Former Penn State wrestler David Taylor punches his ticket to Tokyo, along with 3 other NLWC athletes
After a one-year delay due to COVID-19 and overcoming a knee injury, former Penn State wrestling great David Taylor finally got to achieve a goal he said he’s had his sights on his entire life — becoming an Olympian.
The 2018 World Champion got his hand raised Saturday night at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, after shutting out fellow Penn State alum and Nittany Lion Wrestling Club teammate Bo Nickal in two matches (4-0, 6-0) to represent the U.S. at 86 kilograms this summer in Tokyo.
“It’s something I’ve been training for my entire life,” Taylor said in his post-match interview with USA Wrestling. “To be able to accomplish that this year feels great, but the job’s not done. Olympian is amazing, but my goal is to be a gold medalist. That’s something I’ve had my entire life, that’s my expectation. It’s going to be hard, but the first step is done. I can check that box. I’m going to Tokyo. Now it’s time to get ready to go and ready to wrestle the best competition on the biggest stage.”
Taylor was one of four athletes affiliated with the NLWC to punch their tickets to the 2021 Summer Olympics Saturday evening. Thomas Gilman, a 2017 World silver medalist and former three-time All-American from Iowa, 2016 Olympic gold medalist and three-time national champ from Ohio State Kyle Snyder and 2016 Olympic gold medalist in women’s freestyle Helen Maroulis also won their best-of-three finals.
In total, there were 15 athletes with ties to either the NLWC or Penn State competing at the U.S. wrestling Olympic Team Trials this weekend. In addition to Taylor, Snyder, Gilman and Maroulis, three others — Nickal, Penn State senior Nick Lee and former Nittany Lion Jason Nolf — made the National Team by finishing in the top three of their respective weight classes.
Overall, it was another strong showing for Cael Sanderson and company just two weeks after going four-for-four in the NCAA Wrestling Championships.
Lee, who — fresh off his first individual NCAA title — had an impressive run 4-1 performance at 65 kg, including beating his own NLWC teammate and former World Team member Zain Retherford, credits the coaching for his club’s success.
“I think it’s more than anything a testament to our coaching ability at the NLWC,” he said. “I think we have the best coaches in the world. These guys care about us on and off the mat, always focus on bigger picture and technically and getting in shape for tournaments. I think it’s shown in the past couple weeks that there’s no place better for that.”
But on Saturday night, with Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson in Taylor’s corner and assistant coach Cody Sanderson in Nickal’s corner, there wasn’t much coaching happening as the two familiar opponents went at each other. According to Taylor, they knew that was going to be the case going into this match, but each had a strong game plan ahead of time.
Despite the joy of inching closer to his Olympic gold medal dreams, Taylor couldn’t help but to feel for his teammate and training partner Nickal, who won’t get the same opportunity.
“It was a weird emotion,” Taylor said. “We had a discussion leading up to it. We have such a deep room in the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, especially at 86 kilos. We had four guys in this weight class this weekend. ... So we’re challenged every single day, and none of us would be where we are without each other. With that being said, only one of us gets to go.”
Also competing at 86 kg for the NLWC this weekend were recent NCAA champs Aaron Brooks and Carter Starocci. Brooks, a sophomore, went 2-2, with wins over former fellow Big Ten wrestlers Nate Jackson, of Indiana, and Sammy Brooks, of Iowa. Redshirt freshman Starocci hit Nickal in the first round, falling 6-1. He then took a 5-2 loss to former Ohio State All-American Myles Martin to end his first Olympic trials run.
Another young Nittany Lions getting valuable experience this weekend was Greg Kerkvliet, who just placed seventh at the NCAA Championships to earn All-American status as a redshirt freshman. The 2017 Cadet World champ and 2018 Junior World silver medalist went 1-2, with his win — a 4-4 decision on criteria — coming over Michigan’s Mason Parris, who beat the Nittany Lion by an 11-3 major decision just a month ago at the Big Ten Championships. Parris went on to place third.
