Pat Smith named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week
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by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
| Pat Smith gets his hand raised after winning the U.S. Senior Nationals at 71 kg. Photo: Robbert Wijtman, CSC Photography. |
Pat Smith (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm) has been selected as TheMat.com Athlete of the Week on Dec. 20, 2016.
After finishing in second place at the U.S. Senior Nationals the past three years, Smith broke through to win his first title at the national tournament.
Smith cruised through the 71 kg/165 lbs. Greco-Roman bracket at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino on Saturday, winning four bouts and outscoring his opponents by a combined 32-1 tally.
The Minnesota Storm product opened with technical fall wins over Joshua Russo of the U.S. Marines and David Prado of Northern Michigan to reach the semifinals where he downed former South Dakota State NCAA qualifier Cody Pack, 7-0. In the championship bout, Smith ran through 2015 University Nationals champion Anthonie Linares of the New York AC, 8-0.
Smith was runner-up at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. last April. He also finished in third place at the U.S. World Team Trials at 71 kg held last month in New York City, N.Y.
Most recently, Smith was a member of the New York AC squad that competed at the World Wrestling Greco-Roman Clubs Cup in Budapest, Hungary. He posted a 3-2 record at the event.
Throughout his Senior-level career, Smith has made the U.S. Open finals four times and finished in second-place at the U.S. World Team Trials twice. He is a two-time Pan American Championships gold medalist and earned a silver medal at the 2014 University World Championships.
Smith wrestled in college for coach J. Robinson at the University of Minnesota from 2009 to 2015.
He was a two-time All-American at the USA Wrestling Junior Greco-Roman Nationals held in Fargo, N.D.
Each week USA Wrestling will select an Athlete of the Week based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling from youth programs through the Senior level.
To nominate a wrestler for USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week please send the athlete’s name, wrestling program and weekly and career accomplishments to Richard Immel at rimmel@usawrestling.org.
