Pan Ams, Qualifier
- Thread starter Exo
- Start date
Not a lot of action from either guy in this match. Zane has 2 points off activity clock and gave up 1 on a step out. Zane holds off a late flurry from Cruz. Cruz challenges that there should have been a step out and wins. Cruz wins 2-2. Team USA will need to qualify 57kg at the Last Chance Qualifier.
Damn.
Damn.
petition to ban zain/zanes from pan am olympic qualifiers
Pan Am curse continues for Team USA. Americans qualify for other countries but our own reps come up short.
disaster. gutted for the better guys at 57/65 who had to watch that happen.
inexcusable to not qualify when we’re in one of the weakest qualifiers.
no offense to zane richards but i doubt he will even be top 5 in the us at 57k this year… he won the weight fair and square last year but the best guys were either hurt or at 61kg.
Moronic to not just send the guy you know will qualify the weight instead of the richards. What a waste of time. Both Lee and Gilman would have smashed Cruz and been in the finals
Gilman should get blame as well for not challenging for the spot
Yes, Team USA will send the Olympic team member at 57 and 65 to the Last Chance Qualifier in May
So on his way to Gold Spencer Lee will have or first win OTT in April. Then win last chance in May (or is there more than 1 spot available?). Then win his way thru Olympics. LFG!
Last Chance will qualify the top 3; finalists auto qualify and then there is a special wrestle off between the bronze winners to determine who gets the 3rd and final qualification spot
USA needs to rethink this process. Why not have multiple guys ready in case of a bad cut, sickness etc. This is by far the easiest qualifier.
I can't believe Spencer Lee was in the country the week prior and has won the last three competitions and they send Richards. I wonder if other world powers in wrestling would have sent Richards? I know why they did, but our criteria and process stinks. We are the top nation in the world in wrestling and 33% of our weights are not qualified. Process and selection stinks. What was Zadick and USA Wrestling thinking?
For something this important, the coach should just pick the team. Throw “fairness” out the window. The guy who wins the spot ultimately will get his chance to qualify at Last Chance if they fail.
Even with American transfers adding depth to Pan Ams, we should never have MFS wrestlers at the Last Chance qualifier.
3-1. Richards got hot once at the right time. Cruz is a Hawkeye nemesis. Beat Gilman when we cared and now could keep Spencer from the Olympics. Un fu****g believable.
I want to be outraged but if Spencer is going to win Olympic gold placing top 3 in anything shouldn’t be a problem, and fans might get to see Spencer in more international matches against real competition. Or whoever wins OTT, either way more wrestling isn’t a bad thing and I’d take Lee or Vito at Last Chance
I believe Fix, Gilman and Vito all turned down the chance to qualify the USA at 57 KG. USA wrestling must only offer the chance to former world team members.
Well USA wrestling needs to bump Olympic trials for 57-65 ahead 2 weeks. The winner of trials really only has 2 weeks recovery before having to make cut again then wrestle a beast of a tournament. Screw NLWC… have anywhere host for these 2 weights. Give them best chance to win.
So, Mexico and Puerto Rico will be in the Olympics and USA might not be. Stupid process. What has Richards done this year? Are you kidding me?
Also, as far as "well they take the top three" argument... This is real life. Guys wake up in the morning throwing up, sick, hell they might get dinged up wrestling through an Olympic Trials with multiple world champs and medalists and this is the weight we don't qualify. USA Wrestling needs to look internally on this one. Bickley, Zadick and that entire staff should be pulled into a meeting room and asked, how does a weight with multiple world champions send a guy that hasn't wrestled hardly at all this year? I understand Nick Lee. He won a wrestle off. I get it, but Richards, when Lee was literally in Mexico and has won the last three tournaments. Crazy and stupid if you ask me.
Also, as far as "well they take the top three" argument... This is real life. Guys wake up in the morning throwing up, sick, hell they might get dinged up wrestling through an Olympic Trials with multiple world champs and medalists and this is the weight we don't qualify. USA Wrestling needs to look internally on this one. Bickley, Zadick and that entire staff should be pulled into a meeting room and asked, how does a weight with multiple world champions send a guy that hasn't wrestled hardly at all this year? I understand Nick Lee. He won a wrestle off. I get it, but Richards, when Lee was literally in Mexico and has won the last three tournaments. Crazy and stupid if you ask me.
Yup…if we put half the brain power and strategizing that they do in college wrestling and applied it here, things might be different. It’s not a process that can be decided a month out. It sometimes comes down to a match day decision.
And they have to travel to Turkey. Deal with time zones, lost travel days and it's only a few weeks after what will be a gladiator type weight.
Why don't they institute a rule that if you decline the coach's request to wrestle for non injury reasons, you are disqualified from the OTT? Guys need to step up.
They had it tailor made in Mexico. A resort town that caters to Americans in the same time zone as Iowa. Healthy food to eat, nice hotels.
Below is the 2021 57KG & 65KG Last Chance Olympic Qualifying Tournament Bracket.
You have to send your best guy to the Pan Am Olympic Qualifier. Put a good sum of money on the line for the guy qualifying the weight. This should entice
competition?
65 KG Bracket
You have to send your best guy to the Pan Am Olympic Qualifier. Put a good sum of money on the line for the guy qualifying the weight. This should entice
competition?
65 KG Bracket
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Gilman has his Olympic medal, I got to wonder if he is fully committed for another cycle. HE exceeded all expectations by a mile last time, hard to match that performance.
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