Freestyle brackets released for upcoming Olympic Trials
6/1 - The Trials for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing are
two weeks away. The pre-seeds and brackets were recently
released for the freestyle division and a handful of wrestlers
with Michigan ties have good shots at earning a ticket to
Beijing.
Two former Michigan collegiates, Andy Hrovat of Michigan
and Nik Fekete formerly of Michigan State, both enter the
Trial mini-tournament as the top seed.
Two of Michigan's most prominent grapplers from the last
decade, Ryan Churella and Nick Simmons, both enter the
the Trials with good seeds and good shots at making some
noise.
Churella, a former NCAA runner up for UM and state champ
for Novi High School, enters as the #3 seed at 74kg after an
impressive US National performance last month. Simmons,
who was a 4x undefeated state champ from Williamston
and 4x All-American while at MSU, is the #5 seed at 55kgs.
Simmons will square off with former Olympic Silver
medallist Stephen Abas in the opening round.
A couple current collegiates will be gunning for an Olympic run early in their careers as Davison native Brent Metcalf of Iowa and Michigan junior Tyrel Todd both qualified for the trials at their respective weights.
Metcalf was the Hodge Award winner this year, going to the nation's top collegiate wrestler. He enters the always tough 66kg weight class as the #4 seed. Todd, who will be gunning for his third all-american honor next year at Michigan, is the 11th seed at 84kg.
Another guy to keep an eye on is former CMU National Champ and coach Casey Cunningham at 74kg. Cunnigham, who was recently hired on at Iowa State after 7 seasons with the Chipps, may be the 8th seed but may still be Michigan's best shot at making the Olympic team. Cunnigham was the top seed going into US Nationals last month and has beaten most of the top Americans in his weight class.
The freestyle division of the Olympic Trials will kick off Saturday, June 14th in Las Vegas. Stay with Michigan Grappler for updates on all of Michigan's Olympic hopefuls.
Michigan's Olympic Trials men's freestyle participants:
55kg - #5 Nick Simmons (Williamston/MSU)
66kg - #4 Brent Metcalf (Davison)
74kg - #3 Ryan Churella (Novi/Michigan)
74kg - #5 Ramico Blackmon (Eastern Michigan)
74kg - #8 Casey Cunnigham (Fulton Middleton/Central Michigan)
84kg - #1 Andy Hrovat (Michigan)
84kg - #11 Tyrel Todd (Michigan)
96kg - #1 Nik Fekete (Michigan State)
