Last Chance 2024 Olympic Qualifier Recap
A total of 12 wrestlers with Hawkeye ties made their way to the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier this past weekend in Fairfax, Virginia.
Two of them punched their tickets to State College (PA) – site of the 2024 Team USA Olympic Trials in less than two weeks (April 19-20).
Nyla Valencia (50kg) and Brianna Gonzalez (53kg) – both members of the inaugural University of Iowa women’s team – went a combined 6-0 with four tech. falls and a pin, outscoring their opponents by a combined margin of 58-5 en route to a pair of titles in the women’s freestyle division.
They’ll be joined by seven of their Hawkeye teammates in Stage College later this month – plus another five from the men’s program.
This was just the beginning of a hectic four-week stretch of competition involving past, present, and future members of the men’s/women’s programs – all of which I’ll be covering in detail here at Hawkeye Report.
That said, there’s no time to waste.
Let’s jump right into the recap of the weekend that was, starting with a few Iowa alumni who took the mat out in Virginia.
Past
A quartet of former Hawkeye men were entered across five different brackets at the Last Chance Qualifier – the ‘extra’ entry coming courtesy of Daniel Erekson (2005-10), who was entered at heavyweight in both the Men’s Freestyle and Greco-Roman divisions (125 and 130kg respectively).
Unfortunately, Erekson – a two-time All-American and Big Ten champion – wound up injury defaulting out of both tournaments, though he did advance as far as the semifinals in the freestyle division.
At 74 kilograms, Jeremiah Moody’s tournament was also short-lived, going 0-2.
Meanwhile, the two most prominent names of this group had slightly different performances, though I’m sure both would ultimately view them as disappointments.
Jaydin Eierman entered the weekend as the #3 seed in a 26-man field at 65 kilograms, but an opening upset loss in the Round of 16 to Henry Porter (10-5) quickly halted any plans of securing a berth at the Olympic Trials.
A wild 18-12 win in the consolations, plus another victory by forfeit, would advance the 2021 Big Ten champion through the backside of the bracket. That’s where his tournament would end, however, as #1 seed Aden Valencia (brother of the aforementioned Nyla Valencia) locked up a trap-arm gut wrench following an opening takedown and quickly secured a 10-0 tech. fall.
Back in December at Senior Nationals, Jacob Warner lost a match to an opponent who would ultimately secure that event’s final qualifying spot for the Trials. On that occasion it was against former college teammate Tony Cassioppi.
In a cruel twist of fate, a similar scenario would play out this weekend, as the 2022 NCAA finalist dropped his semifinal match 8-7 to eventual 97kg champion Christian Carroll.
Carroll would outscore his three other opponents on Sunday by a combined 34-0 (three tech. falls). Warner would outscore his four other opponents by a margin of 42-1 (four tech. falls) – leaving little doubt that their razor-thin match against one another was the deciding outcome for the final spot at the Trials.
Trailing 8-5 late in the second period, Warner secured a takedown on a low double leg with roughly 17 seconds left, giving him one last chance at a turn to win the bout. He’d look for his go-to gut wrench move, but Carroll was able to keep himself flat on the mat until the clock stuck zero.
Likely not of much comfort, but notable nonetheless, Warner would get ‘the next best thing’ by wrestling back for third place. His next chance to chase his Olympic dreams will come in 2027-28 as the summer games return to the United States – Los Angeles to be exact – for the first time since 1996.
65kg – Jaydin Eierman – DNP
LOSS Henry Porter (Indiana RTC), Dec. 10-5
WIN Evan Mougalian (Pennsylvania RTC), Dec. 18-12
WIN Kyler Rodriguez (New Jersey), Forfeit
LOSS Aden Valencia (TMWC/CARTC), TF 10-0
74kg – Jeremiah Moody – DNP
LOSS James Chance (Patriot Elite Wrestling Club), TF 11-0
LOSS Joshua Shields (Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club), TF 10-0
97kg – Jacob Warner – 3rd Place
WIN Michael Boykin (10 Year Active Athlete List), TF 10-0
WIN Lance Runyon (Panther Wrestling Club RTC), TF 10-0
LOSS Christian Carroll (TMWC/Cowboy Wrestling Club), Dec. 8-7
WIN Aiden Hanning (TMWC/SPARTAN COMBAT RTC), TF 10-0
WIN Cole Mirasola (Askren Wrestling Academy), TF 12-1
125kg – Daniel Erekson – DNP
WIN Keith Miley (Arkansas Regional Training Center), Fall 2:02
LOSS Jacob Bullock (Indiana RTC), Inj. 2:02
LOSS Braden Homsey (Iron Wrestling Club), Inj. 0:00
130kg (Greco-Roman) – Daniel Erekson – DNP
WIN Ronald Dombkowski (Mad Cow Wrestling Club), Fall 4:25
LOSS Michael Rogers (Nittany Lion Wrestling Club), Dec. 3-1
LOSS Braeden Fluke (Cougar Wrestling Club), Inj. 0:00
Present
Moving along to those athletes currently on an Iowa roster, five Hawkeyes threw their hat in the ring at the Last Chance Qualifier in the form of women’s wrestlers Sterling Dias (50kg), Nyla Valencia (50kg), Brianna Gonzalez (53kg) and Alexandra Baudhuin (57kg), plus Nelson Brands (86kg) on the men’s side.