“As a club, as NLWC, we’re all super tight we’re all super close,” Nickal said Friday night after his 12-5 semifinal win over former Arizona State star Zahid Valencia. “It’s like a family, and I think that’s why we win as much as we do, because we really care about each other.”
Lee said there was “no joy” in defeating former Penn State and current NLWC teammate Retherford. Retherford is a two-time World Team member and was the top seed at 65 kg this weekend.
No. 6-seeded Lee began his run through the consolation bracket after losing 8-3 to eventual champion Jordan Oliver in the quarterfinals. He took out former Cornell national champ Nahshon Garrett, 12-1, in the consolation quarterfinals before topping Retherford, 10-4, then No. 2 Yianni Diakomihalis, 16-8, for third and a spot on the National Team.
Lee’s successful run through consolations may have been surprising to some, but was nothing new for the four-time All-American.
“It’s something I’ve done before,” Lee said. “As a freshman, I lost in the first round of NCAAs. It’s definitely a test of your mental toughness. But I think if you want to be there and you’re excited to wrestle, every match is another opportunity.”
Nolf made it to the finals of the challenge tournament at 74 kg, but was quickly dispatched by two-time World gold medalist Kyle Dake. Dake went on to dethrone 2012 Olympic champ and four-time World champ Jordan Burroughs for the chance to represent Team USA.
Nolf bounced back from Friday night’s loss with a 10-0 technical superiority win over Wisconsin wrestler Evan Wick for third.
Also wrestling at the trials were current Nittany Lion Mason Manville, in Greco-Roman, and former Penn State stars Vincenzo Joseph and Frank Molinaro. Manville went 0-2 and Joseph went 0-1. NLWC athlete Jennifer Page went 4-2 at 62 kg in women’s freestyle to finish fourth. Molinaro, who finished fifth at 65 kg at the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, went 1-1, leaving his shoes out on the mat after his 10-0 loss to Diakomihalis, signaling his retirement from the sport.
“I’m grateful that I was able to compete, win a match, execute some moves, and I lost to a better opponent today,” Molinaro said. “All in all, I’m just grateful that I got out there and competed.”
2021 Olympic Team Trials
Men’s freestyle
Friday at Fort Worth
Best-of-three finals
57 kg: Thomas Gilman (TMWC/NLWC), pin, Vitali Arujau (TMWC/Spartan Combat), 5:42; Gilman (TMWC/NLWC), dec., Arujau (TMWC/Spartan Combat), 2-2; 86: David Taylor (TMWC/NLWC), dec., Bo Nickal (TMWC/NLWC), 4-0; Taylor (TMWC/NLWC), dec., Nickal (TMWC/NLWC), 6-0; 97: Kyle Snyder (NLWC/TMWC), tech. Kollin Moore (TMWC/Ohio RTC), 10-0; Snyder (NLWC/TMWC), dec. Moore (TMWC/Ohio RTC), 5-1.
Third place (consolation finals)
65: Nick Lee (TMWC/NLWC), dec., Yianni Diakomihalis (TMWC/Spartan Combat), 16-8; 74: Jason Nolf (TMWC/NLWC), tech., Evan Wick (TMWC), 10-0.
Semifinals
57: Gilman (TMWC/NLWC), tech. Joe Colon (TMWC/ Cyclone RTC), 10-0; 65: Joey McKenna (TMWC/PENN RTC), dec. Zain Retherford (TMCW/NLWC), 8-5; 74: Kyle Dake (CRTC/TMWC), tech. Nolf (TMWC/NLWC), 11-0; 86: Taylor (TMWC/NLWC), dec., Gabe Dean (TMWC/ Spartan Combat), 4-0; Nickal (TMWC/NLWC), dec. Zahid Valencia (Sunkist Kids), 12-5; 125: Gable Steveson (Gopher Wrestling Club), tech. Kerkvliet (TMWC/NLWC), 11-0.
