The 2022 Super 32 has come and gone and some Florida wrestlers arrived home from Greensboro, NC with some nice hardware and All-American next to their names. Our youth set the tone for everyone by winning two Super 32 Belts!! Elijah Castanon [Miami Wrestling Club] won the 11U 85 pound division belt and proved once again why he is one of the best youth wrestlers in the country. He has a jiu jitsu background he uses to control his opponents and he has found great success after coming over to the sport of wrestling. He will continue to get better and will be a force to be reckoned with when he hits the high school scene. Also in the 11U division Lucas Lane [NBWA] placed 4th at 80 pounds and brought the hardware back to his awesome team at North Brevard Wrestling Association. Finally in the 11U division we had Adrian Rojas place 4th at 90 pounds. Adrian just keeps getting better and better and our future looks very bright with these youth wrestlers we have!
Our other Champion and belt winner was Kolton Smith from The Florida Scorpions. He won the 8U 45 pound belt and put everyone on notice he is the man at 45 pounds! Kolton continues to dominate and is now showing the country why he will be feared at the national level as well. I am very excited to follow this little guys wrestling career and he is definitely the future of Florida wrestling.
The Middle School divisions were represented well by our boys and we had two stud middle schooler’s place 4th and 8th, respectively. In the MS 136 pound weight class we had Yandro Omar Soto Rivera place 4th and in the same weight class we had Kawayran “KJ” Vazquez place 8th. Both 136 pounders from Florida are now Super 32 All-Americans.
In the high school divisions we did not bring home a belt but we did have a few guys place high on the podium. We started off with state champion Sebastian Degennaro of Jensen Beach HS place 3rd in the 113 pound division. His only loss of the tournament came to Bo Bassett of Pennsylvania who went on to win the belt with a victory over New Jersey’s Anthony Knox in the championship match.
At 145 pounds we had state champion Cooper Haase of Kissimmee Osceola High School placing a respectable 4th place in a loaded weight class. Cooper defeated the #1 seed and UWW 17U World Champion Joel Adams. This was a huge win for Cooper and proved why he is regarded as one of the best high school wrestlers in the nation. West Point got a good one with Cooper and I am excited to watch him at the next level.
Joe Sealy from Lake Highland Prep placed 3rd at 160 pounds with his lone loss coming to the champion Joey Blaze on a heart breaking last second takedown. I’m sure Coach Palazzo will continue to work with Joe and I see him winning a National Prep title this year. Go get em’ champ.
Countryside High School’s state champion Brian Burburija placed a very respectable 6th place at 195 pounds. I know it’s not what he went there for but I know Brian will continue to bust his butt to improve and there’s no doubt in my mind he will repeat and win another state title this year before heading off to the Naval Academy. This guy is just a class act and has a huge future ahead of him.
The big men showed up for Florida with Austin Foye [Palmetto Ridge HS] and Nelson Toro [Harmony HS] both making the Super 32 podium at 285 pounds. Foye placed 5th after pinning his opponent in the placement match for 5th and 6th. This proved Austin was not happy with just making the podium, but wanted to place as high on the podium as possible. I’m sure his coach Blaine Ison is extremely proud of him for finishing with a big win. Nelson Toro finished the tournament as a Super 32 All-American by placing 8th. Toro moved up from 220 where he wrestled last year and now wrestles 285, a big difference but he proved he’s more than capable of handling it. Placing top 8 at this event is a huge accomplishment and Toro should be very proud.
It doesn’t look like any Florida girls placed at the Super 32 according to the results on FloArena. If we had any please let me know so I can get them mentioned as well.
Article Written by: Ricky Marcus