How Will The 2020 Olympic Trials Be Seeded In Men's Freestyle?

How Will The 2020 Olympic Trials Be Seeded In Men's Freestyle?

Predicting how the six men's freestyle weights will be seeded at the 2020 Olympic Team Trials in State College.

Jan 23, 2020 by Wrestling Nomad
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The 2020 Olympic Team Trials may be 10 weeks away, but the fields are basically already set. The only questions left are how many weights will be qualified and how the Trials will be seeded.

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The 2020 Olympic Team Trials may be 10 weeks away, but the fields are basically already set. The only questions left are how many weights will be qualified and how the Trials will be seeded.

In men's freestyle, the team of four athletes being sent to the Pan Am qualifier has not been announced so we can't answer question one just yet, but we have a much better handle on question two.

Below is a detailed breakdown of how we see the six weights being seeded the weekend of OTT, which is April 4-5 in State College, PA.

57kg

  1. Thomas Gilman
  2. Daton Fix
  3. Spencer Lee
  4. Seth Gross
  5. Joe Colon
  6. Nathan Tomasello
  7. Vitali Arujau
  8. Nick Suriano
  9. Nahshon Garrett
  10. Zach Sanders

Gilman gets the top seed over Daton for now due to his 2-1 win in Rome; however, Daton is the first choice to be the selection for the Pan Am qualifier, as I noted in a recent article. Because of that, Daton could wind up being the automatic 1 seed if he qualifies the weight, per this guideline in the OTT procedures:

A 2019 World Championship team member who qualifies the weight for the 2020 Olympic Games will automatically receive the #1 seed at the same weight category in which he qualified.

There is a legitimate argument to be made about whether Spencer Lee or Seth Gross should be seeded third. I have Spencer in the three spot due to his wins over Nathan Tomasello and Arujau in Fort Worth, while Seth Gross beat Tomasello and Suriano at the Bill Farrell. Essentially, the Arujau win is more valuable than the Suriano win because of the head-to-head there.

Colon is tricky since he hasnโ€™t wrestled anyone but Gilman, but his silver in Rome falls under criteria three of seeding, โ€œMedalist at a United World Wrestling (UWW) calendar event within the last year.โ€ Technically the Bill Farrell is a UWW event as well, so itโ€™s possible NaTo gets seeded over him after making the finals of both the Farrell and Senior Nationals.

After that itโ€™s pretty straight forward. Vito beat Suriano in Fort Worth and they finished third and fourth. Nahshon lost to Suriano in the third-place match at the NYAC, and Sanders was the last man in from the December OTT qualifier.

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65kg

  1. Zain Retherford
  2. Jordan Oliver
  3. Joey McKenna
  4. Yianni Diakomihalis
  5. Nick Lee
  6. Frank Molinaro

No changes to the top two after Rome as Zain and JO lost to the same guy (Bajrang) and did not face each other, so Retherfordโ€™s wins over Oliver in the WTT finals hold trump. McKenna made the Senior Nationals finals, losing to Oliver there but beating Yianni in the semis.

Although Yianni did not wrestle in his third-place match, he has wins over all the guys above him. However, if you really want to put Nick Lee ahead you can, and then theyโ€™ll still meet in the quarterfinals anyway since itโ€™s a 4/5 matchup. Molinaro lost to Lee in the consi semis in Fort Worth. The domestic tournaments in November and December changed things up a lot from the Open and Trials this past spring.

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74kg

Sitting out: Jordan Burroughs

  1. Bye to Semis: Kyle Dake
  2. Isaiah Martinez
  3. James Green
  4. Jason Nolf
  5. Logan Massa
  6. Vincenzo Joseph
  7. Mekhi Lewis
  8. Tommy Gantt
  9. Anthony Valencia
  10. Evan Wick
  11. David Carr

An extremely difficult weight to seed, for multiple reasons. Firstly, Jason Nolf is expected to be healthy and wrestle in the last chance qualifier, but until he does heโ€™s not in the mix. Then you have Vincenzo Joseph, who could win NCAAs or do the last chance, but again is not yet qualified. Lastly there is the convoluted bye to the semis for Kyle Dake as a returning world medalist at a non-Olympic weight.

We know Martinez will be on the top side and, per the OTT procedures, Dake will be on the bottom side. I think Green gets the three seed over Nolf as the returning 70kg world teamer, so he should have to face Imar in the semis. Dake will get the winner of Massa/Lewis (or Massa/Nolf).

Mekhi lost to Vincenzo at the Farrell and Massa in Fort Worth, so whether Cenzo enters or not heโ€™s at least behind Massa, and should pit him against Green in the quarters in Nolf is in the bracket and Imar in the quarters if both Nolf and Cenzo are in the bracket. Gantt beat Valencia in December and Valencia beat Wick at the Open.

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86kg

  1. Bye to semis: Jโ€™den Cox
  2. David Taylor
  3. Zahid Valencia
  4. Myles Martin
  5. Alex Dieringer
  6. Pat Downey
  7. Brett Pfarr
  8. Sammy Brooks

Another one with a ton of shakeup. Although it is not officially in the criteria, Jโ€™den Cox beat David Taylor at 86kg back in 2017 and so if he goes down, heโ€™ll be seeded ahead of DT. Itโ€™s likely Taylor is sent to Ottawa to qualify the weight, and logic would have it heโ€™ll be the two if Jโ€™den is in the bracket and the one if not.

Zahid won both Senior Nationals and the Matteo Pellicone, beating Myles Martin and Alex Dieringer, respectively. Myles is ahead of Ringer based on the Fort Worth semi win, and PD3 drops all the way down to six since he lost to Ringer in Rome. He should be in a Yaryign bracket with Brett Pfarr and Sammy Brooks this weekend.

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97kg

Sitting out: Kyle Snyder

  1. Bo Nickal
  2. Mike Macchiavello
  3. Hayden Zillmer
  4. Kollin Moore
  5. Ty Walz
  6. Kyven Gadson
  7. Jacob Kasper

The reigning Olympic champion waits in the finals. Bo Nickal beat Mike Macch in the Open semis and twice in the WTT finals. Macch qualified for the Olympic Trials with his second-place finish at the Farrell, and beat Hayden Zillmer in May.

Zillmer won Senior Nationals over Kollin Moore in the finals, taking out Walz in the semis there and in the third-place match at the Farrell. If youโ€™d like to put Moore over Walz I wonโ€™t stop you, but it will result in the same quarterfinal bout happening either way.

Itโ€™s probably odd to see Gadson as the six seed when heโ€™s been second on the ladder behind Snyder the past three years, but such is life after his fourth-place finish in Texas. Kasper was the fifth-place finisher at Senior Nationals.

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125kg

  1. Nick Gwiazdowski
  2. Gable Steveson
  3. Dom Bradley
  4. Tony Nelson
  5. Mason Parris
  6. Daniel Gregory Kerkvliet
  7. Nick Nevills
  8. Garrett Ryan

Nick Gwiazdowski is the reigning world teamer and should be sent to Canada for the Pan Am qualifier. He beat Gable Steveson at Final X: Rutgers and Steveson won the Farrell in November over Bradley in the finals.

Dom Bradley won Senior Nationals, taking out longstanding rival Tony Nelson in the gold medal match. Kerkvliet was third in Fort Worth, but he has a loss to Amir Zare of Iran, who Mason Parris beat in the Junior world finals. Nevills was fourth behind Kerkvliet and Garrett Ryan was fifth to be the last man in.