skip navigation

Super 32 is not for the faint of heart

By Brandon Paulson, 10/27/20, 12:45PM CDT

Share

We do the situations in practice all the time. Down by 1, 30 seconds left, go.... Gavin Nelson with the body lock with just seconds left on the clock to make it to the finals! Ultimate overtime, you're choice, go...the most exciting 29 seconds of wrestling you may ever see, but unfortunately Jore didn't come out on top. Hats off to his opponent. Throw in some crushing blood round losses, and an awesome blood round comeback, and that 1.5 hours of wrestling almost sent me to the hospital.

Every national tournament is entirely different, but every one the same as well. As a coach, you feel part of unbelievable highs, but are crushed by the lows of the others. You see the work the wrestlers put in, and when they don't reach the goal they set out for, you are crushed for them. I am proud of the way our guys competed, and proud of the way they represented PINnacle. I had numerous people come up to me(other coaches/officials/parents) and comment on how they liked how our guys competed, and the sportsmanship they showed.  This makes us proud! 

Our focus on the first day was Confidence and Aggression. If you are confident, you will be aggressive. On the 2nd day it was "Be Great", and "Never Be Satisfied".  The wrestlers followed suit in both days!

The Champ, Bennett Tabor, was dominating. He was never in danger throughout the tournament. Beautiful underhooks from the feet(elbow up!), and a wide array of punishment from the top position, make him a force. Super 32 champ is the highest folkstyle accomplishment in high school wrestling!

Finalist, Gavin Nelson, has guts! Not just the MN gut, but that deep down, figure it out, gamer type of guts.  Gavin pumped the whole crowd up with a body lock heard round the country. #gogreco

Finalist, Bennett Berge, put on an offensive clinic throughout the tournament. His array of attacks were outstanding. His finals match was crushing, and I need to take part of the blame as I probably should have chose both up in the 2nd. But, Bennett is a coachable wrestler who will learn those positions he isn't comfortable in. 

Jore Volk did everything right heading into this tournament. Great work ethic, lived right, was at every practice, and improved on weaknesses.  He did everything in his power to come out on top, but sometimes that isn't enough. That is why losses are devastating, but also why the sport is awesome.  His semifinal match was 2 guys battling every point, every second. LoveTheFight

Hunter Lyden turned the corner during the weekend. He figured out how to continue to wrestle hard, no matter the score. I have never seen him wrestle better than he did his last few matches.

Roman Rogotzke just figures out a way. While his basics need some tweaking, this guy wrestles every second of every match and is not scared to throw the kitchen sink at you.  Down 7-2 in the bloodround, Roman showed his heart in an awesome comeback win!

Caleb Thoennes can match wrestling skills with anybody in the tournament. After a tough quarterfinal loss, he came back with a dominating blood round performance to place at the toughest hs folkstyle tournament in the nation. 

Zach Hanson won 5 matches, but that didn't earn a trip to the 2nd day in amazingly deep 120lb bracket.

Cole Becker grinded out tight matches the whole 1st day

Koy Buesgens was 8 seconds from placing. Still hurts me.

Max Ramberg and Adam Sylvester had break through performances on making it to the 2nd day of Super 32!

Chase DeBlaere has turned the corner in the past 6 weeks. I am proud of the way he handled himself in the practice room ,and in competition. He ran into 2 hammers in the quarters and blood round, but wrestled hard and composed every second in those matches.

It was a record breaking tournament for PINnacle Wrestling. In 2016 we had 1 champ, 3 finalist, and 6 placers in the high school division. This year we had 1 champ, 3 finalist, 7 placers, and 3 lose in the blood round in the Men's HS division.  We had an amazin 8 in the quarterfinals! Credit goes to the wrestlers for putting the work in to get to where they are. 

NUMBERS - 23  High School Men's competitors, 1 High School Women's, 1 Middle School Men's

Champion - Bennett Tabor 215lbs
Finalist - Bennett Berge 182lbs
Finalist - Gavin Nelson 195lbs
4th place - Jore Volk 113lbs
4th place - Hunter Lyden 160lbs
7th Place - Roman Rogotzke 182lbs
8th place - Caleb Thoennes 106lbs
Middle School Men's 
4th place - Bryce Burkett 145lbs

HS Men's division numbers
8 Quarterfinalist
5 Semifinalist
3 Finalist
1 Champion
7 Placers
10 in the top 12