"There were some tough times," explained Schwab about his development as a wrestler. "I came out for the U.S. Nationals five or six times, and I was fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh. Not until last year did I really have my break through. I always believed in hard work. Now it's just confidence. I can feel it out there. I'm just a more confident wrestler."
Iowa strength and conditioning coach Mike Zadick also won the 132-pound tournament bracket, but since the United States did not qualify that weight class for the Olympics he will have to wait for a wild card berth, which could be announced later this week. Zadick defeated Shawn Bunch of Gator Wrestling Club in the finals (3-1, 1-0; 0-3, 0-3; 0-2, 3-0, 1-0).
The rest of the freestyle Olympic squad includes Henry Cejudo (121), Ben Askren (163), Andy Hrovat (185), Daniel Cormier (211.5) and former Hawkeye Steve Mocco (264.5).
Hawkeye sophomore Brent Metcalf went 2-2 at the tournament, competing at 145.5. Former Hawkeyes Joe Williams (185, 1-2), Joe Johnston (145.5, 0-2), Eric Luedke (163, 0-2) and Lee Fullhart (185, 0-2) all competed in the freestyle tournament. Former Hawkeye David Spangler went 0-2 at 185 in the Greco-Roman competition.
The wrestling events for the 29th Olympic Games will be held August 12-21 at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium in Beijing.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now