Schedule for 2016 Olympic Trials

2016 Olympic Trials Wrestling Schedule

The following is a breakdown of the 2016 Olympic Wrestling Trials, which will take place Saturday and Sunday, April 9-10, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

There will be nine different weight classes in three different styles — men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman — contested each day.

Doors will open at 8 a.m. each day with the Challenge Tournament of the Trials beginning at 9 a.m. For the majority of the weights, the top two wrestlers from the Challenge Tournament will meet in the Best-of-3 Championship Series, which begin at 6 p.m. each night.

The only exception to this process will come at four weights where a wrestler earned an automatic spot in the Championship Series by earning a medal at the 2015 World Championships in one of the 18 Olympic weights in Las Vegas last September. That group includs gold medalists Jordan Burroughs (74k) and Kyle Snyder (97k) in men’s freestyle, gold medalist Adeline Gray (75k) in women’s freestyle and bronze medalist Andy Bisek (75k) in Greco-Roman.

Saturday, April 9

Men’s freestyle

• 65k/143.3 — 2015 World medalist Brent Metcalf, a former two-time NCAA champ and Hodge Trophy winner for Iowa, who got upset in the 2012 Trials final but will be seeded No. 1 in the Challenge Tournament.

Metcalf must beat the likes of James Green, who earned a silver medal at the non-Olympic weight (154 pounds) in the 2015 Worlds; Jordan Oliver, the two-time NCAA champ from Oklahoma State; former World Team members James Kennedy and Reece Humphrey; and Logan Stieber, the former four-time NCAA champ and 2015 Hodge Trophy winner from Ohio State

• 125/275.5 — Tervel Dlagnev, a 2012 Olympic qualifier, has won two World bronze medals before an injury forced him to miss last year’s Worlds.

The former two-time NCAA champ from Nebraska-Kearney will be seeded No. 1 in the Challenge tournament and must beat the likes of Zach Rey, who replaced Dlagnev in last year’s Worlds; two-time NCAA champ Nick Gwiazdowski and former NCAA All-Americans in Missouri’s Dom Bradley and Iowa’s Bobby Telford.

Women’s freestyle       

• 58k/128 – Ali Ragan, the two-time World Team member, will be seeded No. 1 and challenged by the likes of Teshya Alo of Hawaii and 2012 Olympian Kelsey Campbell.
• 63k/138.75 — Former World champion Elena Pirozhkova has returned to her former weight class after competing at 152 pounds in last September’s Worlds. The former native of Russia, who grew up in Massachusetts, will be most likely challenged by 2015 World Team member Erin Clodgo, who qualified the weight for the USA a month ago.
• 69k/152 — Tamyra Mensah is expected to be seeded No. 1 and will be challenged by 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Randi Miller (then at 63k) and Brittney Roberts and Julia Salata.

Greco-Roman       

• 59k/130 — Spenser Mango is a two-time Olympian (8^th in 2008 and 9^th in 2012) when the lightest weight was 55k/121 pounds. He went 0-1 in his sixth World Championship last September and now will be challenged by top contenders in Jesse Theilke from Germantown, Wisc., and former Ohio State Buckeye Nikko Triggas.
• 66k/145.5 — Bryce Saddoris has represented the U.S. the last two World Championships and now the Marine from Nevada will be challenged by Omaha, native Ravaughn Perkins and 2012 Olympian Ellis Coleman
• 85k/187 — Jordan Holm is a three-time World Team member who more importantly qualified the weight class for Rio last month. The native of Northfield, Minn., should be heavily challenged by Jon Anderson of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), as well as 2012 Olympian Ben Provisor and 2015 World Team member Patrick Martinez.
• 98k/216 — Caylor Williams, a three-time World Team member for Palm Bay, Fla., could get a big challenge from fellow 2015 World Team member Joe Rau.

Sunday, April 10

Men’s freestyle

• 57k/125.5 – Tony Ramos, the former NCAA champion from Iowa, has represented the U.S. in the last two World Championships and be seeded No. 1 in the Challenge tournament.

Ramos will be challenged by Wisconsin’s former All-American Tyler Graff, former Iowa Hawkeye AA Daniel Dennis, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Coleman Scott (now the head coach at North Carolina) and 2012 Olympian Sam Hazewinkel.

• 74k/163 – Jordan Burroughs, the 2012 Olympic champion and three-time World gold medalist, has earned an automatic spot in the Championship Series.

He will await the winner of the Challenge tournament where the top seeds could be Andrew Howe, the 2012 Trials runner-up to Burroughs; former two-time NCAA champ Chris Perry of Oklahoma State; and former Penn State All-American Dan Vallimont. Also keep an eye on Alex Dieringer, the 2016 Hodge Trophy winner and three-time champ from Oklahoma State, and high school senior Mark Hall, who won six Minnesota state championships, a Junior World medal and will be wrestling at Penn State in the future.

• 86k/189 – Former Hodge Trophy winner Jake Herbert from Northwestern represented the U.S. in the 2012 Olympics and the 2015 Worlds and should be seeded No. 1.

His biggest competition could come from former Hodge Trophy winners and multiple-time NCAA champions Kyle Dake (Cornell) and David Taylor (Penn State) who have each moved up a weight after challenging Jordan Burroughs the past two World Trials.

• 97k/213 – 20-year-old Kyle Snyder, who recently captured the NCAA heavyweight championship, earned the automatic spot in the Championship Series by becoming the youngest American to win a World title last September.

The leading challenger will be 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jake Varner, who finished second to Snyder in last year’s World Trials, while former World Team member J.D. Bergman, could be seeded No. 2 in the Challenge tournament.

Women’s freestyle

• 48k/105.5 – Alyssa Lampe, the former World bronze medalist, will be seeded No. 1, and by former World Team member Victoria Anthony and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and former World champion Clarissa Chun.
• 53k/116.5 – Helen Maroulis won the World Championships at the non-Olympic weight, 55k/121, last September and has dropped down one weight. She will be challenged by the likes fellow World Team member Whitney Conder and Alaskan Michaela Hutchison.
• 75k/165 – Adeline Gray, the three-time World champion, earned an automatic spot in the Championship Series and will await the winner of the Challenge Tournament, where the highest seeded wrestlers will be Jackie Surber and former World champ Iris Smith.

Greco-Roman

• 75k/165 – By winning bronze medals in the past two World Championships, Andy Bisek automatically earned a spot in the Championship Series. Among those battling in the Challenge Tournament will be Kendrick Sanders of Homestead, Fla., and 2012 Olympian Justin Lester.
• 130k/286 – Robby Smith, who has finished fifth the 2013 and ’15 World Championships, will be the No. 1 seed in Iowa City. Among those who could challenge him for the Olympic spot is Michigan’s two-time All-American Adam Coon, who won the U.S. Open in December.