Milford’s Kayla Batres became just the fourth wrestler in state history to win a Super 32 Challenge tournament championship on Sunday in North Carolina. (Photo courtesy USA Wrestling Connecticut)
Three Connecticut wrestlers won medals at the Super 32 Challenge wrestling tournament on Sunday in Greensboro, North Carolina, one of the most competitive folkstyle wrestling tournaments in the nation.
However, the competition in the girls division is freestyle and Milford’s Kayla Batres, who is a sophomore at Westport’s Green Farms Academy this fall, came the fourth state wrestler to win a Super 32 championship.
With four victories, Batres finished first at 106 pounds to win her first Super 32 medal. Southbury’s Sarah Henckel, a junior at Blair Academy in New Jersey, won her third Super 32 medal with a fourth place finish at 148 pounds.
Niantic’s Lincoln Carlson, who wrestled for East Lyme/Norwich Tech last fall, also won a medal finishing eighth at 215 pounds. Liam Carlin, who will be wrestling with Greens Farms Academy this winter, finished fourth at 165 pounds. Three other state wrestlers won three matches each in the tournament.
Batres easily won her first two matches with a pair of 10-0 technical falls in 1:19 and 21 seconds, respectively. In the semifinals, she took a 6-1 lead and beat Virginia’s Sarissa Tucker, 6-3. In the final, she had a 6-2 lead after the first of two periods and beat Ohio’s Camryn Gresham, 8-2 to win the tournament.
Batres is the first Super 32 champion from Connecticut since New Milford’s Joanne Ortiz won a championship at 106 in 2017.
Henckel, who was fourth at 148 in 2022 and fifth in 2023 at 160, didn’t give up a point in winning her first two matches by technical fall. She slipped past New Jersey’s Ella Poalillo in the quarterfinals, 3-2 but dropped a 4-3 decision to Pennsylvania’s Violette Lasure, who scored two points with 20 seconds left to take the lead.
Henckel moved into the consolation final with a pin but faced Poalillo again for third place. Henckel had an 8-0 lead but Poalillo got a two-point takedown and caught Henckel in a move and pinned her with 12 seconds left in the bout to finish third.
Carlson went 4-2 in the tournament with three consecutive wins in the consolation round to earn an eighth place medal at 215 pounds.
Carlin, who won a New York State Public School championship last winter, went 6-2 in the tournament. He didn’t allow a point in his first four wins of the tournament. After a 7-4 win in overtime over Ohio’s Luke James in the quarterfinals, Carlin lost to Georgia’s Dominic Babinelli, 7-1 in the semifinal. Carlin dropped a 6-5 decision to Maryland’s Salah Tsarni in the consolation final.
Danbury’s Dominic Iaquinto (285), New Fairfield’s Joe Mahoney (138) and Danbury’s Cristian Pote (126) each went 3-2 in the double-elimination tournament.
In the girls high school freestyle tournament, Somers’ Natalia Accorsi (118) went 4-2 with three consecutive wins, including a pin, in the consolation round
2024 Super 32 Challenge results and brackets
Top four Super 32 medalists from Connecticut
Champions
2003: Alex Cournoyer, Suffield Academy, 112
2017: Jakob Camacho, Danbury, 126
2017: Joanne Ortiz, New Milford, 106
2024: Kayla Batres, Milford (Greens Farms Academy), 106
Second place
2017: Cara Broadus, Plymouth, 139
2018: Ryan Jack, Danbury, 126
2019: Nico Provo, Stratford (Greens Farms Academy), 113
2020: Dakota-Marie Dinelli, Plainville, 148
Third place
2019: Ella Nichols, Bristol Eastern, 160
2021: Julianna Morris, Pomperaug, 130
Fourth place
2016: Jacob Camacho, Danbury, 120
2022: Sarah Henckel, Southbury (Blair Academy), 148
2024: Sarah Henckel, Southbury (Blair Academy), 148
