Past, Present, Future Hawkeyes headed to last chance qualifier
Some of the very best wrestlers in America will gather this weekend (April 6-7) at a nondescript location in Fairfax, Virginia.
Their reason for being there? One final opportunity remains for them to keep their 2024 Olympic dreams alive.
James W. Robinson Secondary School will serve as the site of USA Wrestling’s ‘2024 Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier’ – an event at which one athlete from each of 18 weight classes (six Women’s Freestyle, six Men’s freestyle and six Men’s Greco-Roman) will punch their ticket to State College (PA) later this month for a spot in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials (April 19-20).
Among the contingent of attendees – comprised of plenty of elite names from the high school, college, and international circuits – will be eleven wrestlers with past/present/future ties to the University of Iowa.
So, let’s run down the nearly one-dozen athletes that Hawkeye fans should be on the lookout for this weekend.
** The Last Chance Qualifier will be streamed live on FloWrestling (subscription required) with women’s freestyle action taking place on Saturday, followed by men’s freestyle on Sunday. **
Post-grads
(Men)
65 kilograms (~ 143.3 pounds)
- Jaydin Eierman
A four-time All-American between his stints at Missouri and Iowa – including a 2021 Big Ten individual title and NCAA runner-up finish for the Hawkeyes at 141 pounds – Eierman is just as unpredictable and dangerous of a foe on the freestyle scene.
He has multiple senior-level wins over previous World/Olympic medalists, in addition to some others against notable domestic competitors.
This event will also mark just over two years since Eierman suffered a torn ACL during the 2022 Big Ten Championships, an injury that delayed his entry into full-time freestyle competition.
Amongst what will be a deep 65kg field out in Fairfax, an in-form Eierman is certainly capable of finishing atop the podium – earning himself a berth at the Trials two weeks later.
74 kilograms (~ 163.1 pounds)
- Jeremiah Moody
Just 35-17 during his five-year career in Iowa City, Moody’s story extends far beyond the mat – where he continues to serve as an inspiration following a late-2021 cancer diagnosis.
He’ll throw his name in the mix at 74 kilograms – a bracket that will be packed with names recognizable to folkstyle fans from recent years.
97 kilograms (~ 213.9 pounds)
- Jacob Warner
A five-time All-American (and 2022 NCAA finalist) for the Hawkeyes, Warner narrowly missed out on securing his spot for the Trials a few months ago – finishing one place shy of earning a berth back in December, where he lost to his former college teammate, Tony Cassioppi, in the fifth-place match at Senior Nationals.
Based on that close-call, it’d probably be safe to install him as a moderate favorite at 97kg entering this weekend. That said, some credentialed, young competition in the form of Oklahoma State redshirt Christian Carroll and incoming Penn State Nittany Lion Cole Mirasola could certainly make things interesting.
Current Hawks
(Women)
50 kilograms (~ 110.2 pounds)
- Sterling Dias
- Nyla Valencia
A pair of Hawkeyes help to make up the 15 current entries at 50kg and given both their combined/individual prowess it’d be no real surprise if one of them were to leave this weekend with a berth at the Trials in hand.
Dias was an NCWWC runner up a month ago at 101 pounds, losing her national title match against teammate Emilie Gonzalez – which automatically qualified the latter for the Olympic Trials.
A two-time Under-17 world medalist, Dias will face the added challenge of stepping into a weight class with opponents possessing a noticeable size advantage over the redshirt freshman.
Even so, she’s one of the more technically and positionally sound wrestlers on the Iowa team, giving her a chance to navigate some stiff competition at this new weight on Saturday.
Meanwhile, this event also marks the return of Nyla Valencia – who missed the entire 2023-24 season after suffering a serious knee injury last spring.
Valencia was the runner up at the 2023 Under-20 World team trials last April, and the year before that made the Under-23 World team while still just 17 years old.
She’s as talented and credentialed as just about any of the numerous young stars on the Iowa roster (not named Kylie Welker), so it’ll be great to see where the California native is at following her extended absence.
53 kilograms (~ 116.8 pounds)
- Brianna Gonzalez
Another Hawkeye who finished runner up to a teammate at last month’s NCWWC championships was Brianna Gonzalez.
Twin sister to current Olympic Trials qualifier Emilie (50kg), she will look to join her in State College by advancing through the 53-kilogram bracket this weekend.
It’s a take-no-prisoners affair any time either Gonzalez takes the mat, so you’re not going to want to miss a second of the action in Fairfax.
53kg isn’t the biggest field (just 10-deep at last check), but there will be a host of talented young competitors standing in the way of a spot atop the podium.
That said, as we sit here today Gonzalez would be my pick to win it.
57 kilograms (~ 125.7 pounds)
- Alexandra Baudhuin
Baudhuin joined the women’s program this season for her final year of collegiate eligibility after having spent the prior five at the University of Jamestown – where she was two-time NAIA All-American.
She was 13-10 in her lone season as a Hawkeye.
