Tag: David Taylor

Best photos of Aaron Brooks at the U.S. wrestling Olympic trials

Check out some of the best photos of Aaron Brooks winning his spot on the U.S. national wrestling team heading to the Olympics this summer.

It was a monumental weekend in Happy Valley for Penn State wrestling star [autotag]Aaron Brooks[/autotag]. Brooks scored one of the most surprising upsets of the weekend’s U.S. national wrestling trials to earn a spot on the national team heading to the Paris 2024 Olympics this summer when he topped fellow former Nittany Lion, and defending gold medalist, [autotag]David Taylor[/autotag] on the mat in a best-of-three series.

Brooks is coming off a fourth consecutive NCAA title and will now have a shot at Olympic gold. Taylor will still be on the U.S. National Team as the trials runner-up, but his path to defending his gold is trickier than most anticipated.

Here are some of the best photos from Brooks’ run to the U.S. trials victory this weekend in the Bryce Jordan Center. Next stop, Paris!

Penn State wrestling alums to represent Team USA at Paris 2024 Summer Olympics

It should be no surprise that the U.S. national wrestling team heading to the Olympics this summer will have these former Nittany Lions leading the way.

Penn State wrestling will be well-represented at this summer’s Olympic games in Paris, France. On Saturday, the United States wrestling team trials were held in the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, home to Penn State’s dominant national championship wrestling program, and some familiar faces battled on the mat for spots in the Olympics.

The biggest storyline was [autotag]Aaron Brooks[/autotag] pulling an upset of Olympic gold medalist [autotag]David Taylor[/autotag] in a battle of former Nittany Lion standouts in the 84 kg trials.

While Brooks cemented his spot on the roster, Taylor will also be on the U.S. National Team as well as the trials runner-up.

Taylor and Brooks will be joined in Paris by some fellow Penn State products. [autotag]Kyle Dake[/autotag] (74 kg) came out on top of former Nittany Lion [autotag]Jason Nolf[/autotag] for a spot on the team, but Nolf will also be on the Team USA roster after finishing in second place.

A fifth member of the Penn State wrestling family will be making plans to head to Paris as well. [autotag]Kyle Snyder[/autotag] (97 kg) picked up a win in his trials over Isaac Trumble to secure a spot on the U.S. national team.

A handful of others from the Penn State family kept their Olympic dreams alive as well. [autotag]Zain Retherford[/autotag] (65 kg) will have a chance to qualify for the Paris Games in May. [autotag]Nick Lee[/autotag], who lost to Retherford, earned a spot on the U.S. team thanks to his second-place finish. [autotag]Mitchell Mesenbrink[/autotag] (74 kg) took third place in the trials and earned a spot on the U.S. national team.

The Paris 2024 Olympics are set to begin on July 26 in Paris, France. Wrestling events will begin on August 5 and run through August 11. The world is about to get a dose of Penn State wrestling up close and personal.

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Penn State wrestlers added to medal collection at 2020 Olympics in Tokyo

Penn State wrestlers are bringing home some hardware from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo

The 2020 Olympics are ending with plenty of medals up for grabs across the games, and Penn State wrestlers added two more to the collection early Saturday morning. Following David Taylor’s gold medal victory this week, two more former Nittany Lions are taking home hardware from Tokyo after Saturday’s results.

Kyle Snyder, who won the gold medal at the Rio games in 2016, was unable to go back-to-back for the gold medal this time around. Snyder finished with the silver medal in the 97 kg weight class, coming up short against Russia’s Sadulaev Abdulrashid. It is Snyder’s second career silver medal in international competition (2018 world championships).

Snyder wasn’t alone in winning Olympic medals on Saturday. Bekzod Abdurakhmonov was also in action, representing Uzbekistan. Abdurakhmonov won the bronze medal in the 74 kg weight class, bringing Penn State wrestling’s total medal count to four during the 2020 Olympics.

Thomas Gilman won the bronze medal in the 57 kg weight class this week as well.

All in all, this was a very successful trip to the Olympics for Penn State wrestlers. Four Olympic medals, including one gold, is a testament to the power of the Penn State wrestling program, which remains one of the best in the sport. Expect more medalists in the future to hail from Happy Valley.

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Olympics: Penn State’s David Taylor wins wrestling gold in Tokyo

Penn State’s David Taylor scored his first Olympic gold in Tokyo

The medals are coming in for some of Penn State’s finest world-class athletes. On Thursday, one of the wrestling program’s top performers in recent years became an Olympic gold medalist.

David Taylor had the gold medal awarded to him following his gold medal match victory over Iran’s Hassan Yazdanicharati, the top-seeded wrestler in the Olympic field for the 86kg weight class. Yazdanicharati is a two-time world champion, but Taylor improved to 3-0 all-time against the Iranian wrestling star.

Taylor’s matches combined to last a total of 10 minutes and 49 seconds, with none of his matches lasting the full six minutes. Taylor notched three technical falls before time expired.

 

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Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast: Will Penn State play Virginia Tech?

Penn State has rescheduled two games lost in 2020, but the series with Virginia Tech has shown no signs of life.

Remember when Penn State was scheduled to play Virginia Tech for the first time in 2020? Then a global pandemic hit and threw some massive curveballs at the entire sports calendar. The Big Ten decided not to play football at all and eventually opted to come back with a conference-only schedule, so there was no chance to see Penn State make the originally scheduled trip to Blacksburg to face the Hokies in Lane Stadium.

Hope for seeing this series hit the field is looking pretty bleak at the moment. Penn State recently scheduled games against two other non-conference opponents from its original 2020 schedule with future games against Kent State and San Jose State worked into the future schedule, but the moment may have passed for Penn State and Virginia Tech to get a makeup game or series on the books.

In today’s Locked On Nittany Lions podcast, we review the recent changes to the future Penn State football schedules and more. Other topics discussed in today’s podcast include:

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Former Penn State wrestling star David Taylor is heading to the Olympics

Former Nittany Lion wrestling star and world champion David Taylor outdueled another former Nittany Lion to punch his ticket to the Olympics

The legacy of Penn State wrestling is ready to hit the mats at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan later this year. David Taylor officially clinched his spot on the United States wrestling team for the Olympics on Saturday, marking his first trip to the Olympics.

To top it off, Taylor had to go through another former Nittany Lion wrestling star to do so. Taylor defeated former Penn State wrestler Bo Nickal for the top spot in the 86 KG finals with a 4-0 in the first of a best-of-three matchup, and 6-0 in the second. Taylor did not yield a point throughout the Olympic trials.

David Taylor, left, wrestles Bo Nickal at 86 kg in the finals during the fourth session of the USA Wrestling Olympic Team Trials, Saturday, April 3, 2021, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Credit: Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen via Imagn Content Services

Taylor was an NCAA gold medal winner in 2021 and 2014 and a finalist two other times during his time at Penn State. His international profile has already begun with a gold medal at the Pan American Championships in 2018 and 2019. He will be among the favorites in his weight class at the Olympics later this year.

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