Penn State Candidates To Host Wrestling Olympic Trials, Will Reportedly Hold Worlds Qualifiers
USA Wrestling confirmed that it is interested in holding its 2020 Olympic wrestling trials in Happy Valley, as well as the second stop of the 2018 Final X Series in June, according to PennLive reporter James Carlson.
Chew on this: @pennstateWREST and the Bryce Jordan Center is a candidate to host the 2020 Olympic Wrestling Trials. And, on June 16 of this year, Penn State will host three weight classes (men and women) in Final X competition to determine spots on the U.S. Senior World Team.
— James R. Carlson (@JamesRCarlson) January 26, 2018
USA Wrestling’s Olympic trials are typically held in the spring of an Olympic year, bringing the best Americans together to compete for spots on the men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle, and Greco-Roman teams. USA Wrestling’s Director of National Events Peter Isais was on a site visit to check out the potential hosts, according to the Daily Collegian.
“Cael came to us probably six years ago wanting to host the Olympic Trials. We were already contracted with Iowa City [for 2016], but now I’ve been in contact with the Penn State administration for two to three years years,” Isais told the Daily Collegian.
The trials would likely need to be held in a larger venue than Rec Hall (each of the last three trials have been held in 15,000+ capacity arenas), so the Bryce Jordan Center might be the likely location.
Alongside side the potential of hosting the trials, Penn State will hold an event on the newly-created Final X series on June 16, according to Carlson. It was announced last week that the winners of each weight class in the Final X series will earn spots on the U.S. World Championships team heading to Budapest, Hungary in October.
The final venue details haven’t been determined, but the stop at Penn State would host the men’s freestyle competition for the 65, 79, and 86 kilogram weight classes and the women’s freestyle competition for the 62, 72, and 76 kilogram weight classes.
Nittany Lions star Zain Retherford was the most recent USA world championships representative at 65 kg and Penn Stater Frank Molinaro also competed in the same weight class at the 2016 Olympics, so both would likely be at that competition in June.
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