Area wrestlers to fight for chance at Olympics

It’s been four long years since Deron Winn missed his shot at the 2012 Olympics.

Winn gave up his final year of college eligibility for a shot at Olympic glory, only to miss the qualifying tournament with a knee injury.

His last chance at living the Olympic dream is at stake this weekend at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa, where the USA Wrestling Olympic Team Trails begin today.

Winn is among seven wrestlers — including former Missouri stars Alan Waters, Dom Bradley and Nick Marable — with local ties competing in the freestyle or Greco-Roman divisions.

Each wrestler, except Missouri junior and two-time national champion J’den Cox, already graduated from college and continues to compete on his own, a tougher task as many balance work and no longer have the daily oversight of a coach.

“Any of us that are still doing it, it’s because we love it and it’s what we want to do,” said Winn, a three-time state champion at Liberty and two-time junior college national champion. “This is our dream and what we want to do, so it’s not hard for us to get up and work towards our goal.”

Winn, who won USA Wrestling’s last-chance Olympic qualifier April 2, will compete in the 86-kilogram freestyle bracket along with Cox. Winn will transition to mixed martial arts after his Olympic push is finished, whether that’s this weekend or in Rio four months from now.

Waters, who wrapped up his Mizzou career last year and is working on a master’s degree, remains in Columbia. That has eased his transition into the post-college world.

“It’s more individual, but I still work with our coaches and they help me out,” said Waters, who will compete in freestyle wrestling at 57 kilograms. “A lot of it is just making sure you’re staying on top of yourself and training yourself. You don’t have as many people pushing you, so you have to push yourself a lot more.”

Bradley also returned to familiar environs. He’s a Blue Springs graduate and now works in the district as an in-school detention teacher and assistant wrestling coach.

He works out at 5:30 a.m. each morning, goes to work and then high school practice during the season.

Bradley, who is among the favorites in the 125-kilogram freestyle division and also competed at the 2012 Olympic trials, usually sticks around for another workout with Brent Haynes and sometimes lifts weights after that before the cycle renews.

“For me, it’s more about trying to prove myself,” Bradley said. “My senior year, I was ranked No. 1 heading to nationals and I finished fourth. That’s some of my motivation. I also love wrestling, so it’s fun for me. That’s probably why I still do it.”

Marable — a three-time Big 12 champion and two-time NCAA All-American, who is currently an assistant at West Virginia — will wrestle at 74 kilograms.

Unseating reigning Olympic champion and three-time world champion Jordan Burroughs, who boasts a 122-2 international record and receives a bye into the best-two-of-three final as a 2015 World Championships medalists, won’t be an easy task, but Marable is the only U.S. wrestler to defeat him.

Two Kansas City natives qualified for the Olympic Team Trials in Greco-Roman. Brian Graham, a 2006 Park Hill graduate, will wrestle at 66 kilograms and Jake Fisher, a 2002 Platte County graduate, is set to compete at 75 kilograms.

“If I get the opportunity to make the Olympic team, that’s the plan and that’s the goal,” Bradley said. “It’s awesome. If I don’t, oh well, at least I can say I wrestled in two Olympic trials and gave it my all. I put a lot of pressure on myself in 2012, but I don’t have that pressure anymore. I’ve been there before and experienced it. Now, it’s time to go out there, perform and just do what I do every day.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Area wrestlers to fight for chance at Olympics."