Good morning everyone!
Day 2 of the US Wrestling Olympic Trials is under way at the Bryce Jordan Center. Follow along here throughout the day on updates for Penn State wrestlers and other updates.
1:20 p.m. – Zain Retherford gets a 5-0 decision over Nick Lee to take the championship series, 2-0. He will represent the United States at the Paris Games.
1:12 p.m. — Greg Kerkvliet falls by criteria to Dom Bradley in the third place match at 125 kg.
1 p.m. — Spencer Lee got the second match against Gilman, as well. Lee will represent USA at 57 kg in the Olympics.
12:52 p.m. — Mitchell Mesenbrink picked up a win to get to the third place bout, defeating Quincy Monday by technical fall, 12-1. Mesenbrink will face Jarrett Jacques for third place.
12:37 p.m. — The highly anticipated first of three bouts between David Taylor and Aaron Brooks. Brooks wowed the crowd in the second period with a slick double-leg that put him up 4-1. That was the ultimate decider as Brooks took the 4-1 victory.
12:20 p.m. — Greg Kerkvliet met Air Force’s Wyatt Hendrickson in the consolation semifinals. Kerkvliet took care of business with an 11-0 technical fall over Hendrickson. The two also competed against each other in the NWCA All-Star Classic back in November at Rec Hall, with Kerkvliet also winning that one.
12:13 p.m. — Kyle Dake took the first match in the best-of-3 championship series with Jason Nolf, 4-1. The All-Nittany Lion Wrestling Club bouth drew a round of applause from the large crowd at the BJC.
11:36 a.m.— Penn State wrestling great Mark Hall is going against Trent Hidlay in the consolation semis at 86 KG. It’s an exciting first period, with Hidlay leading 6-4 at the end of it. With a little more than a minute left in the second period, Hidlay gets a takedown to double his advantage. He ends up winning, 9-4.
Hidlay 9, Hall 4
10:50 a.m. —Penn State wrestling commit Luke Lilledahl takes on Marcus Blaze in the consolation bracket. Lilledahl takes a 1-0 lead into the second period. With 1:40 left, Blaze gets four points total with a takedown to take a 5-1 lead. Blaze ends up winning, 5-1.
Blaze 5, Lilledahl 1
10:15 a.m. – In an all Penn State match in the consolation round at 86 kg, Mark Hall picked up a 12-2 technical fall over Max Dean. Hall now represents the Pennsylvania Regional Training Center, while Dean is with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.
10:20 a.m. – Spencer Lee defeated Thomas Gilman in the first of the best-of-3 championship series at 57 kg to start the day. Gilman will need to rally to win the last two to advance to Paris.
10:30 a.m. – Round 1 of Nick Lee and Zain Retherford went to the Zain Train, 2-1. There was quite a bit of blood time in this one. Don’t be surprised if the series goes three matches.