The earliest exits amongst the group came from Baudhuin – via back-to-back tech. fall defeats at 57kg – and Dias, the latter of whom somewhat surprised me with her 1-2 outing given her credentials at both the prep and collegiate levels to date.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been quite as taken aback, however, as Dias was making the bump up from her college weight of 101 pounds to compete at 50kg (~110.2 pounds). You won’t believe this, but weight classes exist in wrestling for a reason (shocking, I know), and I’m not so sure that Dias really has all that much issue making 101 pounds as is.
She looked very much undersized during each of her losses this weekend – shutout decisions to the eventual second and fourth-place finishers in her bracket.
Fortunately for Dias (and Iowa fans), the college season lends itself to a much more natural fit size-wise – 101 pounds, which will transition to 103 moving forward.
Two Hawkeye women who fared just a bit better this weekend were Valencia and Gonzalez, both of whom absolutely tore through their respective brackets on Saturday.
For Gonzalez, it felt like a fitting add-on to what was an incredible redshirt freshman season during which she finished as the NCWWC runner up to teammate Felicity Taylor, ending the year with a record of 35-2.
Now qualified for the Olympic Trials along with her twin sister Emilie, Brianna didn’t allow a single point across three matches this weekend – each coming against extremely credentialed opponents. She is a remarkably relentless competitor and won’t even turn 20 years old until this September.
She’s everything long-time Iowa fans proclaim to desire a Hawkeye wrestler to be about. So, if you’re not familiar with her yet, become so quickly. You’ll be glad that you did.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Nyla Valencia’s 2023-24 season is just getting started.
A torn ACL suffered this time last year took away what was set to be a dynamic freshman season in the Black & Gold, but the 19-year-old California native worked her way back behind the scenes and didn’t seem to miss a beat in her return to the mat this past weekend.
All the more impressive, in an excellent post-tournament interview with USA Wrestling Valencia intimated that Saturday marked just her third time going ‘live’ since her injury, something an observer would probably never have guessed given her sharpness and explosiveness in a variety of positions throughout the tournament.
From my vantage point, the only visible sign of her previous injury was the large knee brace she wore during the competition. Besides that, she was as dominant as ever – from the opening whistle until the first-place medal was hung around her neck.
Welcome back, Nyla.
And finally, perhaps the most intriguing participant this weekend among the Iowa contingent was Nelson Brands – a name Hawkeye fans haven’t seen in a bracket since he finished fifth at 174 pounds at the 2023 NCAA Championships.
For one, how would he look after such a long layoff. And two, would his physical stature compared to his competition at 86 kilograms (~189.6 pounds) provide any sort of indication as to how he might perform at 184 pounds next college season if Brands were to receive/return for a final year of eligibility as has been hinted at in various circles.
With the qualifier that freestyle success (or failure) does not always translate to folkstyle results, I think Hawkeye fans should be feeling pretty good about Brands after this weekend.
He went 5-2 (with three tech. falls) on his way to a fourth-place finish, both losses coming to relative unknown John Gunderson out of Northern Iowa.
From what I can gather, Gunderson is more of a freestyle specialist who will be entering his redshirt junior year in Cedar Falls next season after spending portions of the last few years competing at both 197 pounds and heavyweight – which would help to explain why he was the lone competitor I saw on Sunday who possessed a noticeable size advantage over Brands at 86 kilograms.
In both of their matches, Gunderson struck for an early low-level takedown that he transitioned right into a tight leg lace.
In Match #1, that was all she wrote, as four quick exposures ended things in a 10-0 tech. fall. Match #2 nearly followed suit, but Brands was able to fight Gunderson’s hands enough to stop the bleeding at 6-0 – then wrestle out the remainder of the bout, which would end in a 10-3 decision in favor of Gunderson.
Among Brands’ five wins on the day, the most impressive was unquestionably his 4-2 second-round victory over #2 seed Taylor Lujan – himself a (former) UNI Panther.
Not only does Lujan have some bona fide credentials on the senior freestyle circuit, but he was also a two-time Big 12 champion (2018/2020) for the Panthers back in his college days and had earned the #1 overall seed at 184 pounds entering the 2020 NCAA Championships that were canceled due to COVID.
Brands scored takedowns in both periods of this one, giving up only two points to Lujan for an exposure off one of Brands’ own attacks. The Iowa legacy looked calm and composed throughout the six-minute match, never once allowing Lujan to get his hands locked around a leg despite multiple efforts to do so.
Again, take this freestyle match (and tournament) for what it’s worth, but he looked pretty darn good to me.
