#GrecoMonday: Get to know the five Olympic Team Trials qualifiers from the Bill Farrell International

Photo of Alejandro Sancho by Larry Slater

This weekend, we saw five Greco-Roman wrestlers qualify for the Olympic Team Trials at the Bill Farrell International. These wrestlers were the highest medalists in their bracket that weren’t already qualified for the Trials, which will take place in State College, Pa. this April. Here’s a little background on those five Olympic hopefuls.

60 kg: Sammy Jones
Jones placed third at the Bill Farrell International behind already qualified 2019 World Team members Max Nowry and Ryan Mango. He is currently No. 3 on the National Team at 63 kg but is making the drop for the Olympic year.

Jones wrestled at Northern Michigan University and is a 2014 University World bronze medalist. He is a 2019 Dave Schultz Memorial International champion and has finished runner-up at the past two U.S. Opens. In 2016, Jones placed third at the Pan Am championships.

67 kg: Alejandro (Alex) Sancho
Sancho claimed his second-straight Bill Farrell title and third overall to punch his Olympic Team Trials ticket. He is a three-time National Team member. Last year, he missed making the National Team by one spot at 72 kg.

Back down at 67 kg, Sancho looked excellent. In his first three matches at the Bill Farrell, he earned technical falls over all three opponents including an 8-0 victory over 2006 World champion Joe Warren. In the finals, he defeated Hayanobu Shimizu of Japan, 5-1.

Sancho is the 2019 Dave Schultz Memorial International champion, a two-time U.S. Open runner-up and a 2017 U23 World Team member. Internationally, Sancho is the 2017 Grand Prix of Zagreb champion and took second at the 2016 Pan American Championships.

Another Northern Michigan University graduate, Sancho now competes for the Army’s World Class Athlete program.

77 kg: Spencer Woods
Spencer Woods was the highest placing American in his bracket, finishing second to Hassan Hassan Ahmed Mohamed of Egypt. Woods came down from 82 kg, where he competed for the majority of last year.

Woods’ best performance to date is a runner-up finish at the 2019 U.S. Open. This is demonstrative of how quickly Woods is improving, as he placed fifth in the UWW Junior division in 2018. Woods is also a graduate of Northern Michigan University.

87 kg: Chandler Rogers
Chandler Rogers is a name familiar to many of the fans that follow college wrestling. Rogers was a two-time All-American for Oklahoma State, wrestling at 165 pounds. Now competing at a weight class close to 27 pounds heavier, Rogers is still finding success. He finished third at the Bill Farrell behind former Cuban Alan Vera and Aliaksandr Kikiniou of Belarus.

Rogers placed eighth at the Cadet World Championships in 2012. He has also experienced freestyle success, taking gold at 79 kg at the 2019 Pan American Championships.

Before this tournament Rogers had been competing primarily at 82 kg, where he finished runner-up at the U23 World Team Trials and third at the U.S. Open.

Rogers is currently the Director of Operations for the Air Force Academy’s wrestling program and trains at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center and the Air Force Regional Training Center.

130 kg: Jacob Mitchell
Mitchell finished second at the Bill Farrell, falling in the finals to 2019 World Team member and 2018 World silver medalist Adam Coon. Mitchell is a member of the Army World Class Athlete Program and has been No. 3 on the National Team for the past two years.

Mitchell was the 2019 U.S. Open champion. He is a former resident athlete at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. He is a graduate of Colorado State Pueblo, where he finished runner-up at the NCAA Div. II Championships. He was also a NJCAA National champion in 2013 for Clackamas Community College.