It's a special look back at 20 years of the Super 32 on the Short Time Wrestling Podcast!

Back in 2000, I was still in college at Old Dominion. I was working on tracking down results from any and all high school tournaments and after attending my first USA Wrestling Cadet & Junior Nationals the summer prior, I started covering more off-season stuff for the first iteration of Mat Talk Online. This involved fall folkstyle events from USAW and the AAU, spring freestyle and paying attention to out-of-state tournaments where Virginia teams participated. One of those tournaments popped up in 2000, my fourth year in college at ODU and my fourth running Mat Talk Online. It was the Super 32. I first noticed it that fall when a local wrestler in the coverage area of the newspaper I was working at won at 119 pounds. George Dodson was an Eagle Scout from Denbigh High Sc hool who never reached the Group AAA state tournament. Then I saw Drake Dickenson's name. Drake wrestled at Magna Vista in the Southwest portion of Virginia before crossing the state line to wrestle for Dave Barker at Eden-Morehead. And that's how it all began for me.

This list is a look back at things that make me go "oh wow," and is not designed to be an inclusive list. During the 2005-08 years, I ran InterMat for the NWCA, which then owned the site. So my knowledge of high school wrestling from that era was in top form. Prior to 2005, I worked and lived in Virginia, so that's where the lion's share of my knowledge existed.

In 2000, the very first champion was at 101.1 pounds and it was host Morehead's Chris Moore defeating future Virginia four-time state champion Matt Epperly of Christiansburg, Virginia. Epperly went on to wrestle at Virginia Tech and qualified for the NCAA Division I Championships twice.

Current UNC Pembroke coach Othello "O.T." Johnson claimed a title at 163 pounds, beating Chris Ward of James Madison High School in Virginia. One time in Fargo, Ward got out after curfew. Team Virginia coach Ben Summerlin ran him outside until he puked.

In 2001, David Barker cites this as a turning point in the tournament's second year. Virginia powerhouse Great Bridge shows up and crowns four champions. Daren Burns, who wrestled at UNC Greensboro, was third at 190 pounds. He got better.

In 2002, the word is out. The Super 32 is now challenging the Lock Haven Fall Classic as the top preseason event on the east coast and the event is starting to gain traction nationally. A middle school division is added as well. Ashtin Primus from Connellsville, Pennsylvania comes down and cradles his way to a title. Future Division III All-American Donny Ooton of Great Bridge wins at 140, while future Old Dominion All-American Chris Brown wins at 145.

In 2003, we've got nationally ranked wrestlers hitting one another before the finals. Eric Hoffman, a future NJCAA national champion from Iowa Central and D1 national qualifier comes out from Iowa where he falls in the finals to Dusty McKinney at 125. A pair of future two-time D1 All-Americans meet in the finals at 103 where Tyler Nauman of Middletown, Pennsylvania beats eighth-grader Scotti Sentes of Riverside, Florida, 6-2.

Primus wins another title, this time at 135. Future Missouri All-American Raymond Jordan of New Bern, North Carolina beats future Limestone Division II national champion Dan Scanlan of Loudoun County, Virginia 4-1 in the finals at 171. Scores of future Division I wrestlers who don't place.

Moving to 2004, Ashtin Primus wins his third straight Super 32. Hammer champions include – well, they were pretty much all hammers. At 112, Ian Moser of Delaware beat Walker Faison of Virginia in a bout with two of the best lightweights in the country. New Jersey brought a strong group from Bound Brook as Nick Murray and Andrew Flanagan won titles.