(Men)
86 kilograms (~ 189.6 pounds)
- Nelson Brands
Another current Hawkeye making their long-awaited return to the mat – albeit for reasons other than injury – is Nelson Brands.
A 2023 NCAA All-American (5th place) at 174 pounds, Brands was one of multiple men’s wrestlers sidelined for the entirety of last season thanks to NCAA gambling-related suspension.
With the assumption that he’s in line to return to Iowa for one final year of collegiate eligibility, the Last Chance Qualifier serves as a nice opportunity to both reintroduce himself to fans while also being a potential preview of a bump up the weight class ‘ladder’ for the seventh-year senior.
If Brands looks to be in the same physical ballpark as some of his competition at 86kg (nearly 190 pounds) it wouldn’t be crazy to extrapolate that 184 pounds might be in his plans for the 2024-25 season.
Aside from that, while freestyle results aren’t always 100 percent translatable to folkstyle success, it’ll still be good to see where Nelson stacks up against a seriously competitive field – especially after ending his last official season in an Iowa singlet on what was the highest note of his career to that point.
Future Hawks
(Women)
57 kilograms (~ 125.7 pounds)
- Karlee Brooks
The crown jewel (so far) of Iowa’s excellent 2024 recruiting class, Karlee Brooks – ranked the 11th-best pound for pound prospect in the country – is no stranger to success at big domestic freestyle tournaments.
This time last year she won the 53-kilogram spot (~ 117 pounds) on the Under-17 World team – going on to place fifth at the World Championships.
Since then, the Arizona prep – by way of Hawaii – has continued to test herself, winning a pair of collegiate open tournaments at 123 pounds and also taking second place at February’s Klippan Lady Open in Sweden – falling in the 53kg finals of the senior division by the slimmest of margins (5-4) to a 2022 Under-23 World silver medalist.
This weekend Brooks enters a bracket brimming with college All-Americans and other credentialed young talent.
It’ll be fascinating to see where she fits in amongst them.
62 kilograms (~ 136.7 pounds)
- Cadence Diduch
The fourth-ranked 135-pound high schooler in the country, Diduch – an Illinois native – has won or competed for pretty much every major age-level championship on the domestic scene.
A four-time state champion, four-time Fargo finalist (three-time champ), and a triple-participant at FloWrestling’s ‘Who’s Number One’ event, she also finished runner up at the 2023 U17 World team trials.
Saturday will represent a significant step up in competition for the high school senior, though such a notion hasn’t ever seemed to deter Diduch so far.
76 kilograms (~ 167.6 pounds)
- Naomi Simon
One final (future) Hawkeye making the trek to the east coast will be Decorah (IA) senior Naomi Simon.
You’ll be shocked to learn that she too comes with plenty of accolades – 2023 Fargo/Who’s Number One titles and the distinction as the first four-time state champion in Iowa girls high school history.
With only eight entries (as of 3/31), 76 kilograms figures to be the most navigable field in the women’s division strictly in terms of the fewest matches necessary in order to win the tournament. But even still, more than half of Simon’s competitors will be past college All-Americans, and they’ll be just as eager as she is to hopefully punch a ticket to the Olympic Trials.
A #20spot in the latest pound-for-pound high school rankings (#3 at 170) isn’t going to score her any points this weekend. Simon is about to get an early preview of what her first year at Iowa has in store for her, and we’ll see how homegrown Hawkeye responds to the challenge.
A busy April ahead
The Last Chance Qualifier will be just the start of a jam-packed month of freestyle events that will involve Hawkeye men and women.
One week later (April 12-14), Spokane (WA) will be the site of the USMC Women’s National Championship – which will serve as Team USA’s World team trials for the Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23 divisions.
In 2023, 15 different current/incoming Iowa women participated in the event, as did all five eventual commitments from the 2024 recruiting class.
The following weekend (April 19-20) is the aforementioned Olympic Team Trials, to be held on campus at Penn State University.
12 past/present Hawkeyes are qualified for the Trials as of today (five men, seven women), with a few more potentially on the way depending on the results from this Saturday and Sunday in Virginia.
A few days after that the attention turns to Las Vegas where the U.S. Open Championships will run from April 24-28.
Sin City will host both the men’s Under-20 Nationals and the Under-17 World team trials (Freestyle and Greco-Roman divisions) – massive tournaments that could involve any number of young Hawkeye wrestlers, incoming recruits, and future prospects.
It’ll also put on Nationals for the Under-15 and ‘Futures’ divisions (which we probably won’t get into here for fear of infringing upon Tom Kakert’s ‘Creepy Corner’ trademark), as well as the Girls National High School Recruiting Showcase – a tournament that a number of Iowa women’s wrestlers have competed in during their prep careers.
Basically, I’m going to be in your ear with Hawkeye wrestling content pretty much non-stop for the next four weeks.
(I do hope that’s OK, because I’m sure as heck excited for it.)
