Hildebrandt and Alirez selected as USA Wrestling Co-Athletes of the Week

Photo of Hildebrandt by Geoff Riccio. Photo of Alirez by Jim Thrall.

Sarah Hildebrandt (Colorado Springs, Colo./NYAC) and Andrew Alirez (Greeley, Colo./Univ. of Northern Colorado) have been selected as USA Wrestling Co-Athletes of the Week on Oct. 14, 2020.

Both athletes turned in championship performances at last weekend’s U.S. Senior Nationals in Coralville, Iowa. Hildebrandt won the women’s freestyle division Outstanding Wrestler, while Alirez took home the men’s freestyle division OW award.

Hildebrandt, a 2017 World silver medalist, went 4-0 at the event at 50 kg, outscoring her opponents 38-0. In the semifinals, she dominated 2018 Cadet World champion and Youth Olympic Games gold medalist Emily Shilson in the semifinals, 10-0, to move on to the finals, where she took out National Team member Amy Fearnside for the title, 8-0.

As the No. 9 seed in a loaded 65 kg bracket, Alirez stunned the field, collecting four wins over seeded wrestlers. Alirez opened his tournament with back-to-back technical falls. In the next three rounds, he defeated 2017 Junior World silver medalist and No. 8 Mitch McKee, 2017 U23 World bronze medalist and No. 1 Joey McKenna and No. 14 Yahya Thomas, respectively, to advance to the finals. For the title, Alirez shut down No. 3 Evan Henderson, an All-American for North Carolina, 5-1.

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. Twitter fan votes also play a part in decision.

To nominate a wrestler for this honor please send the athlete's name, wrestling program, weekly accomplishments and career accolades to USA Wrestling Manager of Communications Taylor Miller at tmiller@usawrestling.org.