Inside a Penn State wrestling Olympic Trials torch passing as Aaron Brooks beat David Taylor

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Inside a Penn State wrestling Olympic Trials torch passing as Aaron Brooks beat David Taylor

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Aaron Brooks and David Taylor were on their knees at the center of the wrestling mat. The crowd inside the Bryce Jordan Center looked on at a moment in the Olympic Trials that might serve as a passing of the torch in the 86-kilogram weight class.

Brooks, the 23-year-old who last month won his fourth individual NCAA championship at Penn State, had just swept 2020 Olympic gold medalist and reigning world champion David Taylor. Brooks did so with dominance, too, winning the best-of-three series to secure a spot in the Olympics this summer.

“I told him I love him,” Brooks recalled of the conversation on the mat. “He’s one of the first guys to make this (Penn State) program what it is. … It’s been a blessing being around him and watching what he does. He definitely changed me and made history in wrestling.”

Perhaps there’s no wrestler at Penn State whose imprint on the sport has been more impactful than Taylor’s. It was Taylor who followed Cael Sanderson from Iowa State to Penn State when Sanderson was hired by the Nittany Lions in 2009. He’d become the protege and the prototype for those in the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.

In their match in the Olympic Trials, Brooks’ corner featured former Nittany Lion national champion Bo Nickal and current Penn State associate head coach Cody Sanderson. In Taylor’s was Nittany Lion Wrestling Club director and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jake Varner and current Penn State assistant coach Jimmy Kennedy.

Cael Sanderson, who has coached both, was not spotted around the mat, and perhaps for good reason.

“It’s gotta be tough for him,” Brooks said. “He started this program, and he’s got two guys he’s coached their whole time going against each other for their dreams. That’s tough. If I’m in that situation, I’d probably do the same thing.”

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Across the mat spectating was Brooks’ Penn State teammate and fellow four-time NCAA champion, Carter Starocci. When Brooks would score a point, Starocci wouldn’t react. When Taylor scored, there was no outward emotion from Starocci either. These bittersweet moments where training partners were squaring off against one another and Penn State greats were vying to keep their Olympic dreams alive were common throughout the Olympic Trials. The crunch of having just six weight classes as opposed to 10 at the collegiate level could be felt from every corner of the Bryce Jordan Center. Of the 12 finalists in men’s freestyle, eight either wrestled at Penn State or are current members of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.

Three of the final matchups — Brooks versus Taylor, Zain Retherford versus Nick Le  and Jason Nolf versus Kyle Dake — included wrestlers who are regularly training and competing against one another in the same wrestling room on Penn State’s campus. Penn State is a U.S. Olympic Regional Training Center, making it common to see many of the nation’s top wrestlers and those in the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club practicing alongside the next generation of Olympic hopefuls.

“It definitely gets weird in the room at certain times,” Starocci said. “But I think our coaches do a really good job of navigating that, and I feel like guys are very mature in the room, too, where all the egos are set aside. … I think whoever wins (86 kg.) is gonna win the Olympic title. They’re both my teammates.”

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Taylor, who helped transform Penn State wrestling, is the man so many younger wrestlers have tried to emulate. Many have flocked to Taylor’s M2 Training Center just outside of State College so they can learn from “The Magic Man.” The 33-year-old married father of three daughters sees Brooks all the time in the wrestling room.

“Eventually, if you stick around long enough, you’re going to wrestle people that you’ve helped in the past,” Taylor said earlier this week. Taylor did not meet with reporters Saturday night, and earlier in the week he didn’t want to discuss his future, either. “I wouldn’t be where I am without them, and I don’t think they would be where they are without me.”

As Retherford spoke Saturday afternoon in the bowels of the Bryce Jordan Center, the rush of emotions that came with winning the best-of-three series at 60 kg. washed over him. Retherford stopped to sign autographs as he walked off the mat. Fans cheered for “The Zain Train,” which next heads to Istanbul in May, where he’ll have to finish in the top three at the World Olympic Games Qualifier to secure the Olympic quota spot. Three-time NCAA champion Spencer Lee, who defeated Thomas Gilman in the best-of-three session at 57 kg., faces the same hurdle in Istanbul.

About 10 yards away from Retherford, Varner wrapped his arms around and consoled Retherford’s former Penn State teammate and close friend Nick Lee. The two training partners knew the best-case scenario heading into the weekend was that they’d compete against each other. It still didn’t make the final result any easier. Both were bloodied, the bruises on Retherford’s face still fresh, and the tears on Lee’s cheeks still fresh, too.

