A total of 12 wrestlers with Hawkeye ties made their way to the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier this past weekend in Fairfax, Virginia.<\/p>\n
Two of them punched their tickets to State College (PA) \u2013 site of the 2024 Team USA Olympic Trials in less than two weeks (April 19-20).<\/p>\n
Nyla Valencia (50kg) and Brianna Gonzalez (53kg) \u2013 both members of the inaugural University of Iowa women\u2019s team \u2013 went a combined 6-0 with four tech. falls and a pin, outscoring their opponents by a combined margin of 58-5 en route to a pair of titles in the women\u2019s freestyle division.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll be joined by seven of their Hawkeye teammates in Stage College later this month \u2013 plus another five from the men\u2019s program.<\/p>\n
This was just the beginning of a hectic four-week stretch of competition involving past, present, and future members of the men\u2019s\/women\u2019s programs \u2013 all of which I\u2019ll be covering in detail here at Hawkeye Report.<\/p>\n
That said, there\u2019s no time to waste.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s jump right into the recap of the weekend that was, starting with a few Iowa alumni who took the mat out in Virginia.<\/p>\n
Past<\/strong><\/p>\n A quartet of former Hawkeye men were entered across five different brackets at the Last Chance Qualifier \u2013 the \u2018extra\u2019 entry coming courtesy of Daniel Erekson (2005-10), who was entered at heavyweight in both the Men\u2019s Freestyle and Greco-Roman divisions (125 and 130kg respectively).<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Erekson \u2013 a two-time All-American and<\/em> Big Ten champion \u2013 wound up injury defaulting out of both tournaments, though he did advance as far as the semifinals in the freestyle division.<\/p>\n At 74 kilograms, Jeremiah Moody\u2019s tournament was also short-lived, going 0-2.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the two most prominent names of this group had slightly different performances, though I\u2019m sure both would ultimately view them as disappointments.<\/p>\n Jaydin Eierman entered the weekend as the #3 seed in a 26-man field at 65 kilograms, but an opening upset loss in the Round of 16 to Henry Porter (10-5) quickly halted any plans of securing a berth at the Olympic Trials.<\/p>\n A wild 18-12 win in the consolations, plus another victory by forfeit, would advance the 2021 Big Ten champion through the backside of the bracket. That\u2019s where his tournament would end, however, as #1 seed Aden Valencia (brother of the aforementioned Nyla Valencia) locked up a trap-arm gut wrench following an opening takedown and quickly secured a 10-0 tech. fall.<\/p>\n Back in December at Senior Nationals, Jacob Warner lost a match to an opponent who would ultimately secure that event\u2019s final qualifying spot for the Trials. On that occasion it was against former college teammate Tony Cassioppi.<\/p>\n In a cruel twist of fate, a similar scenario would play out this weekend, as the 2022 NCAA finalist dropped his semifinal match 8-7 to eventual 97kg champion Christian Carroll.<\/p>\n Carroll would outscore his three other opponents on Sunday by a combined 34-0 (three tech. falls). Warner would outscore his four other opponents by a margin of 42-1 (four tech. falls) \u2013 leaving little doubt that their razor-thin match against one another was the deciding outcome<\/em> for the final spot at the Trials.<\/p>\n Trailing 8-5 late in the second period, Warner secured a takedown on a low double leg with roughly 17 seconds left, giving him one last chance at a turn to win the bout. He\u2019d look for his go-to gut wrench move, but Carroll was able to keep himself flat on the mat until the clock stuck zero.<\/p>\n Likely not of much comfort, but notable nonetheless, Warner would get \u2018the next best thing\u2019 by wrestling back for third place. His next chance to chase his Olympic dreams will come in 2027-28 as the summer games return to the United States \u2013 Los Angeles to be exact \u2013 for the first time since 1996.