Penn State freestyle wrestlers put on a show during Olympic Trials challenge tournament

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As Aaron Brooks celebrated on Mat 2 on Friday night, a familiar chant broke out inside the Bryce Jordan Center.

You know the one.

The first voice came from one end of the arena.

We Are …

And those clad in blue and white responded.

… Penn State!

Brooks, a four-time NCAA champion for Penn State, egged the crowd on. His 7-6 win over Zahid Valencia in the men’s freestyle challenge tournament finals was the exclamation point on a night when Pennsylvania wrestlers — specifically those associated with Penn State and the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club — put on a performance to remember here at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Wrestling.

The best-of-three championship finals are set for Saturday, and of the 12 finalists in men’s freestyle, eight are either from Pennsylvania, wrestled at Penn State, or currently train with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.

At 57 kilograms, Spencer Lee, from Murrysville, Penn., will face Thomas Gilman, competes for NLWC. At 97 kilos, Kyle Snyder, another NLWC member, is already in the best-of-three finals by virtue of winning a bronze medal at last year’s world championships.

At 65 kilos, it’s an all-Penn State final, between Nick Lee, a two-time NCAA champ for Penn State, and Zain Retherford, a three-timer and Hodge Trophy winner. At 86 kilos, it’s another, between Brooks and David Taylor, the reigning Olympic gold medalist who won a pair of national titles for the Nittany Lions back in 2012 and 2014.

At 74 kilos, Jason Nolf, a three-timer for Penn State who’s yet to crack a U.S. world or Olympic team, took out six-time world champ and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs, 3-0. On Saturday, he’ll face Kyle Dake, a four-time world champ and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist who went to Cornell but competes for … NLWC.

Those associated with Penn State and NLWC routinely brought the fans inside BJC to their feet throughout the day. When the day began, there were 20 men’s freestyle wrestlers, out of 69 total entrants, who either went to Penn State or currently train with the NLWC. There were 28 of the 69 who are from the state of Pennsylvania.

Now as many as five could represent the United States at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this summer. Brooks’ finals series against Taylor ensures the 86 kg representative will be a Penn State alum. They met at Final X last year, with Taylor sweeping the series, 6-0 and 5-4.

Taylor went on to win a world title, the third of his illustrious career. On Saturday night, he’ll try to make his second Olympic team — and to do it, he’ll have to fend off another hard-charging youngster who came from the same program he did. Either way, Penn State wins.

Here’s a quick weight-by-weight rundown of what happened on Friday night:

57 kg — It’ll be a battle between two former Hawkeye wrestlers for the spot at 57. Spencer Lee, a three-time NCAA champ for Iowa, topped both Nico Megaludis, 8-0, and returning world-teamer Zane Richards, 13-6, to reach the finals while Gilman, a three-time world medalist and Olympic bronze medalist after finishing his own Iowa career as a three-time All-American, beat both Jax Forrest, 5-4, and Daton Fix, 6-0.

65 kg — An all-Iowa final at one weight, and an all-Penn State final at the next. Nick Lee and Zain Retherford navigated one of the deepest weights in this tournament to meet in the best-of-three finals for the Olympic spot. Lee topped Andrew Alirez in a thrilling 11-9 bout while Retherford stopped the red-hot Jesse Mendez, 3-2. Lee and Retherford were both on the 2017-18 Penn State team that won the national team title.

74 kg — Jason Nolf took a stunning 3-0 decision over Jordan Burroughs in the challenge tournament finals, scoring a passivity point in the first period and a takedown off a double leg immediately in the second. He spent the rest of the match evading Burroughs’ advances and advanced to the best-of-three finals against Kyle Dake, his Nittany Lion WC teammate. Burroughs had beaten two previous Penn State wrestlers in Alex Facundo, 5-3, and Mitchell Mesenbrink, 8-3, to reach the challenge finals, while Nolf took down Alex Marinelli, 7-2, and Jarrett Jacques, 9-2.

86 kg — Brooks held serve as the top seed, beating Connor Mirasola, 11-5; Alex Dieringer, 8-4; and Zahid Valencia, 7-6, to reach the best-of-three finals. He had to rally to win each one: he trailed Mirasola 2-1 two minutes into the first period; trailed Dieringer, 4-0, after the first period; and trailed 6-6 on criteria to Valencia before scoring in the final seconds to prevail. Now he’s got returning Olympic gold medalist David Taylor — yep, another all-Penn State final — on Saturday.

97 kg — J’den Cox became the first wrestler to retire at these Trials, leaving his shoes in the center of Mat 2 following his 2-2 loss to Kollin Moore in the challenge semifinals. He caps his sensational career as a three-time NCAA champion, a two-time world champ, five-time world medalist, and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist. Salute to one of the best. Moore went on to face Isaac Trumble in the challenge finals. Trumble rallied from down 4-0 to win 6-4 over Jay Aiello in the semifinals, then steamrolled Moore, 11-1, to advance to Saturday’s best-of-three finals against Kyle Snyder.

125 kg — The seeds held at heavyweight, with Hayden Zillmer topping Nick Gwiazdowski, 5-1, in the challenge tournament finals. Zillmer took out Dom Bradley, 5-0, in one semifinal while Gwiazdowski toppled Greg Kerkvliet, 5-1, in the other. In the challenge finals, Zillmer scored four points in the last 35 seconds to prevail.