Olympian! Hagerstown wrestler Aaron Brooks is headed to the 2024 Paris Games

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Hagerstown's Aaron Brooks was a four-time state wrestling champion in high school and a four-time NCAA national champion in college.

The opportunity to achieve his next goal -- the highest in the sport -- only comes around once every four years, and Brooks seized it Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center, taking down a giant along the way.

The 2018 North Hagerstown graduate defeated David Taylor, the reigning world and Olympic champion, 2-0 in their best-of-3 championship series at 86 kilograms (189.6 pounds) in men's freestyle, winning the first bout 4-1 and the second 3-1.

Brooks will compete Aug. 8-9 at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris as Washington County's first Olympian.

"Praise the Lord," he said. "It's a journey. It's a blessing. Hopefully, it goes forward and goes back.

"They know how I got here," he said of the Washington County community, "with my faith."

Brooks, who became a four-time NCAA champion for Penn State last month, advanced to the finals by going 3-0 Friday to win the challenge bracket, while Taylor, another Penn State legend, received a bye all the way to the finals as a returning world medalist.

In their first match early Saturday afternoon, Brooks scored a takedown in the first period for a 2-0 lead, and after Taylor cut it to 2-1 with a step-out point in the second period, Brooks secured another takedown to wrap it up.

In their second bout Saturday night, Brooks scored the lone takedown late in the first period and held on for the 3-1 victory.

"(Taylor) is world class, so he brings the best out of everyone he wrestles," Brooks said.

Brooks never trailed Saturday after having to come from behind in all three of his matches Friday.

After a first-round bye in the challenge bracket, Brooks defeated Connor Mirasola 11-5 in the quarterfinals, after trailing 2-1, and then got by Alex Dieringer 8-4 in the semifinals, after trailing 4-0.

Brooks' final match Friday night was one of the most electrifying bouts of the Trials as he scored four unanswered points in the final 21 seconds to stun Zahid Valencia 7-6 to advance to Saturday's showdown with Taylor.

"I think it's cool," Brooks said of the comebacks. "It was a test."

More photos: Day 2 of U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials

That was followed by another significant challenge, getting ready for Saturday morning's weigh-in by running, spending time in the sauna and wrestling with friends. Brooks said he had to drop 12 pounds.

"People don't realize, we don't get sleep, even at NCAAs," he said. "You leave here -- my last match was at 10:45 last night -- and you immediately go to lose weight. I went to sleep at 2 a.m. and woke up at 6 to lose weight again, and then you come back to wrestle. It's a war. … The stuff we go through is pretty gruesome."

For at least a short time, Brooks can relax before preparing for Paris.

His goal for the Olympics?

"Just wrestle, be present and see what happens," he said.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Hagerstown's Aaron Brooks competes at U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials