We tried to identify some dark horses at the U.S. Open before the brackets came out. Now that the wrestling bonanza in Las Vegas is over, we can look back through the brackets, assess our prognostications and determine who the real dark horses were at last week's tournament.

To peruse the U.S. Open brackets at your leisure, click here. And for all things World Team Trials, for which the top seven finishers at the Open have qualified, click here. 

Watch the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament LIVE On Flowrestling

When: may 18-20 | Where: Rochester, MN

57kg

Our two pre-tournament dark horses both wound up with seeds, so perhaps they should be considered fringe dark horses. Seventh-seeded Daniel DeShazer finished in the round of 12, losing to Daton Fix and Brent Fleetwood. However, David Teroa, the #11 and last seed in the weight class, finished fifth and qualified for the team trials. So I think he should still count as a successful dark horse. Maybe you don't, but that's fine. We can agree to disagree.  

The next biggest surprise in the weight was the unseeded Fleetwood, who beat DeShazer and fell to Terao in the fifth-place match, which is still good for a ticket to Rochester, MN.

61kg

Although unseeded AJ Schopp was eliminated in the round of 16, there were 12 seeded wrestlers at 61kg and the top seven came from that group, so we stand by our pick despite Schopp falling short of a qualifying bid. Our other pick, Johnni DiJulius, was also unseeded and out of the tournament after the round of 16. Our chances of getting a dark horse pick on the podium weren't helped by the fact the that Schopp and DiJulius met in the first round, with Schopp prevailing. 

DiJulius also scored a victory over Cory Clark, a 2017 national champion at Iowa. Not too shabby for a guy who never earned All-American status while at Ohio State.

Watch JDJ vs. Clark:

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The lowest seed to qualify for the team trials is Darrius Little, the #12 seed, wrestling out of the Lehigh Valley by way of NC State, who finished seventh, in the perhaps the toughest bracket in Vegas.

65kg

Andy Simmons was the #5 seed, so again, it's maybe a stretch to call him a dark horse. Simmons finished seventh, below his seed, but that's good enough for a bid to the trials, so a successful trip to Vegas in all the ways that matter.

As far as surprises go, how about the #9 seed, Jaydin Eierman, making the Open finals as a sophomore and beating four-time NCAA champ and UWW world champ Logan Stieber along the way? OK, maybe Eierman and his corner were confident, but to be fair to those who were surprised, Eierman got teched twice in last year's team trials and lost to Boo Lewallen at the U23 trials this year (shout out to the Wrestling Nomad for that nibbler of knowledge). 

Watch Eierman take out the champ in the quarterfinals:

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70kg

Our 70kg dark horse pick, Mario Mason, did not compete at the Open, so we're taking a mulligan there. 

However, a guy who doesn't need to take a mulligan is Purdue's Griffin Parriott, who placed seventh in a loaded bracket as an unseeded redshirt freshman. Parriott went from not qualifying for the NCAAs to placing ahead of folks like NCAA third-place finisher Matt Kolodzik. 

74kg

We're feeling pretty decent about our dark horse pick of Jake Sueflohn, an unseeded wrestler from the Boilermaker RTC by way of Nebraska. Griffin Parriot's club teammate beat last year's NCAA third-placer Evan Wick twice on his way to a third-place finish at the Open. The middleweights are looking strong in West Lafayette, Indiana. 

Watch Sueflohn, never an All-American at Nebraska, beat Wick for the second time in one day:

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Two other unseeded 74-kilogrammers punched tickets to Rochester: Minnesota's Carson Brolsma and Pitt's Taleb Rahmani, who finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

79kg

Our dark horse pick of Nate Jackson looks pretty good at first glance, considering the unseeded Princeton coach and former Indiana Hoosier finished in fifth place. However, only four wrestlers were seeded, and they all finished in the top four, so we're not exactly bragging too hard about it either.

The other two unseeded top seven placers in Vegas? Army's Ben Harvey and Stacey Davis of the Wolfpack Wrestling Club. 

86kg

Speaking of Wolfpackers, how about rising redshirt sophomore Nick Reenan? Reenan beasted his way to a third-place finish as an unseeded wrestler. Consider him off limits for future dark horse picks at this point. Reenan is un-dark horsable. 

Watch Reenan ground Air Downey in the consolation round:

The two other unseeded world team trials qualifiers at 86kg were Austin Coburn and Ryan McWatters. 

92kg

Our intel that told us that Cody Walters—former Ohio Bobcat and now Garnder-Webb coach—was in the best shape of his life paid hefty dividends. Walters placed seventh without the benefit of a seed and moves on the team trials challenge tournament. 

Perhaps a bigger surprise—and really, the Walters achievement is not a surprise when you have the inside scoop like we do—was Wolfpack Wrestling Club member (they had a good tournament if you couldn't tell) Timmy McCall, who placed sixth, also without the benefit of a seed. 

97kg

We're on a roll with our dark horse picks, as unseeded Cornell's Ben Honis placed fifth, upsetting fifth seed Blaze Cabell—that's Cabell that rhymes with Scrabble just FYI—along the way to receiving his ticket to the team trials. 

With a streak like this going, there's no telling to what heights our heavyweight pick might soar!

125kg

Unfortunately, unseeded Ceron Francisco went 0-2 in Vegas, and our luck comes to a crashing halt, much like it did on the craps table Saturday night. However, we still stand behind our man, Sauce Daddy Ceron, and believe this setback will only serve to fuel his comeback.

And for what it's worth, the top seven heavies at the Open were all seeded #8 or better, so there was a lot of chalk in senior men's freestyle's heaviest division.

Thanks for enjoying this U.S. Open retrospective with us. See you in Minnesota, wrestling fans!