OLYMPIC WRESTLING STORY IDEAS
57 kg/125.5 lbs. FS – Daniel Dennis returns to sport after time away in California, and makes Olympic Team – An Illinois native, Daniel Dennis went to the Univ. of Iowa, where he was an NCAA runner-up and had goals in freestyle wrestling. After some injuries and setbacks, Dennis left the sport in 2013 to move to California, for rock climbing and a life change. He lived in his truck for a while and bought a trailer to live in. He helped as assistant coach at Windsor High School. His old Iowa connections kept encouraging him to come back to compete. He placed fourth in the 2015 U.S. Open and second at the World Team Trials at 61 kg, a non-Olympic weight. He decided to drop to 57 kg this year, a weight which Iowa NCAA champion Tony Ramos had held for two years. Ramos and Dennis trained in the same room. At the Olympic Trials, Dennis beat Ramos in two straight matches to claim the Olympic berth. The time away may have healed both Dennis’ body and his spirit. The laid-back and humble Dennis now has his sights on an Olympic gold medal.
65 kg/143 lbs. FS – Frank Molinaro’s rapid improvement makes medal quest possible – Coming into the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, everybody talked about the depth and skill at the 65 kg weight class. One who was overlooked was No. 9 seed Frank Molinaro, the former Penn State NCAA champion. Molinaro beat four top wrestlers in a row, Kellen Russell, four- time World Team member Brent Metcalf, four-time NCAA champ Logan Stieber and then three-time age-group World medalist Aaron Pico in the finals of the Trials. His weight class needed to be qualified for Rio. He did not medal at the 1st World Olympic Qualifier in Mongolia, then placed 3rd in the 2nd World Olympic Qualifier in Turkey when only the top two advanced. However, due to positive drug tests among the Rio qualifiers, the weight class qualifiers were reshuffled, and Molinaro’s third place in Turkey pulled him into the Games. He is coached at Penn State by Olympic champion Cael Sanderson and his talented staff with the Nittany Lion WC.
74 kg/163 lbs. FS – Jordan Burroughs, best wrestler on earth? Best athlete in any sport? There is no doubt that Jordan Burroughs is the most popular current wrestler in the world. There are people who believe he is the best athlete on the Olympic scene, regardless of sport. Burroughs’ record speaks for itself. He was 2012 Olympic champion, 2011, 2013 and 2015 World champion and third in the 2014 World Championships at 74 kg. His career record on the Senior level is now an astonishing 129-2. In 2013, he won a World title less than a month after breaking his ankle. He injured his leg at the 2014 World meet where he took the bronze medal, losing only to three-time World champion Denis Tsargush of Russia. Burroughs combines great athletic skills, technique and a tremendous work ethic with self-confidence and poise. His twit- ter handle @AllISeeIsGold is one of the most popular in Olympic sports. He aims to eclipse the records set by John Smith, who won two Olympic golds and four World golds. Burroughs and his wife Lauren have a baby son Beacon and a new daughter, Ora, born in June 2016. In 2015, he was named the U.S. Olympic Male Athlete of the Year. If he wins Rio gold, he joins George Mehnert (1904, 1908), Bruce Baumgartner (1984, 1992) and John Smith (1988, 1992) as the only two-time Olympic wrestling champions for the USA.
86 kg/189 lbs. FS – J’den Cox on a roll with Olympic medal in his sights – J’den Cox, a two-time NCAA champion for Missouri, would not even commit to attending the Olympic Trials
28 USA Wrestling Rio Media Guide
after winning the 2016 NCAA 197-lbs. title in Madison Square Garden in March. When he showed up at the Trials in Iowa City, Cox dropped to 86 kg/189 lbs. Seeded No. 9, Cox powered through the bracket, beating Clayton Foster, 2012 Olympian Jake Herbert, 2013 World Team member Keith Gavin and then four-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake in the finals. Cox went on his first international trip and won gold at the 1st World Olympic Qualifier in Mongolia to qualify the weight for the Olympics. He is one of three 2016 U.S. Olympians with college eligibility left, along with Kyle Snyder and Haley Augello. His success has been big news in his native Missouri. Cox has shown great con- fidence and athletic skills in international events this summer.
96 kg/213 lbs. FS – Youngest USA World champ Kyle Snyder is always ahead of schedule – Kyle Snyder won a 2013 Junior World gold medal at the age of 17. In 2015, he won a Senior World gold medal at the World Championships in Las Vegas at age 19, beating the defending World champion and becoming the youngest U.S. wrestler to win a Senior World title. He won the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City, beating 2012 Olympic champion Jake Varner in a memorable three- match series to make his first Olympic Team at age 20. If Snyder wins a gold medal in Rio, he will become the youngest American Olympic wrestling gold medalist, topping 2008 Olympic champion Henry Cejudo who was 21 years old. A native of Woodbine, Md., Snyder dominated high school wrestling for Good Counsel High School. He decided to spend his senior year training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center focusing on freestyle only. When he went to Ohio State, he did not redshirt, placing second as a true freshman. In 2016, he decided to come out of Olympic redshirt to wrestle heavyweight. His victory over two-time NCAA champ Nick Gwiazdowski of NC State is considered one of the best NCAA heavyweight finals ever. Snyder has a maturity and focus well beyond his years.
125 kg/275 lbs. FS – Tervel Dlagnev is consistently one of world’s best – Born in Bulgaria and raised in Texas, Tervel Dlagnev became an international wrestling star through an uncon- ventional route. He did not win a state title in Texas, and went to Div. II Nebraska-Kearney, where he won two heavyweight titles. He won a University World title after his college career. He won a World bronze medal on his first World Team in 2009. After missing the 2010 team, he has been No. 1 in the USA every year since. Dlagnev trains at the Ohio Regional Training Center. He was fifth at the 2011 and 2013 Worlds, as well as the 2012 Olympic Games. In 2014, in Uzbekistan, he battled back to win his second World bronze medal. In 2015, Dlagnev made the USA World team but could not compete due to a back injury. Dlagnev returned to the mats in 2016. Right before the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City, Dlagnev felt a “scary” pain in his back and legs and con- sidered not entering. He did compete, and ultimately beat Zach Rey in two straight matches to make his second Olympic Team.
48 kg/105.5 lbs. W – Haley Augello takes Olympic redshirt and punches ticket to Rio – Haley Augello grew up wrestling boys in Lockport, Ill., and didn’t compete against girls until her father brought her to a national tournament which she won. On her first international trip, Augello won a Cadet World title. Coached by respected Sean Bormet and staff at the Overtime WC, Augello developed her power and technique. She went to college power King University, where she won WCWA college national titles her first two years. Augello decided to take an Olympic redshirt in 2015-16 to pursue the Olympics. She moved
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