The Nittany Lion Wrestling Club kept its momentum going during the U.S. Olympic Trials on Friday night.
Almost every wrestler who represented the club in the second session was victorious in their semifinal and championship matches.
Thomas Gilman, 57 kilograms
Gilman made his semifinals match look like a piece of cake. Going up against Daton Fix, the former Hawkeye consistently scored in both periods, while Fix was unable to score at all.
He will face Spencer Lee for their championship on Saturday after defeating Fix 6-0.
Zain Retherford, 65 kilograms
An equal fight was put up between Retherford and OHRTC’s Jesse Mendez. Mendez, the No. 11 seed, had knocked out the No. 2 and 3 seeds prior to his bout with Retherford.
The wrestlers were able to hold each other off equally from scoring, resulting in a low-scoring bout over the course of the two periods. They had each made one takedown in the opening period.
It took Retherford a while in the final period, but he was able to pull ahead by one point, securing his spot in the championship round.
Nick Lee, 65 kilograms
On the mat right next to Retherford, Lee was putting in the work against Andrew Alirez. Alirez opened up their match with four points on the board. Playing catch up, Lee stopped the Northern Colorado alumnus from scoring and made two takedowns of his own by the end of the first period.
The ending period brought further scoring on both ends with the wrestlers being heavily offensive against the other. While Alvirez started off with the scoring once more with one point, the Indiana native came in guns blazing with a takedown plus four additional points.
This set the two apart for the rest of the bout and solidified Lee’s spot in the finals. Although Alvirez was able to keep securing points under his belt, it wasn’t enough and Lee came out on top with an 11-9 decision.
Lee and Retherford, both members of the NLWC, will face off on Saturday.
Jason Nolf, 74 kilograms
Nolf and Jarrett Jacques saw each other on the mat for the semifinals.
The 3-time NCAA champion was quick to strike first and get on the board with two takedowns against Jacques. The Missouri graduate was quick to retaliate with a takedown of his own.
At the end of the first period, the score was 4-2 in favor of Nolf.
Continuing to score throughout the second period, the former Penn Stater was far from running out of steam and more than doubled his score and Jacques was unable to answer.
Nolf won by a 9-2 decision and was headed to the championship match to face Jordan Burroughs, a six-time world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist..
After Burroughs faced some heat when he previously competed against Mitchell Mesenbrink, the crowds were amped up for this match.
With a slow opening period, the only point on the board for most of the three minutes was from Nolf. Then, in the final ten seconds of the period, he had a potential takedown which was overturned.
Starting the second period off strong, the NLWC wrestler had a strong takedown — lifting Burroughs off his feet and out of the circle. This, subsequently, brought the audience to its feet and cheers erupted from all over the arena.
The rest of the match saw no additional scoring and Nolf beat Burroughs 3-0. Nolf will face Kyle Dake for the championship.
As the only woman representing the NLWC in the trials, Page made sure to put up a fight in an attempt to secure her spot in the championship match.
Going up against Mallory Velte, the 2023 Senior Worlds bronze medalist hit the mat for the first time in session two.
The two continued bouncing off of each other’s scoring, going back and forth with the lead in the first period. Velte secured four points after Page’s two, giving her a short-lived lead. Following this, the Oklahoma City grad stacked up two takedowns rounding out the first period.
With a score of 6-4 at the start of the second half of their bout, Page kicked it off with another takedown and maintained that score for the rest of the match. Velte tried to catch up but was just shy of victory, and Page was headed to the championship match after winning 8-7.
With Macey Kilty being her next opponent, it was apparent that this was the final match of the challenge bracket with difficult competition coming from both wrestlers.
After Page earned one point, the rival 2020 Olympic Trials runner-up took it a step further and added on four points to her score.
During the second period, Kilty’s score remained stagnant for most of the first half while Page slowly crept up. As the Sunkist Kids member gained more of a lead, Page was right behind her refusing to give up.
With less than thirty seconds on the clock, the score was tied up at 6-6. It quickly went up, however, with Kilty again having the upper hand at 9-8. This was the final score and the conclusion of Page’s chance to compete in the Olympics.
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