UNIVERSITY PARK–ย Penn State wrestling and the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club did what it does in the second session of the U.S. Olympic Trials at the Bryce Jordan Center Friday night.
Seven NLWC members had semifinal matches, and ofย those seven, five won.ย
Two of them, Jason Nolf and Aaron Brooks, went on to win their challenge tournament final matches.ย
Nolf will now take on fellow NLWC member Kyle Dake in a best-of-three series Saturday nightย withย the winner going onto the Olympics.ย Brooks will take on reigning Gold Medalist and Penn State great David Taylor in a best-of-threeย as well.
Saturday will be here soon enoughย butย before that,ย here’sย a recap of howย Friday’sย events went down.ย
PENN STATE WRESTLING: 57 KG
No. 2 Thomas Gilman vs. No. 3 Daton Fix
Gilman gets off to a 4-0 lead. He ends up cruising to a 6-0 win.
Gilman 6, Fix 0
PENN STATE WRESTLING: 74 KGย
Jordan Burroughs vs. Jason Nolf
The two wrestle to a scoreless first period. Nolf, and Penn State wrestling legend, got a point late in the first to go ahead 1-0. With six seconds left in the first period, Nolf got a takedown to go ahead by 3. Burroughsโย corner throws the challenge brick, and he wins the challenge to keep the score 1-0. A vicious takedown seconds into the second period makes it 3-0 in favor of Nolf. Nolf completed the upset and now faces Kyle Dake in a best-of-3 series tomorrow.
Nolf 3, Burroughs 0
PENN STATE WRESTLING: 65 KG
No. 1 Nick Lee vs. No. 4 Andrew Alirez
Former Penn State wrestling star Lee and Alirez have an entertaining first period, tied at four at the end of it. Alirez takes a brief 5-4 lead butย Lee answers with a takedown to go ahead 6-5. He eventually pushes the lead to 10-7. Alirez gets a late takedown, but itย isnโtย enough.
Lee 10, Alirez 9ย
Zain Retherford vs. Jesse Mendez
Retherford and Mendez went into the second period tied at two. Rutherford ends up winning a 3-2 decision.ย
Retherford 3, Mendez 2
74 KG
No. 1 Jordan Burroughs vs. No. 4 Mitchell Mesenbrink
Burroughsย gets things startedย with an early takedown to go up 2-0. He later goes up 6-0 and adds an extra point. He takes that lead into the second period. Mesenbrink kept battling, but Burroughs ultimately got an 8-3 win.ย Heโllย take Nolf in the challenge tournament finals.
Burroughs 8, Mesenbrink 3
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No. 2 Jason Nolf vs. No. 11 Jarrett Jacquez
Nolf takes care of business with a 9-2 win.
Nolf 9, Jacques 2
86 KG
No. 1 Aaron Brooks vs. No. 4 Alex Dieringer
Itโsย an exciting one at the startย withย Brooks leading 6-4 a minute into the second period. He subsequently adds a takedown to make it 8-4. He ends up winning by that score.
Brooks 8, Dieringer 4
Brooks vs. Zahid Valencia
Itโs a tight match, with each man getting a point. A minute into the second period, Brooks goes ahead 3-1 with a takedown that got the partisan Penn State crowd going. Moments later, an emphatic takedown by Valencia makes it 5-3. NLWC challengesย butย the call is confirmedย andย Valencia leads 6-3. Brooks gets a takedown to make it 6-5. Then, with 11 seconds left, he gets a point on a push-out. With six seconds left, Valencia, who had the tiebreaker on criteria, got called for an illegal singlet pull, putting Brooks ahead 7-6. That’s how it stayed.
Brooks 7, Valencia 6
125 KG
No. 2 Nick Gwiazdowski vs. No. 3 Greg Kerkvlietย
Kerkvliet fell in a 5-1 decision.
Gwiazdowski 5, Kerkvliet 1
WOMEN’Sย BRACKET
62 KG: Jen Page (NLWC) vs. Mallory Velte
Page led 6-4 at the end of a high-scoring first period. She got a takedown in the second to go up 8-4, but Velte got a three-point takedown of her own to cut it to 8-7. Page hangs on.
Page 8, Velte 7
Page vs. Macey Kilty
Kilty won in a hard-fought 9-8 decision
Kilty 9, Page 8
So, as far as NLWC goes,ย here’sย whatย tomorrow’sย slate looks like for the finals, all best-of-three
57 KG: Gilman vs. Spencer Lee
65 KG:ย Retherford vs. Nick Leeย
74 KG: Nolf vs. Kyle Dake
86 KG: Brooks vs. Taylor
97 KG: Kyle Snyder (NLWC) vs. Isaac Trumbleย
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