Meet the MFS OTT winners

[peanut]

Spencer Lee. From PA. 25 years old. 3x NCAA champ, 2x Hodge winner. His mom is French. Hope he qualifies the weight because he belongs in Paris.

Zain Retherford. From PA. 28 years old. World gold and silver. 3x NCAA champ. 2x Hodge winner. Also hope he qualifies the weight. I think he can do it. The US has struggled at 65kg for some reason.

Kyle Dake. From NY. 33 years old. 4x world champ. World silver. Olympic bronze. 4x NCAA champ. Hodge winner. Will be competing at his second Olympics.

Aaron Brooks. From MD. 23 years old. 4x NCAA champ. Hodge winner.

Kyle Snyder. From MD. 28 years old. 4x world-level champ. 9x world-level medalist. Will be competing at his third Olympics. 

Mason Parris. From IN. 24 years old. World bronze medalist. 1x NCAA champ. Hodge winner. Personally I think it's only right for him to compete in Paris.

 

 

Edited April 22 by peanut

[ionel]

Is Dake really 33?

[Husker_Du]

he is. but there's an asterisk. 

[oldschool]

Really strong team – imho great mix of experience & new blood 

Feeling really confident about Spencer qualifying 57kg and semi-confident about 65kg (not because I don't have faith in Zain but because 65kg internationally is just brutal).

Compare this to our 2020 olympic team:

57kg Thomas Gilman – Bronze
65kg Jordan Oliver – failed to quality weight
74kg Kyle Dake – Bronze
86kg David Taylor – Gold
97kg Kyle Snyder – Silver
125kg Gable Steveson – Gold

First off, I would ***ducking** love to see these two teams wrestle.. 2020 US MFS olympic squad vs 2024.. 2020 David Taylor vs 2024 Aaron Brooks, 2020 Kyle Dake vs 2024 Kyle Dake who's older / younger / benjamin buttoned, 2020 prime Gilman vs 2024 Spencer Lee, I'm still taking Lee and I think both of these guys have known this would be the result for years if Lee was healthy.. 2020 Jordan Oliver at the end of his career vs a more mature 2024 Zain Retherford, not sure on this one.. 2020 Steveson would probably smash 2024 Mason Parris but I think / hope it would be closer than people expect.

All in all, I'm happy that the process did it's thing and that our team reflects our strongest domestic wrestlers as of 2024.

My predictions for 2024 olympic team:

57kg Spencer Lee – qualifies & medals; Gold is def possible if his knees hold out??
65kg Zain Retherford – 50/50 on him qualifying, but if he does, then I'll go Bronze; he's def our best bet at medaling, but I just didn't feel that fire in him like he had at 70kg
74kg Kyle Dake – Bronze / Silver depending on where Sidakov sits (he's only 28 assuming he's allowed to compete)
86kg Aaron Brooks – Gold – this is the one that I think will surprise a lot of people; really looking forward to him vs Yaz, though I wish he had more senior international freestyle experience. he completely shut down Taylor though, and he has so much experience in the room in his favor to prepare. was def surprised that Valencia did so well against him. also something about god having his back; I dunno, it always sounds like he's in a cult when he talks, but for the purpose of predictions, I think that's a good thing. Can't be fully devoted without being a few standard deviations away from the mean.
97kg Kyle Snyder – Bronze – maybe a silver if Sadulaev isn't allowed to compete?
125kg Mason Parris – Bronze

If we're being honest, I think our best shots at gold are 57kg and 86kg, though 57kg hasn't qualified yet, and 86kg is pretty untested internationally so who knows. Really hoping that one or more of Zain / Dake / Snyder / Parris steps up and crushes it for olympic gold 

Edited April 22 by oldschool

[ionel]

8 minutes ago, Husker_Du said:

he is. but there's an asterisk. 

But is he older than Marcus Blaze? 

[peanut]

13 hours ago, oldschool said:

Really strong team – imho great mix of experience & new blood 

Feeling really confident about Spencer qualifying 57kg and semi-confident about 65kg (not because I don't have faith in Zain but because 65kg internationally is just brutal).

Compare this to our 2020 olympic team:

57kg Thomas Gilman – Bronze
65kg Jordan Oliver – failed to quality weight
74kg Kyle Dake – Bronze
86kg David Taylor – Gold
97kg Kyle Snyder – Silver
125kg Gable Steveson – Gold

First off, I would ***ducking** love to see these two teams wrestle.. 2020 US MFS olympic squad vs 2024.. 2020 David Taylor vs 2024 Aaron Brooks, 2020 Kyle Dake vs 2024 Kyle Dake who's older / younger / benjamin buttoned, 2020 prime Gilman vs 2024 Spencer Lee, I'm still taking Lee and I think both of these guys have known this would be the result for years if Lee was healthy.. 2020 Jordan Oliver at the end of his career vs a more mature 2024 Zain Retherford, not sure on this one.. 2020 Steveson would probably smash 2024 Mason Parris but I think / hope it would be closer than people expect.

All in all, I'm happy that the process did it's thing and that our team reflects our strongest domestic wrestlers as of 2024.

My predictions for 2024 olympic team:

57kg Spencer Lee – qualifies & medals; Gold is def possible if his knees hold out??
65kg Zain Retherford – 50/50 on him qualifying, but if he does, then I'll go Bronze; he's def our best bet at medaling, but I just didn't feel that fire in him like he had at 70kg
74kg Kyle Dake – Bronze / Silver depending on where Sidakov sits (he's only 28 assuming he's allowed to compete)
86kg Aaron Brooks – Gold – this is the one that I think will surprise a lot of people; really looking forward to him vs Yaz, though I wish he had more senior international freestyle experience. he completely shut down Taylor though, and he has so much experience in the room in his favor to prepare. was def surprised that Valencia did so well against him. also something about god having his back; I dunno, it always sounds like he's in a cult when he talks, but for the purpose of predictions, I think that's a good thing. Can't be fully devoted without being a few standard deviations away from the mean.
97kg Kyle Snyder – Bronze – maybe a silver if Sadulaev isn't allowed to compete?
125kg Mason Parris – Bronze

If we're being honest, I think our best shots at gold are 57kg and 86kg, though 57kg hasn't qualified yet, and 86kg is pretty untested internationally so who knows. Really hoping that one or more of Zain / Dake / Snyder / Parris steps up and crushes it for olympic gold 

I think we’ll win anywhere from 0 to 2 golds. I might reevaluate if Spencer qualifies his weight. But right now I see it as 0 to 2.