STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The King University women's wrestling team had three current wrestlers, and five alumni compete at the 2024 USA Wrestling Olympic Trials over the weekend, with Sarah Hildebrandt qualifying for her second consecutive Olympic Games.
HOW IT HAPPENED – CURRENT WRESTLERS
- Wrestling at 50 kilograms, Samara Chavez won her quarterfinal match, 10-3 over Kendra Ryan before falling 16-6 in the semifinals. She then pinned Emilie Gonzalez in the consolation semifinals before dropping a 10-8 decision to Erin Golston to finish fourth in the challenge tournament.
- Claire DiCugno, wrestling at 62 kilograms, dropped her first match of the challenge tournament, 12-2 to Mallory Velte. She then won a pin over Maya Latona in 5:17 before beating Katie Lange 6-1.
- After advancing via forfeit, she placed fifth after falling 13-3 to Adaugo Nwachukwu in the consolation finals.
- Aine Drury earned a 5-1 victory in the quarterfinals over Alara Boyd before being pinned by Forrest Molinari in the semifinals. She then dropped her consolation semifinal match, 12-4 to Brooklyn Hays, who would go on to place third.
HOW IT HAPPENED – ALUMNI
- Hildebrandt got an automatic bye into the best-of-three finals, where she won both matches over Audrey Jimenez, with both matches being 10-0 wins for Hildebrandt, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
- Haley Augello, wrestling t 53 kilograms, won all four of her matches in the challenge tournament, starting with a 5-1 win over Felicity Taylor before beating Katie Gomez 4-1 in the semifinals. She then won the challenge tournament with a 3-0 decision over Areana Villaescusa, earning a spot in the best-of-three finals against Dominique Parrish.
- Augello lost the first match 2-1, before falling 5-2 in the second match to place second.
- Vayle-Rae Baker also wrestled at 53 kilograms, winning her first match 5-3 over Amy Mason before falling 3-0 to Villaescus in the semifinals. In the consolation semifinals, she lost 11-0 to Taylor.
- At 62 kilograms, Ashlynn Ortega won her first match, 8-2 over Maya Latona before falling 11-0 to Velte in the second round. She then moved into the consolation bracket, where she lost via pin to SaVannah Cosme.
- Forrest Molinari went 4-0 at 68 kilograms in the challenge tournament, with wins coming over Solin Piearcy (11-0), Drury (Fall, 0:57) and Alex Glaude (4-3) to earn a spot in the best-of-three finals series.
- She faced Amit Elor in the finals, falling 6-0 in the first match before dropping a narrow 2-1 decision in the second match.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- This will be the second consecutive Olympic games for Hildebrandt, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
- It will be the third consecutive Olympic games where a former Tornado wrestler will compete, as Augello competed in 2016 at the Rio de Janiero games.
UP NEXT
- All wrestling competition at the 2024 Olympic Games will be held at the Champ de Mars Arena, located in the city of Paris. Wrestling competition kicks off August 5 and runs through August 11. In total, 18 different events will be competed across three wrestling disciplines: women's freestyle, men's freestyle and men's Greco-Roman.
