Competitive Last Chance Qualifier Finalizes the Field for Olympic Team Trials

Fort Worth, Texas — Competition at the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier was fierce.

The high school standouts came out strong and didn’t let up. Sage Mortimer, a senior from Utah, absolutely upended the competition at 50 kg, winning matches over four college All-Americans—including this year’s NCAA and NAIA finalists—to earn the top spot. At 68 kg, Kennedy Blades (Sunkist Kids) and Kylie Welker (Nazar Trained) shutout everyone in their way. Welker was able to score in the finals, but Blades proved to be the top contender with another unstoppable tech, 16-6. All three high schoolers earned spots at their first Olympic Team Trials.

Nearly half of the field was college wrestlers. The 53 kg final was a battle between All-Americans Melanie Mendoza (King/NCWWC fifth at 116) and Marissa Gallegos (Colorado Mesa/NCWWC finalist at 123) with Mendoza winning 7-6 after Gallegos’ corner lost a final challenge. The match came down to a funky exchange in the final seconds. This full use of six minutes was standard for Mendoza, and a reminder that a wrestling match is a complete six minutes. In the semis she was down by six points with just over a minute left in the match—her high-c and adjustments on the finish earned her the takedown and exposure to win on criteria, but she ended the match over Victoria Smith by fall. Mendoza and Gallegos both qualified for the Olympic Team Trials.

The remainder of the college qualifiers are NCWWC finalist Ana Luciano (King/Team Tornado), NAIA finalist Charlotte Fowler (Campbellsville) and third place NCWWC All-American Marlynne Deede (Augsburg/TCRTC). Deede ended up defeating Tristan Kelly, the #1 seed, by decision 5-2. Luciano wrestled back after a loss in the quarters, revenged that loss over Figueroa in the third place match and then won true second over Alex Liles (Army/WCAP).

Michaela Beck and Xochitl Mota-Pettis are college-age wrestlers in nontraditional pathways. Beck (Sunkist Kids) is training at the Wisconsin RTC and Mota-Pettis is in Texas at Rise RTC. Beck won UWW Juniors last fall and Mota-Pettis won U23s. 2020 Senior Nationals champ Lauren Louive (NYAC) and Jackie Cataline (TMWC) are the final two qualifiers.

It was a long day of wrestling and while the top two place-winners earned their spots at the Olympic Team Trials next week, it was an absolute heartbreak tournament for others.

This cycle’s last chance may have been the most competitive during an Olympic year for women’s freestyle in the United States. 2020 dealt wrestlers a number of domestic national tournaments, but none of them were qualifying events. Even if just the champions from Senior Nationals and U23s qualified, the entire field at 57 kg would have been different. Louive and Mota-Pettis wouldn’t have been on the mat. Domestically, if an athlete didn’t place top five at Senior Nationals in 2019, the only option for a bid was this last chance event and then the spots for the NCWWC and NAIA college champions.

The way this all played out was out of the hands of several athletes and coaches in the college world. Some programs weren’t allowed to have a season (Menlo, Simon Fraser) and others missed the qualifiers or national tournaments because of Covid or contact tracing. That impacted athletes like Gracie Figueroa, Solin Piearcy, Vayle Baker and Gabby Skidmore.

Because of NAIA and NCAA progress (a good thing), top programs like Menlo, McKendree and Simon Fraser opted not to wrestle in the 2020 WCWA National Championships, which ironically ended up being the only qualifier for college women during the 2019-20 postseason. The 2020 NAIAs were canceled and the 2020 NCWWC was added after the qualifying procedures had been approved by the USOPC.

The WCWAs were also the only college opportunity for wrestlers from two-year programs to earn a spot. Esthella Trevino grabbed that opportunity at 101-pounds while wrestling at Umpqua Community College—an opportunity that she would have missed this year with a third-place finish at the NAIA National Invitational now that she wrestles for Southern Oregon. Gray’s Harbor CC sent 18 wrestlers to the last chance qualifier. 

The field set for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials is strong. And while it stings for many of the wrestles that didn’t qualify, the focus can shift to the upcoming U.S. Open and Women’s Nationals.

The U.S. Olympic Team Trials take place April 2-3 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.