Averett College’s Samano upsets No. 2 seed Cafurello, quarterfinals set at NCAA DIII Championships

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Adrian Samano didn’t mind seeing the brackets when they came out for the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse.

Unseeded at 125 pounds, Averett College’s Samano knew he would open with a preliminary bout, and the reward for the winner would be a first-round matchup with second-seeded Mac Cafurello of Roanoke. That might seem odd considering Cafurello had won eight of their nine matches in college competition, including last month’s Region IV final.

“I do like it because, honestly, it just told me loud, like, ‘You know what, man? Familiar face,’” Samano said of looking at the brackets. “Let’s get a good warmup (an 11-3 preliminary-round win against Jack Thode of Centenary, N.J.), shake off the rust — you know the first match is the hardest match.”

When you’re 1-8 against an opponent, it’s a lot easier to make adjustments, too.

“He’s probably like, ‘I don’t gotta change nothing for this guy,” said Samano, who began his career at Ferrum before transferring to Averett before last season.

This time, Samano struck early with a first-period takedown midway through the first period, getting the lead he never lost.

“I was like, this time I really got to take him down and show the ref that I’m going to win this match,” Samano said. “It (gave) me a lot of confidence because I just kept telling myself every day, I believe I can make the national finals.”

The 4-2 victory didn’t come without some anxious moments as Samano had to wait out a video review at the end of regulation that he called “nerve-wracking.”

In the end, it worked out.

“I told everybody I was going to get the last laugh and that I was going to shock the world,” Samano said. “Not myself, though, because I know how hard I’ve been training and believing in my coaches and stuff like that.”

Cafurello was the highest-ranked casualty in the opening session, as a new format exempted all top-11 seeds from the preliminaries—ten top-eight seeds lost in the first round, three of them at 125.

In one of those. Brayden Parke of Coe rallied from an early 6-1 deficit and pinned sixth-seeded Matt Griffin of The College of New Jersy in 3:50.

Parke, who placed fifth in the nation a year ago, easily could have been sour about his No. 11 seed. Instead, he turned it into positive energy.

“I don’t give a rat’s butt about seeding or anything,” Parke said. “You gotta come down here and wrestle tough matches every single match. I see this tournament with a lot of heart about how much you want it.”

Later in the round, Roanoke picked up an upset of its own at 184 when unseeded Hunter Moore knocked off third-seeded Jamie Evarts of Williams 5-2 on a takedown in sudden victory. The winning score came two minutes into the overtime session.

Both the four and five seeds lost at 285.

A first-period takedown was the key for Wisconsin-La Crosse’s Markos Mihalopoulos to beat fourth-seeded Carter Stack of Washington & Lee 4-1.

Wyatt Smith of Coe, which is in Cedar Rapids, a few blocks from the arena, won by default over fifth seed Logan Flynn of Arcadia. The match ended after 5 minutes, 27 seconds, with Smith leading 7-2.

At 197, Nicholas Woodruff of Pennsylvania College of Technology scored the lone point on an escape with 1:17 left in the second period to beat fourth-seeded Cal Dorota of Wartburg 1-0.

Wartburg led the team race after the first session with 23.5 points, while Augsburg had 21. Roanoke (18.5) had a half-point lead over Wisconsin-La Crosse for third place. New York University was fifth with 14.5.

The College of New Jersey (12.5 points) was sixth, Coe and Springfield were tied for seventh at 10.5, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Luther were tied for 10^th at 10.

Wartburg and Augsburg led the way with six first-round winners each.

Brett Birchman (125 pounds), Patrick Mullen (133), Kade Blume (141), Charle Dojan (157), Kasey Ross (184) and defending champion Mitchell Willliamson (285) advanced for the Knights. Ross recorded a fall, while Blume, Dojan and Williamson recorded technical falls.

Matt Randolph (149), Karsen Otis (157), Cooper Willis (165), Brandt Bombard (184), Ethan Winkleman (197) and Tyler Raway (285) moved on for Augsburg. Randolph and Willis had major decisions.

Jude Robson (133), defending champion Mark Samuel (141), Xavier Preston (174), Hunter Moore (184) and Lorenzo Pellot-Vazquez (197) stayed alive in the winners bracket for Roanoke.

Wisconsin-La Crosse also advanced five to the quarterfinals: Tanner Gerber (165), Noah Leisgang (174), Tate Flege (184), Tyler Dormanen (197) and Markos Mihaloploulos (285).