CHROMEBIRD

THWC?

RBY has never represented the US at the Senior level. MX would be his only sports-nationality, so he'd be able to do a one time switch to the US team if he wanted to. Or are you referring to a USAW rule?

Yeah, he's already qualified. If he shows up I'm taking Parris.

Exactly. An athletes' union could also have pushed for expediency with the investigation and decision-making. I would love to see the NR sports unionize, either institutionally or at a conference level. It would be really difficult to pull off and I don't know if a one size fits all approach would fit across the different non-revenue sports, but a union like that could in theory give "small sport" athletes a seat at the table alongside football and basketball

UWW actually has a development restitution rule for Olympic, World, or Continental medalists who switch countries. The idea being that the athlete's new country should pay a one-time fee to compensate the old one for the training and development that they spent on a wrestler, up to around $350k USD. If RBY (for example) won Olympic gold and decided to come back and compete for the US, it would be pretty funny if Mexico's national wrestling federation (FEMELA) invoiced USAW $350k in training and development expenses. Oh, the fireworks!

For next year's Worlds? Maybe a new YD shoe?

Read the rest of the paragraph. Also I think a lot about how much ice cream Kyven Gadson must have eaten after Nationals, haha

Missed opportunity: "Brandslator"

Unionization isn't necessarily all about wages or scholarship money. NR sports/players unions could press institutions for better meal plans, access to facilities & equipment, better healthcare options, input into the training calendar, study hours, injury protocol, and so on. Didn't the whole "colleges should pay their players" thing first gain traction when athletes complained about going hungry because of limitations on their meal plan? It's hard to imagine any D1 wrestling program unionize, but it could bring about favorable changes for athletes and fans.

No criteria.

Good question about the USAW-RTC resources, but when it comes to senior level wrestling are the RTCs incentivized to do what's best for themselves and their athletes, or what's best for USAW? Especially when there are incongruences. And just to play this out: do fans care more about USAW or individual athletes and their RTCs? Many of the RTCs are "attached" to a D1 program, so the fandom sometimes carries over. While many support whoever is repping the US, others will root against wrestlers because of the RTC they come from (esp HWC and NLWC).

Good pick. I remember Travis Lee saying in an interview that he didn't get much attention from D1 programs at first (except for Cornell) but was highly recruited by the likes of Iowa and Oklahoma by his senior year. He chose Cornell because Koll was the first to believe in him. Interestingly, a reason why Lee was such an unknown early on was because he only picked up wrestling going into high school. He wasn't without his accolades, though. That dude competed in Judo since age 5 and won multiple national championships. Many thought he'd be an Olympian before he moved on to wrestling.

Was Mekhi Lewis highly recruited? He seemed to take many by surprise his first year

Risk mitigation? A partial tear could turn into a full blown grade 3 rupture between NCAAs and trials (or the LCQ if he doesn't win at Nationals). The instablity could lead to other injuries. He'd be able to train through Nationals and have more time to get his conditioning back up to speed. He'd have a full month's rest between his injury at the LCQ.

How about somebody sitting out NCAAs because he wants to qualify for the Olympics? Could be a tough decision for Starocci, depending on the severity of his injury.

Brooks had a tough time with Glazier's size and strength. That's why I think Hidlay could beat him at Nationals if he doesn't regress to his old style of wrestling. He'll lose if he over-respects Brooks and plays it too safe.

What's his status? I didn't see his next match against the Canadian but it me nervous when he took injury time in his QF match with Lee. Is it the same knee injury as last year?

Top 5 Glaze = AJ-repellant for next season

No.

I look forward to seeing Gable piledrive Petriashvili at the Olympics

LCQ is in Turkey about 2.5 weeks after trials, so our reps won't have a ton of time to travel, setup camp, and acclimate. The tough thing about moving up OTT/WTT is that it already presses up pretty close to NCAAs and our own US LCQ. I like the process now, giving our standing reps first choice of participating in qualifying events. Letting anyone wrestle-off for the spot anytime disrespects our reps and defeats the purpose of having a national team or trials. Things haven't fallen in our favor under the current system this time, but it is what it is. I feel better about the Olympic LCQ taking the top 3 finishers and like our chances of sending someone to Paris at 57 and 65.

Sounds like Jombo needs to dust off his passport. STALLLLING

I like Spencer's chances but his gas tank is a question mark for me. We'll see at trials.

It'll v.likely be our reps for those weights?

We'll at least know who our Oly reps are by then. Bit of a tight turnaround as always, about 2.5 weeks, give or take between trials and last chance.