University Park, PA- The U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Wrestling kicked off at the Bryce Jordan Center with a fast and furious pace, setting the stage for an exciting two-day tournament. In the first session on Friday, high schoolers and young college stars outperformed Senior-level competitors, creating some surprising results and dominant performances.
At 57 kg, high schoolers Luke Lilledahl and Jax Forrest put up a fight in the quarterfinals, with Lilledahl narrowly losing to Zane Richards and Forrest almost upsetting Thomas Gilman. In the semifinals, Richards faces Spencer Lee, while Gilman takes on Daton Fix in a rematch from the 2019 NCAA finals.
In the 65 kg category, 11-seed Jesse Mendez surprised everyone with wins over Joey McKenna and James Green to advance to the semifinals against Yianni Diakomihalis. The winner of that matchup will face Zain Retherford for a chance to move to the finals.
Jarrett Jacques, another 11-seed, made his mark at 74 kg with wins over Vincenzo Joseph and Quincy Monday. He will face Jason Nolf in the semifinals, while Jordan Burroughs takes on Mitchell Mesenbrink. Mesenbrink, who defeated Cadet World champion Ladarion Lockett, was another standout in this category.
At 86 kg, Connor Mirasola and Evan Wick caused upsets, but top seeds Aaron Brooks, Alex Dieringer, Trent Hidlay, and Chance Marsteller all advanced to the semifinals. The winners of these matchups will face off in the challenge finals.
In the 97 kg division, J’den Cox had a close win over Christian Carroll, setting up a semifinal against Kollin Moore. Jay Aiello and Isaac Trumble also secured spots in the semifinals after impressive performances.
Finally, at 125 kg, Dom Bradley showed his resilience with a comeback win over Wyatt Hendrickson to reach the semifinals against top-seeded Hayden Zillmer. Greg Kerkvliet and Nick Gwiazdowski advanced on the other side of the bracket with technical fall victories, promising an exciting conclusion to the tournament.
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