BRACKET BUSTERS
High school wrestlers who surprised the experts
Why do W.I.N.’s wrestling rankings change so much from issue to issue?
Because of the performances of wrestlers like the dozen or so that will be listed below.
State tournament wrestling is about many things. One of those is upsets. How many times have we seen a wrestler lose two or three times during the season to a particular opponent … and then beat that person at the state tournament?
Then there’s the wrestler who’s had an average season … but catches lightning in a bottle and goes on a memorable run that produces one scintillating memory after another.
Either way, they’re bracket busters; shooting holes in the logic of all of us who make our living as pundits and prognosticators.
Who were some of those wrestlers this season? We’ve listed some of them below.
Michaela Hutchison, Soldotna (Alaska) Skyview High, 103 pounds
Okay, she was the favorite this time around. But it’s never to be believed until it actually happens. Hutchison, a junior, became the first girl to win a boys’ state title. She had a close call in the title match, winning a 1-0 decision, but dominated prior to the finals with a technical fall and two pins. Last year, Hutchison reached the finals but was pinned by Alan Bartelli of Wasilla High, who won at 112 this year.
Michael Garofalo, Stafford (Va.) Colonial Forge High, 112 pounds
Guess that tough Colonial Forge schedule really does pay dividends. Only third in the Class 3A Northwest Region meet the week before, Garofalo didn’t look like any ordinary freshman in the state meet. All he did was score back-to-back victories over nationally-ranked opponents … the two wrestlers whom had met in the 103-pound title match the previous year. An escape in the overtime tie-breaker gave him a 4-3 victory over defending champion Brian Wright of Virginia Beach Kempsville High in the semifinals, followed by a 5-4 victory over Eric Olanowski of Virginia Beach Floyd E. Kellam High for the title.
Jeff Bybee, Chillicothe (Ill.) Illinois Valley Central, 119 pounds
It’s hard to put a two-time state champion with a chance to win four state titles in this category. But after going a combined 0-5 against his toughest competition, Cadet National champion Tyler Clark of Orion High and Vinny Alber of Dakota High, prior to the state tournament, Bybee turned the tables on both. In the semifinals, he avenged a pair of losses with a 7-2 victory over Alber before scoring a takedown in overtime for a 3-1 title-match stunner over defending champion Clark.
Reece Freeman, Bloomington (Ind.) South High, 119 pounds
This bizarre weight class featured no less than three defending champions: Eric Galka (103) of Hobart High, Ethan Harris (112) of Beech Grove High and Anthony Williams (119) of Evansville Central High. Here’s where the Twilight Zone sets in: Not only did none of the three repeat, none even advanced to the finals. And how about this: Freeman, a junior, beat two of them, yet finished only fifth!
After eliminating Galka, 7-0, in the first round, Freeman lost in the quarterfinals, meaning his highest possible finish was fifth. In the consolation semifinals, he beat Harris, also a quarterfinal loser, 6-3 on his way to fifth place. Senior Javier Salas of Merrillville High, who lost to Galka in the semistate the previous week, beat Williams, 4-3, in overtime in the semifinals and went on to win the title.
James Nicholson, Des Moines (Iowa) Roosevelt High, 119 pounds
While the Wells Fargo Arena crowd was focused on the second meeting of the season between Cadet National finalist Nate Moore of Iowa City West High and two-time defending champion Russell Weakley of Fort Madison High, Nicholson was quietly making his way through the other side of the bracket. Moore won that semifinal 9-4, making him 2-0 against Weakley. But Nicholson still had something left, beating Moore 6-4 in the final to complete an unbeaten senior season.
Being overlooked was nothing new to Nicholson. He won four straight to finish third a year ago after losing to Moore’s teammate, Kody Pudil, in the quarterfinals.
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