Quarterfinals
57: Gilman (TMWC/NLWC), tech. Zane Richards (TMWC/ Illinois RTC), 10-0; 65: Retherford (TMWC/ NLWC) dec. Anthony Ashnault (SKWC/NYAC), 5-1; Jordan Oliver (Sunkist Kids), dec. Lee (TMWC/NLWC), 8-3; Diakomihalis (TMWC/Spartan Combat), tech. Frank Molinaro (Sunkist Kids), 10-0; 74: Nolf (TMWC/NLWC), tech. David Carr (Cyclone Regional Training), 10-0; 86: Taylor (TMWC/NLWC), tech. Brett Pfarr (Gopher Wrestling Club), 11-0; Nickal (TMCW/NLWC), tech. Pat Downey (Sanford MMA), 13-3; Valencia (Sunkist Kids), dec. Aaron Brooks (TMWC/NLWC), 6-3; 125: Kerkvliet (TMWC/NLWC) dec. Mason Parris (Cliff Keen Athletics), 4-4.
First round
65: Lee (TMWC/NLWC), tech. Mitchell McKee (Gopher Wrestling Club), 14-2; Molinaro (Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club), dec., Evan Henderson (TMWC/Spartan Combat), 10-1; 74: Chance Marsteller (TMWC) dec, Vincenzo Joseph (TMWC/NLWC), 3-3; 86: Bo Nickal (TMWC/NLWC) dec. Carter Starocci (TMWC/NLWC), 6-1; Brooks (TMWC/NLWC), dec, Nathan Jackson (NJRTC), 3-0.
First-round consolations
74: Thomas Gantt (TMWC/Wolfpack), for., Joseph (TMCW/NLWC)
Second-round consolations
65: Nahshon Garrett (TMWC/ SERTC), for. Molinaro (Sunkist Kids); 86: Brooks (TMWC/NLWC), dec. Samuel Brooks (HWC/NYAC), 6-3; Myles Martin (TMWC/Ohio RTC), dec. Starocci (TMWC/NLWC), 5-2.
Consolation quarterfinals
65: Lee (TMWC/NLWC), tech. Garrett (TMWC/SERTC), 12-1; 86: Downey (Sanford MMA), tech. Brooks (TMWC/NLWC), 11-0; 125: Anthony Nelson (Gopher Wrestling Club); dec. Kerkvliet (TMWC/NLWC), 3-1.
Consolation semifinals
65: Lee (TMWC/NLWC), dec., Retherford (TMWC/NLWC), 10-4
Greco-Roman
Friday at Fort Worth
Quarterfinals
77: Patrick Smith (Minnesota Storm), dec. Mason Manville (US Army WCAP/ NLWC), 2-1.
Consolation quarterfinals
77: RaVaughn Perkins (New York Athletic Club), dec. Manville (US Army WCAP/ NLWC), 7-3.
Women’s freestyle
Friday at Fort Worth
Best-of-three finals
57: Helen Maroulis (Sunkist Kids/NLWC), dec. Jenna Burkert (ARMY WCAP), 5-3; Burkert (ARMY WCAP), dec. Maroulis (Sunkist Kids/NLWC), 6-5; Maroulis (Sunkist Kids/NLWC), pin, Burkert (ARMY WCAP), 0:24.
Third place
62: Jennifer Page (TMWC/NLWC), dec. Bruntil (TMWC/ BEARCAT WC), 4-1. (No true second bout was contested because of Page’s earlier loss to Maya Nelson. Page took fourth while Nelson earned third and a spot on the National Team).
Consolation semifinals
62: Page (TMWC/ NLWC), tech. Desiree Zavala (Olympiad Wrestling), 11-0.
Semifinals
62: Maya Nelson (Sunkist Kids), dec. Page (TMWC/NLWC), 6-1.
Quarterfinals
62: Page (TMWC/ NLWC), dec. Emma Bruntil (TMWC/ BEARCAT WC), 5-2.
First round
62: Page (TMWC/NLWC), tech. Morgan Norris (Blue Chip Wrestling Club), 11-0
