USA Wrestling on Monday released the pre-seeds for the men’s and women’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials this weekend at the Bryce Jordan Center.
A total of 19 wrestlers with some form of Penn State affiliation will compete in the trials to determine who will represent the United States at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris. They include 15 current and former PSU wrestlers and four who did not compete for Penn State but who train with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club (NLWC).
Action will begin Friday with a single-elimination Challenge Tournament for each weight class, followed by the best-of-three finals series on Saturday
Among former Penn State wrestlers, David Taylor has a bye to the 86 kg finals on Saturday; Aaron Brooks is the No. 1 seed at 86 kg for the Challenge Tournament; Zain Retherford has a bye to the Challenge Tournament 65 kg semifinals; and Nick Lee is the No. 1 seed at 65 kg.
Here’s a look at those wrestlers with Penn State connections, their seeds and how they qualified. See the full list of pre-seeds here.
MEN’S FREESTYLE
57 kg
Wrestler Seed Penn State Connection Qualified Thomas Gilman No. 2 NLWC 2020 Olympic Team member Nico Megaludis No. 5 Former PSU wrestler 2023 Senior Nationals second place
65 kg
| Wrestler | Seed | Penn State Connection | Qualified |
| Zain Retherford | Bye to Challenge Tournament Semifinals | Former PSU wrestler/NLWC | Senior World champ |
| Nick Lee | No. 1 | Former PSU wrestler/NLWC | 2023 World Team member |
| Beau Bartlett | No. 5 | PSU wrestler/NLWC | Senior Nationals 2nd place |
74 kg
| Wrestler | Seed | Penn State Connection | Qualified |
| Kyle Dake | Bye to finals | NLWC | Senior World 2nd place |
| Jason Nolf | No. 2 | Former PSU wrestler/NLWC | Bill Farrell International Open champ |
| Mitchell Mesenbrink | No. 5 | PSU wrestler/NLWC | U20 World champion |
| Vincenzo Joseph | No. 7 | Former PSU wrestler | Last Chance Qualifier champ |
| Alex Facundo | No. 9 | PSU wrestler/NLWC | Senior Nationals 3rd place |
| Levi Haines | No. 10 | PSU wrestler/NLWC | NCAA champion |
86 kg
| Wrestler | Seed | Penn State Connection | Qualified |
| David Taylor | Bye to finals | Former PSU wrestler/NLWC | Senior World champ |
| Aaron Brooks | No. 1 | Former PSU wrestler/NLWC | U23 World champion |
| Mark Hall | No. 5 | Former PSU wrestler | Senior Nationals 2nd place |
| Carter Starocci | No. 6 | PSU wrestler/NLWC | NCAA champion |
| Max Dean | No. 7 | Former PSU wrestler/NLWC | Senior Nationals 3rd place |
97 kg
| Wrestler | Seed | Penn State Connection | Qualified |
| Kyle Snyder | Bye to finals | NLWC | Senior World 3rd place |
125 kg
| Wrestler | Seed | Penn State Connection | Qualified |
| Greg Kerkvliet | No. 3 | PSU wrestler/NLWC | NCAA champion |
Women’s Freestlye
Jennifer Page, who trains with the NLWC, has a bye to the Challenge Tournament semifinals at 62 kg.
