North Carolina State University Athletics
Sanders to Compete at U.S. Olympic Team Trials
6/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State assistant wrestling coach Jerrod Sanders will compete this weekend at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials on the campus of UNLV. The three-day event will see the best wrestlers in the nation compete in 18 different weight classes for the right to represent the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
“Making the Olympic team is everyone’s dream and in wrestling this is as high as it gets,” said Sanders.
Sanders, who will compete in the 66kg (145.5 lbs) weight class in the freestyle division, is no stranger to freestyle wrestling. He earned FILA All-American honors at the 1999 Junior National Freestyle Championships and was a University Free-Style All-American in 2003. In 2005, he placed at the U.S. Open Championships and qualified for the 2005 World Team Trials.
Wrestling for the 66kg weight class will be held at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday, June 14th. Sanders will have to win his first four matches in order to advance to the finals. If he advances to the finals, Sanders would face Doug Schwab, who received a bye to the finals after winning the U.S. Nationals earlier this year.
Sanders says he prefers freestyle wrestling as opposed to folkstyle wrestling in college. “It’s more exciting. There are fewer rules and there are bigger throws. I think it is a tougher style as well.”
Despite not being able to train from October to March due to a knee injury, he competed in the Northeast Olympic Regional Trials in Brockport, N.Y., in April. After winning his first five matches of the day, Sanders advanced to the finals where he defeated Desmond Green in three periods, 0-2, 1-0, 2-0, to qualify for the trials this weekend.
As a collegiate wrestler at Oklahoma State, Sanders was an All-American on the Cowboys’ 2003 NCAA championship team. He finished his career at Oklahoma State with a 78-22 record, including a 25-5 mark as a senior.
“Making the Olympic team is everyone’s dream and in wrestling this is as high as it gets,” said Sanders.
Sanders, who will compete in the 66kg (145.5 lbs) weight class in the freestyle division, is no stranger to freestyle wrestling. He earned FILA All-American honors at the 1999 Junior National Freestyle Championships and was a University Free-Style All-American in 2003. In 2005, he placed at the U.S. Open Championships and qualified for the 2005 World Team Trials.
Wrestling for the 66kg weight class will be held at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday, June 14th. Sanders will have to win his first four matches in order to advance to the finals. If he advances to the finals, Sanders would face Doug Schwab, who received a bye to the finals after winning the U.S. Nationals earlier this year.
Sanders says he prefers freestyle wrestling as opposed to folkstyle wrestling in college. “It’s more exciting. There are fewer rules and there are bigger throws. I think it is a tougher style as well.”
Despite not being able to train from October to March due to a knee injury, he competed in the Northeast Olympic Regional Trials in Brockport, N.Y., in April. After winning his first five matches of the day, Sanders advanced to the finals where he defeated Desmond Green in three periods, 0-2, 1-0, 2-0, to qualify for the trials this weekend.
As a collegiate wrestler at Oklahoma State, Sanders was an All-American on the Cowboys’ 2003 NCAA championship team. He finished his career at Oklahoma State with a 78-22 record, including a 25-5 mark as a senior.
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