Wrestlers with ties to Central Pa. win Olympic medals

ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) – Central Pennsylvania is certainly well known for its wrestling prowess and successfully showed the rest of the world on why the area has that reputation in the 2024 Olympic Games.

As of Saturday afternoon, three wrestlers with local ties won Olympic medals.

The most notable of the three is former Penn State wrestler Aaron Brooks, who won four NCAA Championships as a Nittany Lion. In the U.S. Olympic Team Trials a few months ago, Brooks shocked the wrestling world when he knocked off Tokyo Olympic gold medalist David Taylor to claim a spot on Team USA.

In Paris, Brooks defeated his first two opponents, which led him to the semifinals of the 86-kilogram bracket, where he lost to the eventual gold medalist, Magomed Ramazanov, from Bulgaria. In the bronze medal match, Brooks bounced back from his earlier loss to defeat Javrail Shapiev from Uzbekistan.

The other wrestler that placed with Nittany Lion Wrestling Club connections was Kyle Dake. The former Cornell wrestler finished with a bronze medal in back-to-back Olympic games in the 74-kilogram weight class.

Two more Nittany Lion Wrestling Club members who have a chance to leave Paris with an Olympic medal are 2016 gold medalist Kyle Snyder and Penn State product Zain Retherford.

Snyder wrestles in the bronze medal match on Sunday, while Retherford was pulled into the repechage round on Sunday after losing his opening match on Saturday morning.

Young Guns Wrestling Club , which is based out of Central Pennsylvania, had its first Olympic medal to its name as Murrysville native Spencer Lee took silver in the 57-kilogram weight class.

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Lee, who also became the club’s first Olympian, lost in the gold medal match against Japan’s Rei Higuchi.

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