<\/p>\n 65kg \u2013\u00a0Jaydin Eierman\u00a0\u2013 DNP<\/strong> WIN Kyler Rodriguez (New Jersey), Forfeit 74kg \u2013\u00a0Jeremiah Moody\u00a0\u2013\u00a0DNP<\/strong> 97kg \u2013\u00a0Jacob Warner\u00a0\u2013\u00a03rd\u00a0Place<\/strong> WIN Aiden Hanning (TMWC\/SPARTAN COMBAT RTC), TF 10-0<\/p>\n WIN Cole Mirasola (Askren Wrestling Academy), TF 12-1<\/p>\n 125kg \u2013\u00a0Daniel Erekson\u00a0\u2013 DNP<\/strong> LOSS Braden Homsey (Iron Wrestling Club), Inj. 0:00<\/p>\n 130kg (Greco-Roman) \u2013\u00a0Daniel Erekson\u00a0\u2013 DNP<\/strong> LOSS Braeden Fluke (Cougar Wrestling Club), Inj. 0:00<\/p>\n Present<\/strong><\/p>\n Moving along to those athletes currently on an Iowa roster, five Hawkeyes threw their hat in the ring at the Last Chance Qualifier in the form of women\u2019s wrestlers Sterling Dias (50kg), Nyla Valencia (50kg), Brianna Gonzalez (53kg) and Alexandra Baudhuin (57kg), plus Nelson Brands (86kg) on the men\u2019s side.<\/p>\n The earliest exits amongst the group came from Baudhuin \u2013 via back-to-back tech. fall defeats at 57kg \u2013 and Dias, the latter of whom somewhat surprised me with her 1-2 outing given her credentials at both the prep and collegiate levels to date.<\/p>\n Perhaps I shouldn\u2019t have been quite as taken aback, however, as Dias was making the bump up from her college weight of 101 pounds to compete at 50kg (~110.2 pounds). You won\u2019t believe this, but weight classes exist in wrestling for a reason (shocking, I know), and I\u2019m not so sure that Dias really has all that much issue making 101 pounds as is.<\/p>\n She looked very much undersized during each of her losses this weekend \u2013 shutout decisions to the eventual second and fourth-place finishers in her bracket.<\/p>\n Fortunately for Dias (and Iowa fans), the college season lends itself to a much more natural fit size-wise \u2013 101 pounds, which will transition to 103 moving forward.<\/p>\n Two Hawkeye women who fared just a bit better this weekend were Valencia and Gonzalez, both of whom absolutely tore through<\/em> their respective brackets on Saturday.<\/p>\n For Gonzalez, it felt like a fitting add-on to what was an incredible redshirt freshman season during which she finished as the NCWWC runner up to teammate Felicity Taylor, ending the year with a record of 35-2.<\/p>\n Now qualified for the Olympic Trials along with her twin sister Emilie, Brianna didn\u2019t allow a single point across three matches this weekend \u2013 each coming against extremely credentialed opponents. She is a remarkably relentless competitor and won\u2019t even turn 20 years old until this September.<\/p>\n She\u2019s everything long-time Iowa fans proclaim to desire a Hawkeye wrestler to be about. So, if you\u2019re not familiar with her yet, become so quickly. You\u2019ll be glad that you did.<\/p>\n On the opposite end of the spectrum, Nyla Valencia\u2019s 2023-24 season is just getting started.<\/p>\n A torn ACL suffered this time last year took away what was set to be a dynamic freshman season in the Black & Gold, but the 19-year-old California native worked her way back behind the scenes and didn\u2019t seem to miss a beat in her return to the mat this past weekend.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>LOSS Henry Porter (Indiana RTC), Dec. 10-5
WIN Evan Mougalian (Pennsylvania RTC), Dec. 18-12<\/p>\n
LOSS Aden Valencia (TMWC\/CARTC), TF 10-0<\/p>\n
<\/strong>LOSS James Chance (Patriot Elite Wrestling Club), TF 11-0
LOSS Joshua Shields (Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club), TF 10-0<\/p>\n
<\/strong>WIN Michael Boykin (10 Year Active Athlete List), TF 10-0
WIN Lance Runyon (Panther Wrestling Club RTC), TF 10-0
LOSS Christian Carroll (TMWC\/Cowboy Wrestling Club), Dec. 8-7<\/p>\n
<\/strong>WIN Keith Miley (Arkansas Regional Training Center), Fall 2:02
LOSS Jacob Bullock (Indiana RTC), Inj. 2:02<\/p>\n
<\/strong>WIN Ronald Dombkowski (Mad Cow Wrestling Club), Fall 4:25
LOSS Michael Rogers (Nittany Lion Wrestling Club), Dec. 3-1<\/p>\n