On the final day of competition in Iowa City six more Olympic spots were awarded while another three wrestlers earned the chance to try and qualifying for the Olympics in future international qualifying tournaments this spring.
In the men’s freestyle 57 kg 2012 Olympian Sam Hazewinkel had to drop out and was unable to compete while Coleman Scott, the 60 kg bronze medalist from London, won 14-4 in his first match and then ran into Tony Ramos, the US participant at the world championships and a 3-3 winner on tiebreaker in his first match. This matchup of big names went to Ramos on another tiebreaker at 4-4 to advance Ramos to the final without a clean win. His opponent in the final would be Daniel Dennis, a matchup of two former Iowa Hawkeyes. The final saw Dennis win a tight first match 2-1 before a dominant 10-0 second match gave him a spot in the Olympics.
For the men’s freestyle 74 kg division we went in knowing Jordan Burroughs would be the final and needing to find out who his opponent would be. The answer was Andrew Howe, the same matchup as in 2012, and the result was more of the same. Burroughs dominated 9-2, 10-0 to reach the Olympics where he will be the favorite.
In the men’s freestyle 97 kg division where we were hoping for a showdown between Jake Varner, gold medalist in London, and Kyle Snyder, gold medalist at the 2015 World Championships we got just that. Snyder was already assured a spot in the final while Varner got there by winning three matches without giving up a single point, 11-0, 4-0, 6-0. Varner continued his hot run in the final by winning match one on a tiebreaker with it 4-4 but Snyder got the better of him as the series went on winning match two 4-0 and the final and decisive set 6-1 to send the 19-year-old into the Olympics.
Over on the women’s side in the freestyle 75 kg division 2015 World Championship gold medalist Adeline Gray was waiting in the final for an opponent. That opponent would end up being an emerging youngster, 2014 Junior World Championship bronze medalist Victoria Francis. Francis may play a big part in the future but Gray is still the present and won the match easily 11-0, 10-0.
Over on the greco-roman side the men’s 75 kg class final featured the bronze medalist from the 2015 World Championships, Andy Bisek. 2012 Olympian Justin Lester did not compete due to injury and the finalist to face Bisek ended up being Geordan Speiller, a top competitor who sat out last year with a knee injury. Speiller may be a contender again in the future but this spot belonged to Bisek who won 6-2, 4-0 to grab the spot in Rio.
The final Olympic bid up for grabs was in the 130 kg greco-roman weight class. With neither finalist guaranteed the favorite was Robby Smith who finished fifth at the 2015 World Championships. He won his first two matches by a fall and 8-0 to advance to the final against Adam Coon, a two-time All-American for Michigan. Experience won out here as Smith advanced to the Olympics with a 4-1, 7-2 win.
As for the weight classes yet to qualify for Rio, the men’s freestyle 86 kg division saw 2012 Olympian and #1 seed Jake Herbert knocked out in his first match by J’den Cox, the 197 pound NCAA champion from Missouri, 8-1. Cox advanced to the final after a 3-1 semifinal win and awaiting him there was Kyle Dake, a four-time NCAA champion who has shown remarkable ability to shift weight classes. Cox won the first match 8-1 but lost the second narrowly 4-3. The winner-take-all match was very tight but it was Cox who held on for a 4-3 win and will have a chance to qualify for Rio.
In the women’s freestyle 48 kg competition 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Clarissa Chun was cruising through her matches winning 12-0 and 14-4 before running into Vicoria Anthony, a 2013 world championship participant at 51 kg, and losing to her 9-2. Awaiting Anthony in the final was surprisingly not #1 seed and 2015 world championship competitor Alyssa Lampe. Lampe had lost in the semifinals as well 7-6 to Haley Augello, a former 53 kg college national champion who dropped down in weight. In the final it was the 21-year-old Augello 6-4 in match one before Anthony evened things with a 11-6 victory to force a winner-take-all third match. That one went to the youngster Augello 8-2 as she is off to qualification for Rio.
Finally the women’s freestyle 53 kg competition saw #1 seed Helen Maroulis, the 55 kg champion at the 2015 World Championships, breeze to the final 10-0, 13-2, 11-0 while her finals opponent, the 53 kg representative at those world championships, Whitney Conder, advanced easily as well 10-0, 9-0, 7-2. It was all Maroulis in the final as she won both matches by shutout, 10-0 and 11-0 to move into Olympic qualifying.
For the nine winners who already have qualified for Rio they have four months to prepare and focus on the Olympics. For the other nine it’ll be hectic for the next few week as they attempt to earn their spot. Qualifying tournaments are April 22-24 in Mongolia and May 6-8 in Turkey. In the men’s events there are three spots available in Mongolia, just two in Turkey, while the women have two available in each event. Last time the US qualified all but one wrestler so most of the nine will probably make Rio, but they won’t be able to fully enjoy this until they do.
