Just hours before he wrestled the biggest match of his career Sunday, Lake County native Daniel Dennis made a bold — and, as it turns out, wholly accurate — prediction:
He would win the U.S. Olympic team trials and punch his ticket to the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
“I feel confident,” he said. “If I am me and I am betting on someone, I am betting on me. As long as I feel good, I like my odds.”
Many inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on the University of Iowa campus would have taken him up on that wager. Dennis, an Iowa alumnus who had returned to competition only last year, was slated to face Tony Ramos, a fellow Hawkeyes wrestler and two-time world team member.
Ramos, who grew up in Carol Stream, had not lost to another American since he joined the sport’s senior ranks. And he had never lost on the Iowa campus.
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“He’s got better credentials, a better colligate record, a three-time all American, a two-time national finalist and is a national champ,” said Dennis, who wrestled for Grant Community High School in Fox Lake. “He’s got a lot going for him, and he’s the big man on campus right now. That is not a debate. I mean, he is.”
Yet Dennis owned Iowa City on Sunday as he beat Ramos in two consecutive matches to win the best-of-three freestyle final in 125.5-pound weight class. After a series of dizzying rolls in the second match, Dennis won 10-0 on a technical fall.
In keeping with his low-key personality, Dennis offered a half-smile as the shocked crowd gave him a standing ovation.
“I’m not saying I’m the best,” he said. “But I think I can beat everybody as long as I wrestle well and solid.”
Dennis, 29, returned to the sport in 2015 after a two-year absence — a period during which he moved to California, temporarily lived in an old pickup truck and helped coach a high school wrestling team. He emerged from self-imposed exile with plans to compete in a single tournament, but a strong showing there led to more competitions.
Rio, he insists, was never in his sights initially.
“I don’t look too far down the road,” Dennis said. “That’s not my personality.”
After finishing second in the world team trials last year, he moved back to Iowa City to train. He occasionally trained side-by-side with Ramos and used that familiarity to his advantage in the second match Sunday as he got on top of Ramos and spun him like a top.
“He’s a competitor, I know that,” Dennis said. “He knows I am a competitor. It’s not like he’s a Russian and I kind of think that I know a little bit about him. I mean, we know each other. He’s a kid that I have helped for a long, long time and vise versa.”
Ramos, 25, initially declined to talk to reporters, then held a hastily called news conference to announce he intended to leave the Hawkeye Wrestling Club because he believes the coaching staff sacrificed his Olympic chances for Dennis. The coaches divided themselves during the finals to have someone in each wrestler’s corner.
“I need to get out of this program,” Ramos said. “They never should have brought (Dennis) in.”
Ramos said he was unsure whether he’ll keep competing.
It was a night for Chicago-area underdogs as Lockport resident Haley Augello won the U.S. Olympic trials and could qualify for Rio later this month.
Augello, 21, reached the championship by knocking off two-time world medalist Alyssa Lampein the semifinal round, an upset victory that stunned the knowledgeable Iowa crowd and left Lampe in tears. Her finals opponent, Victoria Anthony, is a two-time world junior champion.
“I feel like I’ve always been kind of a grinder — being from Illinois they kind of instill it in you,” she said. “I think I’ve shown my true colors and true character now.”
Augello has been on an upward trajectory for the last several months, including a first-place finish at the women’s university national championship in March. She wrestles collegiately for King University in Tennessee, where she won two national titles before taking on Olympic redshirt this season.
The U.S. women’s team has not secured an Olympic berth in the 105.5-pound weight class, so Augello must earn her own spot at a last-chance tournament in Mongolia later this month. Chicago native Josef Rau, a Greco-Roman wrestler, also is scheduled to compete in the last-chance meet after winning his weight class Saturday.
If either Augello or Rau finishes in the top three in Mongolia, they will qualify for the Rio Games this August.
“That’s actually where most of my nerves lie,” Augello said. “This really doesn’t mean anything if you don’t qualify the weight. At the end of the day, I just want to go to Rio and bring home some hardware.”
Twitter @stacystclair