The showcase event for American wrestling is having its quadrennial extravaganza in State College on April 19-20. The premier weight class at the event will arguably be 74kg, the most successful weight class in American men's freestyle wrestling history. 

Read on below for a preview of what we might see at the Trials in the weight of weights. 

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The Favorites

Kyle Dake

Jordan Burroughs

Jason Nolf

How lofty are the heights of the 74kg weight class in the United States? Kyle Dake (who is sitting out the Challenge Tournament with a bye to the best two of three finals) and Jordan Burroughs (the presumed #1 seed of the Challenge Tournament) have earned 16 World or Olympic medals between them. 

Burroughs was the Team USA rep at 74kg for nine straight years, from 2011 to 2019, earning an Olympic gold, four world gold and three world bronzes during that span. 

Watch Burroughs win 74kg gold at the 2017 World Championships: 

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Dake then defeated Burroughs at the Tokyo Olympic trials and has been the US rep at 74 for the next three World Championships, where he's won two world golds, a world silver, and another silver at the Tokyo Games. 

Before the 2020 Olympics, Dake was up at 79kg, where he won two golds. After the Olympics, Burroughs would assume the 79kg mantle, at least for 2021 and 2022, where he also won a pair of gold medals. 

Watch Dake win a gold medal at the 2022 World Championships:

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The legacies of Burroughs and Dake, and the stranglehold they've had on 74kg in the United States, will be forever intertwined. JB kept Dake off four world teams, while Dake returned the favor at the Tokyo Olympic Team Trials. They are also both on the north side of 30. Dake is 33 while Burroughs will be 36 by the time the Paris Games begin. 

Jason Nolf, the presumptive #2 seed in the challenge tournament, is 28. Nolf has also won the 2022 and 2023 US Opens, the 2023 and 2024 Zagreb Opens, and the 2023 Bill Farrell. Nolf has separated himself from the rest of the peloton of contenders through his record on the mat over the last several years.

Watch Nolf win gold at the 2023 Zagreb Open over Iran's Emami not long after Emami won a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships:

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Dake will have the advantage over everyone by dint of his bye to the finals which he earned by being a returning medalist at this weight. That means he will be able to scout the field on Friday and prepare to wrestle the winner of the challenge tournament Saturday night. 

Burroughs and Nolf will likely be on either side of the challenge tournament bracket. 

Will Nolf stop Burroughs' quest for one last Olympic run? Or will we get another showdown between two highly credentialed American legends? Or will we witness a new contender step up and take the reigns of 74kg? 

The Contenders

Vincenzo Joseph

Carter Starocci

Keegan O'Toole

Quincy Monday

David Carr

Mitchell Mesenbrink

Disentangling the next set of challengers and their respective seeds will be a trickier task. 

Quincy Monday triumphed at the most recent domestic test, 2023 Senior Nationals last December, the erstwhile replacement for the US Open during Olympic years. 

Vincenzo Joseph, with a runner-up finish at the 2023 US Open and his recent sprint to the top of the podium at the more recent Last Chance OTT qualifier, could also be viewed as the next best challenger. 

David Carr and Keegan O'Toole just concluded one of the fiercest and most iconic collegiate rivalries (though O'Toole has one more year of eligibility remaining), which they may renew on the freestyle senior circuit. they both have U20 world gold medals (carr in 2019, O'Toole in 2022). O'Toole has a 2023 u23 gold to go with it, while Carr failed to place at the 2022 U23 Worlds. 

Watch Mesenrbink win the aforementioned gold medal: 

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All of them have the freestyle chops and requisite credentials to make a deep run in State College. They all also have youth on their side as an added benefit with Cenzo being the oldest, despite running out of NCAA eligibility a mere four years ago. 

The Challengers

Meyer Shapiro

Alex Marinelli

Tyler Berger

Levi Haines

Alex Facundo

Jarrett Jacques

Ladarion Lockett

A mix of youth and experience fills the rest of the spots in the brackets, and all are potential challengers to the 74kg throne. 

Ladarion Lockett is the youngest of the remaining qualifiers, having earned his invite into this bracket by winning a U17 world gold medal last July. 

Meyer Shapiro has a U17 gold from 2021 and a U20 gold from 2023 to go along with an NCAA third-place medal he won last March. 

Watch Shapiro win gold at the 2023 U20 Worlds (where Mesenbrink also won gold, as seen in the above video):

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Alex Facundo has a pair of U17 gold medals to go along with a U20 bronze. His Nittany Lion Teammate Levi Haines failed to medal at the 2021 U17 World Championship, the only age-level worlds he has so far qualified for, however, Haines does have two NCAA medals to his name, including a recently minted 2024 NCAA individual championship. 

Tyler Berger made Final X last season, while Marinelli and Jacques have both been in the mix domestically. Marinelli has added some international medals to his trophy case as well. 

Predictions

1) Dake

2) Burroughs

3) Nolf

4) Joseph

This will be an emotional division to watch for many American wrestling fans, as Jordan Burroughs has said in the past that this will be his last year of competition. And while we may yet see Burroughs competing in Paris, for now, I am sticking with the results we saw in 2021, when Dake won two straight bouts over Burroughs to make his first World or Olympic team at 74kg. 

I think Nolf is still one year or more away from his first World or Olympic team, but I would also not be surprised if he found a way to crack the JB/Dake code. Any number of wrestlers could be in that fourth-place spot. I'm going with the hot hand of Cenzo but if Starocci can handle the weight cut and is healthy (a big if, as he injury defaulted out of two bouts at the Big Ten Championships and then wrestled with a substantial leg brace at NCAAs), I could easily see him placing higher, or even making the team. 

One thing worth keeping in mind is not just the depth of NCAA accomplishments at this weight (19 titles and lots more AA honors!) but also the depth of UWW age-level accolades. 10 wrestlers with UWW world medals will be in this bracket. Regardless of the outcome, it's a great time to be an American wrestling fan watching competitions in the 74kg weight class. 

USA Olympic Trials Wrestling Schedule and Brackets 

Click here to see the full event schedule and brackets.

USA Wrestling Trials Brackets 

Mens Freestyle Preliminary Brackets at the 2024 Olympic Team Trials

Women's Freestyle Preliminary Brackets at the 2024 Olympic Team Trials

2024 Olympic Wrestling Qualifiers

For an updated list of everyone who has qualified for the 2024 Olympics, Click Here. 

How To Watch the 2024 Olympic Wrestling Trials

Live coverage of all four mats at the U.S Olympic Team Trials will be streamed on Peacock from April 19-20. 

Streaming will begin on Friday, April 19 with Session 1 at 10 a.m. ET

When are the US Olympic Trials?

The U.S Olympic Trials will be held over two days from April 19-20 in State College, Pennsylvania.

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