Super 32 Recap - New York

Super 32 is widely known to be the toughest folkstyle national tournament in the country each year and has continued to grow in size. Each year these brackets are 128 wrestlers deep, and each competitor is oftentimes a multiple time state medalist or state champion with a laundry list of accolades alongside their name. 

New York brought home a total of 15 Super 32 All-Americans across the high school boys, high school girls, middle school, and elementary divisions – a great showing for The Empire State in 2024. 

Liam Carlin put the country on notice coming in as the #20 seed and finishing 4th while the Manello brothers doubled up as Super 32 champions. Gail Sullivan and Julianna Hernandez performed well above their seeds to each earn podium honors - and JJ Sullivan finished with his second Super 32 belt in as many years, continuing his dominance on the middle school circuit.

*National rankings denominated below are courtesy of MatScouts.

High School Boys

Super 32 All-Americans

1. Liam Carlin, 4th place, 165 lbs (Green Hills Academy, CT) - Carlin entered Super 32 as the #20 seed and was the talk of the tournament. He scorched through a 128 man bracket with wins over #23 nationally ranked Bradlee Farrer of Utah, #12 nationally ranked Ben Smith of Maryland, and #13 nationally ranked Luke James of Ohio to make the semifinals of Super 32. After dropping a match to #5 nationally ranked Dom Banbinelli (GA), he majored two-time state medalist Aidan Costello (IN) 9-1 before dropping his third place match, 6-5, to #10 nationally ranked Saleh Tsarni (MD).

2. Gavyn Mangano, 6th place, 132 lbs (Shoreham-Wading River) - A dark horse coming into the tournament as the #10 seed, Mangano pulled off a series of great wins over nationally ranked opponents and landed on the podium. Those nationally ranked wins included a fall over #10 Billy Townson (CA) and a 7-4 decision over #8 Adrian DeJesus (NJ). After getting injured in his consolation semifinals bout against #21 Layne Kleimann (UT), he injury defaulted to 6th place.

3. Dunia Sibomana, 6th place, 113 lbs (Long Beach) - After a double Fargo All-American performance during the summer, Sibomana came in seeded 7th at Super 32 (and ranked 18th nationally). He ran through a loaded field to land on yet another podium at a widely respected national tournament. He notched a 7-2 win over #14 Killian Coluccio (NJ), in addition to wins over Beast of the East placer Niko Filipos (PA), and Mason Katschor (MI) who won a state title.

4. Oumar Tounkara, 8th place, 113 lbs (New York Military Academy) - Coming in seeded 13th, Tounkara dropped a match early and then rattled off multiple wins in the consolation bracket to finish 8th. He won a barnburner over #16 ranked Alex Rozas (LA) by a score of 7-5, and notched a win over Florida state champ Jovanni Tovar along the way as well.

Other Notable Performances

1. Anthony La-Gala Ryan, 113 lbs (Longwood) | 4-2 record, two matches from medaling. Significant Wins: Layne Martin (MI) - Fargo All-American, Grappler Fall Classic 2nd‍
2. Musa Tamaradze, 126 lbs (New York Military Academy) | 5-2 record, one match from medaling. Significant Wins: Gavin Jendreas (IN) - #6 nationally, Fargo All-American, 3X IN State Medalist‍
3. Luke Satriano, 126 lbs (Valley Central) | 3-2 record | three matches from medaling. Significant Wins: Nick Sorrow (MI) - MI State Champion, Grappler Fall Classic 3rd‍
4. Camryn Howard, 138 lbs (Bellport) | 5-2 record, three matches from medaling. Significant Wins: Drake Hoiiman (NV) - NV State Champion, Yandro Soto (Puerto Rico) - NHSCA All-American‍
5. Griffin LaPlante, 157 lbs (St Francis) | 6-2 record, one match from medaling. Significant Wins: Leonard Ashley (VA) - VA State Champion, Beau Lewis (VA) - VA State Champion. ‍

5. Jason Kwaak, 157 lbs (Brentwood) | 3-2 record, three matches from medaling. Significant Wins: Maximus Dhabolt (IA) - IA 3rd place, Mikel David Uyemura (CA) - NHSCA All-American & U17 World Team Trials 6th place

High School Girls: Super 32 All-Americans

1. Gail Sullivan, 5th place, 95 lbs (Monroe-Woodbury) - Coming in as the #11 seed, Sullivan ran the gauntlet and made the semifinals with a 1-0 win over #6 nationally ranked Lilly Breeden (MO) before falling to the #10 seed Silva (PA) in the semifinals. She also notched a win over Virginia state champ, Alliya Walker, in the 5th place bout.

