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Frisco Fiasco

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There will be 18 brackets in the 2016 Olympics. There will be 6 Freestyle, 6 Greco-Roman, and 6 for Women's Freestyle. There may not be 18 Americans though. 

By now, we should be all looking forward to the Olympic Trials, but instead USA Wrestling still has work to do to qualify spots for the Olympics. At the 2015 World Championships in Vegas, if you placed in the top 6 you got your weight class qualified. Then there was the Pan Am Qualifier where the top two in each weight got to qualify. So top 6 at the World's or we have to beat up the countries in our own hemisphere. Sounds like a walk in the park right...especially when we host? Wrong...

The first part of the problem was somehow this hemisphere missed the boat on the whole "home field" advantage when you don't have to travel across an ocean to a some Soviet block country with limited electricity and new music from Men in Hats. Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Canada and more unperformed making this qualifier a lot more tough than anticipated (if your country has qualified the weight you don't enter a competitor in that bracket). Yet still we often take Pan Am medals for granted so this should still be easy many thought. 

The USA Women's team needed to qualify five weights still (since Helen Maroulis & Leigh Jaynes-Provisor's medals were in non-Olympic weights) and only got one when Erin Clogdo won gold. So the USA Women only have two weights qualified at the moment. Canada has all of their's and it's quite shocking to see us behind Brazil & Columbia. 

Updated Olympic Qualification in women’s freestyle for Pan American Nations
Canada (6): 48 kg, 53 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg. 75 kg
Brazil (4): 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 75 kg
Colombia (3): 48 kg, 58 kg, 75 kg
United States (2): 63 kg, 75 kg
Venezuela (2): 53 kg, 120 kg
Argentina (1): 48 kg

The men's team were looking to qualify their remaining four (thanks to Burroughs & Snyder's medals last season (Green non-Olympic weight), but only got two with Dlagnev and Ramos. Jake Herbert fell to familiar foe Salas (Cuba) 2-1. Michigan State's Franklin Gomez, who has won a World Silver in 2011 for Puerto Rico, defeated Brent Metcalf 9-7 on a controversial no call on a last second takedown. We will need to send someone overseas for the last two qualifiers for 65 kg and 86 kg or we don't get to send someone to Rio. 

Lastly, our Greco guys qualified a weight when Jordan Holm, with hair flowing freely, picked up the gold medal. Yet, our other three guys didn't fare well so USA still will look to qualify three weights. 

So as of right now, we only have 9 of the 18 weights qualified. We hosted World's and hosted the Qualifier and this is all we have so far. We will host our Trials in Iowa City not knowing if half the people have spots in Rio. There are two tournaments left and the silver lining is that we don't have to face countries who have people qualified yet for those spots. However, blind draw with single elimination in tournaments in Mongolia and Turkey are certainly no sure thing. Hopefully we can right the ship and get all 18 to Rio. These are Olympic dreams we are talking about. 

U.S. women’s freestyle performances

48 kg/105.5 lbs - Alyssa Lampe, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids), bronze medal
WIN Brenda Bailey Gomez (Honduras), 2:02
LOSS Carolina Castillo Hidalgo (Colombia), 1-4
WIN Katsiuka Toaza Avelino (Ecuador) pin, 2:20
WIN Yusneylys Guzman Lopez (Cuba), tech. fall 10-0

53 kg/116.5 lbs. - Whitney Conder, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP), bronze medal
LOSS Jillian Gallays (Canada), tech. fall 0-12
WIN Luisa Valverde Melendres (Ecuador), tech. fall 12-2

58 kg/128 lbs. - Alli Ragan, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), 5th place
WIN Emily Sanchez Ortega (Panama), tech. fall, 10-0
LOSS Michelle Fazzari (Canada), 4-5
LOSS Virginia Jimenez Fernandez (Venezuela), 5-8

63 kg/138.75 lbs. - Erin Clodgo, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids), gold medal
WIN Katerina Vidiaux Lopez (Cuba), 8-0
WIN Lais Nunes de Olivera (Brazil), forfeit

69 kg/152 lbs. - Tamyra Mensah, Katy, Texas (Titan Mercury WC), 5th place
WIN Maria Jose Acosta (Venezuela), 5-0
LOSS Dorothy Yeats (Canada), 0-5
LOSS Yudari Sanchez Rodriguez (Cuba)

U.S. men’s freestyle performances

57 kg/125.5 lbs. - Tony Ramos, Iowa City, Iowa (Titan Mercury WC/Hawkeye WC), silver medal
WIN Jefferson Mayea Figueroa (Ecuador), pin 0:25
WIN Pedro Mejias Rodriguez (Venezuela), 13-2
LOSS Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez (Cuba), tech. fall 10-0

65 kg/143 lbs. - Brent Metcalf, Iowa City, Iowa (New York AC/Hawkeye WC), bronze medal
LOSS Franklin Gomez (Puerto Rico), 7-9
WIN Hernan Guzman Ipuz (Colombia), 3-0

86 kg/189 lbs. - Jake Herbert, Ann Arbor, Mich. (New York AC/Cliff Keen WC), bronze medal
WIN Pedro Ceballos Fuentes (Venezuela), 9-7
LOSS Reineris Salas Perez (Cuba), 1-2
WIN Tamerlan Tagziev (Canada), 3-0

125 kg/275 lbs. - Tervel Dlagnev, Columbus, Ohio (Sunkist Kids/Ohio RTC), gold medal
WIN Edguardo Lopez Morell (Puerto Rico), forfeit
WIN Jesse Ruiz Flores (Mexico), forfeit
WIN Korey Jarvis (Canada), tech. fall 10-0

U.S. Greco-Roman performances 

59 kg/130 lbs. – Ildar Hafizov, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP)
WIN Ali Soto Mejias (Mexico), 9-2
LOSS Steven Takahashi (Canada), 13-15

66 kg/145.5 lbs. – RaVaughn Perkins, Omaha, Neb. (New York AC)
LOSS Jair Cuero Munoz (Colombia), tech. fall 0-9

85 kg/187 lbs. – Jordan Holm, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm), gold medal
WIN Alexander Brown Thieriault (Canada), tech. fall 8-0
WIN Yorgen Cova Pulido (Venezuela), 3-0
WIN Alfonso Leyva Yepez (Mexico), tech. fall, 9-0

98 kg/213 lbs. – Joe Rau, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm), bronze medal
WIN Kevin Mejia Castillo (Honduras), 6-0
LOSS Yasmany Lugo Cabrera (Cuba), pin
WIN Davi Albino (Brazil), tech. fall 11-2