevailed 5-0 and by pin in 1:01 respectively.
Earning a placement finish would take two more wins, those came in the form of a pin over state runner-up Cooper Noehre (Greenfield Central, Ind.) and avenging his earlier loss to Munguia with a 7-6 decision victory. Advancement to the consolation final would come through pins against No. 12 overall sophomore Joseph Martin (Buchanan, Calif.) and No. 62 overall senior Derek Gilcher (Detroit Catholic Central, Mich.). Soldano would earn third with a 4-2 victory over Jackson Smith.
Joseph Walker (Mishawaka, Ind.), 182 pounds
Walker entered the fall preseason coming off a sixth-place finish in the 170 pound weight class as a junior. In two preceding preseason competitions, he had split matches against his teammate Jacob LaPlace, a 2018 state placer and 2019 state qualifier; Walker won the IHPO before finishing third at the Grappler Fall Classic.
In order to reach the quarterfinal at the Super 32 Challenge, he pinned three opponents including Sampson Wilkins (Mt. Anthony, Vt.), a New England regional champion and NHSCA Junior Nationals placer. In that quarterfinal on Sunday morning, Walker rallied to take eventual champion Gerrit Nijenhius (Canon-McMillan, Pa.) -- the No. 16 overall senior nationally -- to the brink in a 7-6 defeat. He would earn the podium with a 7-3 win over two-time state placer Cole Hinvor (Lake Catholic, Ohio) before closing out his third place run with wins over state placers Giuseppe Milano (Spring Ford, Pa.) and Jake Evans (Elyria, Ohio) and a final victory over state champion Nathan Warden (Christiansburg, Va.).
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