Penn State wrestling: Nittany Lions learn seeding for U.S. Olympic Team Trials

Penn State wrestling and the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club will be heavily featured when the U.S. Olympic Team Trials kick off at the Bryce Jordan Center on Friday and Saturday. The Nittany Lions have multiple current and former wrestlers who will attempt to represent the red, white, and blue in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. On Monday, USA Wrestling released the official seeding for this weekend’s trials.

Multiple Penn State wrestlers set to compete at U.S. Olympic Team Trials

Penn State wrestling will be well represented at the Bryce Jordan Center for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Seven current Nittany Lions, including Aaron Brooks (86 kg), Carter Starocci (86 kg), Greg Kerkvliet (125 kg), Levi Haines (74 kg), Beau Bartlett (65 kg), Mitchell Mesenbrink (74 kg) and Alex Facundo (74 kg), will all take part in this weekend’s tournament.

Five former Nittany Lions will be competing at the trials, as well, including David Taylor (86 kg), Zain Retherford (65 kg), Nick Lee (65 kg), Jason Nolf (74 kg), and Max Dean (86 kg). David Taylor is the defending champion at 86 kg and won the Gold Medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

The NLWC also features a few wrestlers who aren’t Penn State wrestling alumni. They include former Gold Medalist Kyle Snyder (97 kg), Bronze Medalist Kyle Dake (74 kg), and Bronze Medalist Thomas Gilman (57 kg). The club is coached by Cael Sanderson and the Penn State wrestling coaching staff, and trains in the wrestling facility at Rec Hall.

If that wasn’t enough, three former Nittany Lions return to Happy Valley representing other wrestling clubs. Mark Hall (86 kg), Vincenzo Joseph (74 kg), and Nico Megaludis (57 kg) will all compete this weekend. A few future Penn State wrestlers will also be competing in this tournament. Class of 2024 commits Luke Lilledahl (57 kg) and Connor Mirasola (86 kg) will wrestle in the place they’ll soon call home.

Each weight class will feature 11 to 14 wrestlers, with multiple wrestlers getting byes to the best of three championship series. Kyle Dake, David Taylor, Kyle Snyder, and Mason Parris all earned automatic berths to the championship series for medaling at the 2023 World Championships. Zain Retherford and Zahid Valencia both will advance directly to the semifinals for winning medals at the 2023 World Championships in an adjacent weight class.

Penn State wrestling and Nittany Lion Wrestling Club Seeding

On Monday afternoon, USA Wrestling released the seeding for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials this weekend. Seeding for Penn State wrestlers and NLWC is as follows:

57 KG (11 Wrestlers)

No. 2 Thomas Gilman (Iowa/NLWC)

No. 5 Nico Megaludis (Penn State/Pitt WC)

No. 9 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State commit/X-Calibur Athletics WC)

65 KG (13 Wrestlers)

Automatic Semifinalist – Zain Retherford (Penn State/Nittany Lion WC)

No. 1 Nick Lee (Penn State/NLWC)

No. 5 Beau Bartlett (Penn State/NLWC)

74 KG (14 Wrestlers)

Championship Series – Kyle Dake (Cornell/NLWC)

No. 2 Jason Nolf (Penn State/NLWC)

No. 5 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State/NLWC)

No. 7 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State/Sunkist Kids WC)

No. 9 Alex Facundo (Penn State/NLWC)

No. 10 Levi Haines (Penn State/NLWC)

86 KG (13 Wrestlers)

Championship Series – David Taylor (Penn State/NLWC)

No. 1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State/NLWC)

No. 5 Mark Hall (Penn State/Pennsylvania RTC)

No. 6 Carter Starocci (Penn State/NLWC)

No. 7 Max Dean (Penn State/NLWC)

No. 9 Connor Mirasola (Penn State commit/Askren Wrestling Academy)

97 KG (10 Wrestlers)

Championship Series – Kyle Snyder (Ohio State/NLWC)

125 KG (11 Wrestlers)

No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State/NLWC)

Make sure to follow along with Basic Blues Nation here and on our social media channels for live on-site coverage of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

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