2. Julianna Hernandez, 6th place, 112 lbs (Newfield/Rocky Point) - Another dark horse coming into the Super 32 tournament, Hernandez was seeded 14th before making a run in the tournament. She scored wins over #12 nationally ranked Harlee Hiller (IL) and the #9 seed Deandra Meza (CA) on her way to a 6th place finish.

3. Michaela Thomas, 7th place, 175 lbs (Iroquois) - Thomas had a solid tournament where she finished with a win over Brooklyn McKinney of Oklahoma, who won a 14U Freestyle state title and was a 14U Greco state runner-up. As she enters the 2024-25 season she now has a New York state runner-up finish, Super 32 All-American honors, and a solid showing at Fargo under her belt.

Middle School Boys: Super 32 All-Americans

1. Vincenzo Mannello, 1st place, 105 lbs (BBHVW) - After a 5th place finish at the state tournament in March, Mannello came in surprisingly low at the #5 seed. He proceeded to go 6-0 on the day including an upset win over #1 seed Cole Schwartz (PA) in the semifinals before winning his gold medal match 8-3 over Philip Hernandez (CA) who won a 2024 SCWAY State Title a few months ago.

2. Jace Rooney, 3rd place, 75 lbs (East Islip) - Coming in as the #2 seed, Rooney dropped a close match in the Round of 16 to Holtz (OH) before rattling off six straight wins to take third. Some of his wins included #3 Chase Smith of TN (2024 State Champ) and #4 Michael Nicosia of PA (2024 State Champ / Tyrant Nationals 1st) en route to his third place finish.

3. Jon Tutku, 4th place, 95 lbs (Massapequa) - Tutku outscored his opponents 15-1 en route to the quarterfinals where he dropped a close match to #7 Nolan DeShon (OH). On the backside of the bracket, Tutku proceeded to rattle off three wins including a win over #5 Stephen Bagocius of NJ (NUWAY Folkstyle Nationals Champion / 14U Freestyle Duals 5-2) before dropping his third place match. Tutku should be in contention for a NYSPHSAA state title this year at 101 lbs as he makes the move up to Varsity.

4. Adam Ortega, 4th place, 157 lbs (Watertown) - Ortega finished with a record of 3-2 en route to a 4th place finish at Super 32. His most notable win came over Noah Karns of Ohio who was a Tournament of Champions runner-up a few months ago.

Elementary Boys (11U / 8U): Super 32 All-Americans

1. Marcarlo Mannello, 1st place, 11U, 85 lbs (BBHVW) - The younger Manello brother came in seeded 2nd at Super 32 and outscored his competition 42-6 on his way to the top of the podium. Marcarlo recorded wins over #1 Antonio Aguilar of California (2024 Folkstyle and Freestyle State Champ) and #6 Avery Haber of Pennsylvania (Freestyle Nationals 3rd, Folkstyle Nationals 1st).

2. JJ Sullivan, 1st place, 11U, 80 lbs (Monroe-Woodbury) - Sullivan came in as the #1 seed and didn’t surrender a single point along the way (outscoring his opponents 36-0)  to repeat as Super 32 champion. He notched wins over #4 Ryder Ascherl of Pennsylvania (2024 Freestyle State Champ) and #6 Boaz Diaz of Iowa (Southern Plans 1st, Freestyle Nationals 1st). Sullivan continues his dominance on the middle school circuit with two Super 32 belts, two War at the Shore gold medals, and two Journeymen Fall Classic 1st place finishes to his name. 

3. Lincoln Brower, 3rd place, 11U, 65 lbs (Warwick Valley) - Brower finished in third place in Greensboro after dropping his quarterfinal bout by a close decision, 5-3, to the #7 seed Foster (PA). After the loss he rattled off three straight wins, including a close 1-0 victory over Princeton Nunn of California (Grappler Fall Classic 1st, State Champion) in the third place bout.

4. Shaikh Ahmed, 3rd place, 8U, 60 lbs (Honeoye-Falls Lima) - Ahmed came in unseeded at 60 lbs and pulled off four consecutive wins to finish in 3rd place. Shaikh’s biggest win came over #4 seed Eli Michael of Indiana where he won by 16-0 tech fall.

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