Morse outguns Massa en route to repeat Super 32 Title
Rodriguez finishes runner-up; 6 Michiganders place in Super 32 Challenge
10/24 - The 2009 Super 32 Challenge lived up to the hype with
loaded weight classes and barn burner matches from start to end.
For the third straight year a Championship Belt will be traveling
north to Michigan, and for the second consecutive year it is
strapped to the waist of Lowell's Jackson Morse.
In one of the highlight finals matches, Morse used a third period
takedown to edge St. Johns sophomore Taylor Massa at 152lbs.
Massa and Morse both came in highly touted and were granted the
#1 and #2 seeds in a star-studded 152lb weight class. Morse, who
is a 2x Divsion 2 state champ and returning Super 32 Champ,
scored a dominant 5-2 win over Junior National Finalist Joe Cozart
of Florida, who is currently ranked 3rd at 152lbs by WIN Magazine
while Morse is ranked 7th.
Massa, meanwhile, shut out Ohio state champ David Habat, who is
currently ranked 10th at 160lbs by WIN, 4-0 to advance to the finals.
Their finals match, which was their 2nd meeting after Massa won a
close meeting at last year's Team State Finals, was and epic battle.
The first period was scoreless, however, both men were offensive
through the entire two-minute stanza. After swapping escapes in
the 2nd and 3rd period, Morse broke the 1-1 tie with a double leg
takedown at the edge of the mat with under 10 seconds remaining
on the clock.
The only other Michigan grappler to earn a finals bid was Holt sophomore Freddie Rodriguez who won 5 bouts, including 3 major decisions, a tech-fall, and a fall en route to his highly anticipated finals match at 103lbs with Joey Dance of Virginia.
The Rodriguez-Dance match was the first finals bout of the day and the entire Greensboro Colisuem crowd huddled around the feature mat to witness what was arguably the most exciting finals match of the day.
Dance, who won the Cadet Freestyle 105lb National Title last summer in Fargo, scored a quick takedown to jump out to an early 2-0 lead, however, Rodriguez brought the crowd to their feet with an explosive escape that he transitioned into a 2pt takedown to take over the lead 3-2 heading into the 2nd period.
After riding Dance out for the first half of the 2nd period, Dance used a timely switch to score a reversal and take a 4-3 lead into the third period. In the third period Dance rode Rodriguez out for the first :50 of the period, then in the final seconds of regulation the Holt sophomore escaped to tie the score and send the match to overtime. Once in overtime Dance scored the winning takedown with a slick slide by.
Three other Michigan wrestlers finished in the medal rounds, placing in the top 8 of their respective weights.
Hartland senior Nick McDiarmid, a returning Division 2 state champ, scored two shutouts to make the 215lb semifinals before dropping an 8-5 decision to eventual champ Jamie Callender of Pennsylvania. Callender is currently ranked 11th at 189lbs by WIN Magazine. McDiarmid then won his consolation semifinal match to advance to the consolation finals where he fell to the tournament's top seed and 3rd ranked 215lber in the land Alex Polizzi of Wisconsin.
Joe Rendina won his first three matches at 125lbs before falling to top seeded and #3 ranked Devin Carter of Virginia in the quarterfinals. Carter would go on to win his 2nd straight belt, while Rendina bounced back with back-to-back wins to move on to the consolation semifinals. He then lost his final two bouts to NY State Champ and 6th ranked Nick Arujua and Georgia state champ TJ Mitchell. The Dundee senior finished 6th at 125lbs.
Roger Wildmo of Durand was the final placer from Michigan, finishing 8th at 140lbs. Wildmo, a 2x state finalist, lost his quarterfinal match to Mark Hartenstine of New York. Wildmo then rattled off 3 wins a row, including a 4-3 decision over Jordan Rich of Pennsylvania, who is currently ranked 16th at 140lbs by WIN. Wildmo then lost 6-0 to 13th ranked Kaleb Freidley of Missouri and 6-2 to 15th ranked Ryne Cokely of Kansas to finish 8th.
Goto the Super 32 website for full brackets from the tournament and check out the Michigan Grappler Video Page for videos of tournament matches.
Michigan Placers
103 - Freddie Rodriguez (Holt) - 2nd
125 - Joe Rendina (Dundee) - 6th
140 - Roger Wildmo (Durand) - 8th
152 - Jackson Morse (Lowell) - 1st
152 - Taylor Massa (St Johns) - 2nd
215 - Nick McDiarmid (Hartland) - 4th
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With his win today Morse won the 4th ever Super 32 title for the state of Michigan and became the 1st Michigander to be able to hang two belts on his wall