“It’s bittersweet because I made the team, and I’m grateful for that, but Nick Lee is a brother to me,” Retherford said. “We knew this was gonna happen. We were hopeful that we’d wrestle each other. There’s only six weight classes for the Olympic Games, and I think that needs to change.”


Kyle Dake punched his ticket to Paris after defeating Jason Nolf in Saturday’s best-of-three championship series during the U.S. Olympic Trials. (Dan Rainville / USA Today)

Dake’s emotional night

Dake punched his ticket to Paris and embraced his family members, and the tears followed immediately.

This was Dake’s first time wrestling without his father, Doug, who died April 11. Doug’s influence in the sport helped guide his son’s career. Since February, when Doug was given days to live, Kyle said his conversations with his father often still revolved around how wrestling practice had gone and how focused he was on his Olympic goals.

“I wanted to do him proud,” Dake said. “It’s just hard to find the words to say how much he means to me. He went through a lot. … Seeing him suffer, it gives you a lot of perspective on how much of a game this is. Just go out, do your best and be grateful for the opportunity.”

Dake, who starred at Cornell, joined the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club in 2022. Nolf, the former Penn State star whom Dake defeated in the best-of-three series, was among those who supported him in the last months and week.

“It’s hard when you’re at the same weight and you’re both chasing the same dream,” Dake said. “One of us is not gonna get there.”

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Spencer Lee takes a leap forward

The all-Iowa finals at 57 kg. between Lee and Gilman ended with the two sharing a hug. Gilman was visibly frustrated with himself. The Nittany Lion Wrestling Club member and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist was pinned late in the second match to get swept in the best-of-three series. Lee won the first match 6-3 and said Saturday’s performance is a good indicator of what he can accomplish on the international stage.

“I’m still not healthy, but I’m healthy enough to wrestle hard against a savvy, really, really good opponent in Thomas Gilman,” Lee said. “We hugged, and I told him, ‘I always looked up to you.’ We were teammates. People get the wrong picture of us. We watched film together; we trained together. We’re teammates even though he’s a Nittany Lion now; it’s OK. Hawkeye for life.”

Lee, the three-time NCAA champion from Murrysville, Pa., outscored his opponents 27-9 during the trials. When asked why he doesn’t consider himself healthy, he shrugged off the question.

“(It’s) nothing serious, but if it was, you wouldn’t have to worry about me anyway,” Lee said.

Retherford’s last run?

Retherford walked into Cody Sanderson’s office in November and told his coach he thought his wrestling career was finished.

“Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if I was gonna wrestle this year,” Retherford said. “This is just a bonus.”

Retherford, the 2023 world champion at 70 kg. and a three-time NCAA champion at Penn State, turns 29 next month. He was still training in State College in the fall but said he wasn’t committed to an Olympic run. He thanked Sanderson for all he’d done to help his career. There was a job in New York City with a 10-person financial firm that had Retherford’s focus. There was also the weight cut to 65 kg. that he would have to make for the Olympics, which he wasn’t excited about. Previous weight cuts left him frustrated. He wasn’t sure his body could effectively handle the cut again.

“I originally had accepted the job in New York City, and we were gonna go in January,” Retherford said. “I just had it pulling on my heart like I couldn’t explain it to compete.”

Retherford talked it over with his wife and said he decided in January to give this Olympic cycle a go. Cody Sanderson laid out a plan for him to make the weight cut. Retherford would work part time with the firm.

“I’m just giving my all to this,” Retherford said. “I didn’t know if this would be my last time competing today, so just grateful for every opportunity that I have and making the most of it. As weird as it is, I enjoyed the weight cut. It was hard, but it was fun.”

Blades makes first Olympic team

In a moment that looked and felt like another passing of the torch, 20-year-old Kennedy Blades swept Adeline Gray 11-6 and 8-3. Gray, the two-time Olympian and six-time world champion, held her twins afterward as she spoke about her future and wanting to figure out what that looks like.

“None of this really sets in, whether you win or lose, for a little bit,” Gray said. “There’s a temporary, little moment of sadness, but honestly, I remember when I took silver in the Olympics, and there was a little blip where I was like, ‘Man, this is a bummer.’ But I still made the national team; I’m still an Olympic alternate.”

Gray said she wants part of her legacy to be that she showed other women they don’t have to put their lives on hold to chase their wrestling dreams. Blades started wrestling when she was 7 and said ever since she was a little girl, she’s been eying 2024.

“This younger generation did look up to the older generation, and now as they start to, you know, probably retire and stuff, we’re catching up,” Blades said. “They’re setting a good example for us. Adeline is the most decorated person — a lot of us are trying to catch up. … My generation is super excited to keep wrestling.”

(Top photo of Aaron Brooks and David Taylor: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)