2 Penn State wrestlers earn top seeds with release of U.S. Wrestling Olympic Team Trials preseeds
The 2024 Paris Olympic games are still three months away, but some Penn State wrestlers — current and former — found out their paths toward the games on Monday.
USA Wrestling announced the preseeds for the Team Trials of the men’s freestyle, men’s Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle challenge tournaments, which are Friday and Saturday at the Bryce Jordan Center. Brackets and seeds will be finalized Friday morning after weigh-ins.
Current Nittany Lion Aaron Brooks (86 kilograms) and former Penn Stater Nick Lee (65 kg) were tabbed as the No. 1 wrestler in their respective weight class. They are part of 21 wrestlers with ties to Penn State that will look to turn an Olympic dream into a reality.
The other No. 1 preseeds for men’s freestyle were Zane Richards (57 kg), Jordan Burroughs (74 kg), J’den Cox (97 kg) and Hayden Zillmer (125 kg).
Joining Brooks will be teammates Carter Starocci (86 kg), Greg Kerkvliet (125 kg), Levi Haines (74 kg), Beau Bartlett (65 kg), Mitchell Mesenbrink (74 kg) and Alex Facundo (74 kg).
When it comes to past Penn State wrestlers joining Lee, they are David Taylor (86 kg), Zain Retherford (65 kg), Jason Nolf (74 kg), Max Dean (86 kg), Mark Hall (86 kg), Vincenzo Joseph (74 kg) and Nico Megaludis (57 kg).
With their past successes, Taylor and Retherford did not get seeded. Taylor waits the winner of the challenge tournament in a best-of-three series on Saturday. Retherford is already in the semifinals of the challenge tournament.
Kyle Dake (74 kg), Thomas Gilman (57 kg), Kyle Snyder (97 kg) and Jennifer Page (57 kg) will represent the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. Like Taylor, Dake and Snyder did not get seeded as they are in the finals on Saturday.
A pair of future Nittany Lion wrestlers in Luke Lilledahl (57 kg) and Connor Mirasola (86 kg) compete as high school seniors.
Nolf (No. 2), Gilman (No. 2) and Kerkvliet (No. 3) were the only other wrestlers with ties to Penn State earning a top three preseed.
The No. 1 preseeds for women’s freestyle are Audrey Jimenez (50 kg), Vayle-Rae Baker (53 kg), Xochitl Mota-Pettis (57 kg), Mallory Velte (62 kg), Forrest Molinari (68 kg) and Kennedy Blades (76 kg). Page did not get seeded as she is already in the semifinals of her weight class.
As for the No. 1 preseeds for men’s Greco-Roman, they are Ildar Hafizov (60 kg), Alejandro Sancho (67 kg), Kamal Bey (77 kg), Mahmoud Sebie (87 kg), Josef Rau (97 kg) and Adam Coon (125 kg).
