Nittany Lion Wrestling Club Sends 8 to Men’s Freestyle Finals at U.S. Olympic Trials

The second session of the U.S. Olympic Trials took place Friday night in the Bryce Jordan Center, and eight wrestlers with Penn State ties moved on to compete in the men’s freestyle championship series finals on Saturday.

Former Nittany Lions Zain Retherford, Nick Lee, Jason Nolf and Aaron Brooks and Nittany Lion Wrestling Club (NLWC) member Thomas Gilman all advanced through Friday’s Challenge Tournament, while Penn State great David Taylor and NLWC members Kyle Dake and Kyle Snyder had byes to Saturday’s best-of-three finals.

NLWC member Jen Page battled to the 62 kg women’s freestyle final, where she fell to Mallory Velte.

Three of Saturday’s men’s finals will feature Penn State-affiliated wrestlers squaring off. Retherford and Lee will battle for the 65 kg championship; Dake and Nolf will meet in the 74 kg final; and Taylor and Brooks will meet for the 86 kg title.

Gilman faces Spencer Lee in the 57 kg series, and Snyder takes on Isaac Trumble at 97 kg.

The U.S. has yet to qualify the 57kg and 65kg weight classes for entries at this summer’s Paris Olympics and will still need top-three finishes in those weights at the last World Qualification Tournament in Istanbul next month.

How It Happened

57 kg – Thomas Gilman

Thomas Gilman of NLWC started session two against Daton Fix of Cowboy WC.

Gilman went up 1-0 early and tacked on another point to jump ahead 2-0 before the end of the first half. The points kept rolling for Gilman with a 4-0 lead in the second half. He finished up the bout 6-0 and moved onto the finals.

Gilman will wrestle Spencer Lee of Hawkeye WC in the final on Saturday.

62 kg – Jen Page

Representing the NLWC, Jen Page wrestled Mallory Velte of Beaver Dam RTC in a second semifinal bout.

Page scored first and earned a 2-0 lead with one minute remaining in the first half. She added four more in the first, but Velte was crawling back with four points of her own to make it 6-4 after one period. Page opened up the second with two more points to lead 8-4, but Velte kept it close adding three to close the gap 8-7, but Page held on and win the semifinal 8-7.

For the final bout, Page faced Macey Kilty of SKWC. The bout was knotted 0-0 for the majority of the first half but that shifted when Kilty took a 4-1 lead in the final minute. Page threw a challenge brick, and the score was upped 4-2.

Page fought back to lead 5-4, and the bout tied up 6-6 late in the second. Despite the comeback attempt, Page dropped the final 9-8.

65 kg – Nick Lee

NLWC member Nick Lee entered the semifinals and wrestled Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado RTC.

The bout started hot with a quick 4-4 tie that lasted to the end of the first. Alirez got the leg up 5-4, but Lee quickly earned two points to regain the lead 6-5 in the second. Lee upped the momentum and overcame Alirez to lead 10-7. Lee finished up the bout on top 10-9, but a challenge brick was thrown from Alirez’s side. The call was confirmed and Lee moved on to the finals against teammate Zain Retherford.

65 kg – Zain Retherford

In a second semifinal, Zain Retherford of NLWC faced Jesse Mendez of Ohio RTC.

The pair quickly tied the bout 2-2 at the beginning of the first half and held that score well into the second half, but Retherford was able to pull through and secure one point to take the bout from Mendez 3-2 and make the finals against Lee in Session III.

74 kg – Mitchell Mesenbrink

Mitchell Mesenbrink of NLWC started off the session facing Jordan Burroughs of Pennsylvania RTC.

Mesenbrink was down early 2-0 and quickly was in a seven-point deficit by the end of the first half. The 7-0 gap was held well by Burroughs well into the second half, and Mesenbrink had a spark with three points but ultimately dropped the bout 8-3.

The Nittany Lion will wrestle in the consolation semifinals Session III.

74 kg – Jason Nolf

Jason Nolf of NLWC wrestled Jarrett Jacques of Tiger Style WC in the challenge tournament quarterfinals.

Nolf held the lead from the start, going up 4-1 in the first half. He kept grinding and widened his lead 6-2 in the second. Adding a few last-second points, he secured his spot in the finals 9-2.

Since Mesenbrink lost to Burroughs, the stage was set for Nolf against Burroughs in the challenge tournament finals.

On the first move of the bout, a challenge brick was thrown by Burroughs and the call was reversed to take the score back 0-0. Nolf earned back his point, led 1-0, and added another two points before a second brick was thrown by Burroughs. This call was also overturned and the score remained 1-0.

Nolf secured a takedown in the second to up his lead 3-0 and walked away with the 3-0 over Burroughs. Now, Nolf will take on Kyle Dake in Session III.

86 kg – Aaron Brooks

Aaron Brooks of NLWC took the mat against Alex Dieringer of Cliff Keen WC in the challenge tournament semis.

Dieringer made a quick move to open the bout and put Brooks in a 4-0 hole, but Brooks battled back with a move of his own to tie the score at 4-4. A challenge brick was thrown from Dieringer, but the call stood and Brooks took the 5-4 lead. Brooks continued to lead and came away with the 8-4 win.

In the final bout, Brooks wrestled Zahid Valenica of SKWC. Valenica was first to score and went up 1-0 heading into the second half. Brooks earned two on a takedown, but a challenge brick was thrown from Valenica and the takedown was canceled. The Nittany Lion quickly bounced back with another takedown to lead 3-1.

Valenica turned around on Brooks again with a big four-point move and this time Brooks’ side threw the brick. The call stood and Brooks was down 6-3. The former Nittany Lon roared back, however, earning two points with 0:16 seconds remaining to make the score 6-5 and tying it up 6-6 five seconds later. With just :06 left, Valencia was hit with a penalty for a singlet pull, and Brooks held on for a 7-6 win.

125 kg – Greg Kerkvliet

In the final weight class, Greg Kerkvliet of NLWC faced Nick Gwiazdowski of Spartan Combat RTC.

Kerkvliet was first on the board with one in the final 30 seconds of the first half. Gwiazdowski scored three with under two minutes in the second and scored once again to take the 5-1 win from Kerkvliet.

The Nittany Lion will wrestle in the consolation semifinals on Saturday.

What’s Next?

The U.S Olympic trials will continue at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 20, in the Bryce Jordan Center. Session three will feature the opening rounds of the best-of-three championship series, consolation matches and third-place bouts, with livestreaming on Peacock and NBC.com. The trials conclude with session four starting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, which will be broadcast on USA Network and streamed on Peacock and NBC.com.

Geoff Rushton contributed to this report.