50kg – Sterling Dias – DNP
LOSS Charlotte Fowler (Boilermaker RTC), Dec. 9-0
WIN Emma Heslin (South Side Wrestling Club), Fall 2:51
LOSS Mariah Anderson (Air Force RTC), Dec. 7-0
50kg – Nyla Valencia – 1st Place
WIN Jenna Gerhardt (North Dakota), TF 15-4
WIN Natalie Reyna-Rodriguez (Southern Oregon RTC), TF 14-1
WIN Charlotte Fowler (Boilermaker RTC), Fall 5:27
53kg – Brianna Gonzalez – 1st Place
WIN Jaslynn Gallegos (Cardinal), TF 10-0
WIN Aleeah Gould (Army (WCAP)), Dec. 9-0
WIN Elena Ivaldi (California), TF, 10-0
57kg – Alexandra Baudhuin – DNP
LOSS Montana DeLawder (Team Tornado Wrestling Club), TF 10-0
LOSS Jackeline Ramos (New Jersey), TF 14-4
86kg – Nelson Brands – 4th place
WIN Alex Patton (Indiana), TF 10-0
WIN Taylor Lujan (TMWC/Panther Wrestling Club), Dec. 4-2
LOSS John Gunderson (Panther Wrestling Club RTC), TF 10-0
WIN Simon Ruiz (TMWC/Spartan Combat RTC), TF 15-4
WIN Martin Cosgrove (Pennsylvania RTC), TF 10-0
WIN Aeoden Sinclair (Askren Wrestling Academy), Dec. 9-4
LOSS John Gunderson (Panther Wrestling Club RTC), Dec. 10-3
Future
The last three athletes we’ll cover aren’t ‘technically’ Hawkeyes just yet, but each of them will join the women’s program this fall as members of a decorated 2024 recruiting class.
Entered into brackets littered with quality high school, collegiate and senior-level athletes, Karlee Brooks (57kg), Cadence Diduch (62kg) and Naomi Simon (76kg) all picked up two or more wins on Saturday – speaking to their readiness for the jump in competition that will accompany their arrival in Iowa City in a few months’ time.
Skill for skill, none of the three looked out of place.
The biggest disadvantage I observed – particularly for Brooks/Diduch – was simply in the ‘horsepower department.’
In two of their four losses (both via fall) – Brooks/Diduch shot in on a deep double leg only to be stymied and thrown to their backs from upper-body ties executed by older opponents.
In fact, Brooks led in the second period of each of her defeats – the first against three-time King All-American Montana DeLawder (third at NCWWC’s this year at 123 pounds), and the second versus 2023 East Stroudsburg All-American Sofia Macaluso (a 2022 Under-20 World silver medalist).
During the latter of those, against Macaluso, Brooks was ahead 2-2 on criteria with 27 seconds remaining when she got countered to her back for the pin.
As these young athletes continue to get stronger with age and upon entering a college strength and conditioning program, I’d imagine losses like these will become fewer and further between. Even still, this weekend had to be a great learning opportunity for them to see where improvements can be made as they prepare to continue their wrestling pursuits at the next level.
One recruit who was not lacking in the ‘horsepower department’ however, was Decorah (IA) native Naomi Simon. The incoming upper weight looked right at home with her competition at 76 kilograms, and ultimately may have been a mistake or two (and/or some ‘creative’ injury time taken by her semifinal opponent) away from reaching the finals where she could’ve quite conceivably won her way into a spot at the Olympic Trials.
Alas, the teenager will have to wait a few more years for her next opportunity. And after the tournament she had – finishing third amongst a field more than 50 percent comprised of past college All-Americans – Simon will be able to do so with the confidence that she appears to be very much on the right track.
53kg – Karlee Brooks – DNP
WIN Jackeline Ramos (New Jersey), TF 10-0
LOSS Montana DeLawder (Team Tornado Wrestling Club), Fall 4:29
WIN Josie Bartishofski (Victory School of Wrestling), TF 11-0
WIN Jasmine Hernandez (Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club), Dec. 8-5
LOSS Sofia Macaluso (West Point Wrestling Club), Fall 5:45
62kg – Cadence Diduch – DNP
WIN Marilyn Garcia (TMWC/BTSLA), Dec. 4-4
LOSS Alexandra Szkotnicki (Bearcat Wrestling Club), Dec. 6-2
WIN Hailie Misplay (FRECO), TF 10-0
LOSS Marisol Nugent (Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club), Fall 2:22
76kg – Naomi Simon – 3rd Place
WIN Gabrielle Holloway (North Carolina), Fall 1:42
LOSS Madison Sandquist (Rise RTC), Dec. 10-8
WIN Liliana Vergara (California), TF 10-0
WIN Shenita Lawson (New York Athletic Club), Dec. 9-6
Short time
That’s all I’ve got for this weekend’s action.
Freestyle season will resume later this week out in Spokane (WA) for the 2024 USMC Women’s National Championship (April 12-14) – which will feature a plethora of current and future Hawkeyes competing to make World teams in the Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23 divisions.
I’ll be back in a few days with a preview for the event, and this same time next week we’ll recap things from Spokane before turning our attention squarely to State College (PA) and the Olympic Trials (April 19-20).
Hoooo boy, get excited folks.
Thanks as always for reading, and we’ll talk again real soon.
