Five DIII wrestlers compete in Olympic Trials

Five former Division III wrestlers competed in Greco-Roman at the 2024 Olympic Trials held this past weekend at Penn State. 2013 NCAA Champion Joe Rau was the top finisher, winning his weight class and earning a spot in the Olympic Games this summer. Read more about Rau’s tournament here. Four other DIII wrestlers competed alongside Rau at the event including those listed below.

60kg – Brady Koontz, University of Dubuque – Koontz wrestled for Team USA in the 2023 World Championships down at 55kg, but he moved up to the Olympic weight of 60kg this past weekend. He lost both his two matches 4-2 and 5-2. Koontz finished up his college career this past season with a 5th place finish at the Lower Midwest regional and placed 7th at the 2023 NCAA tournament. He had transferred to Dubuque from Ohio State.

87kg – Ryan Epps, Augsburg University – Epps opened his tournament with a 5-3 victory before falling to top seeded Mahmoud Sebie in the quarterfinals. He did not return for the consolation bouts. Epps was a two-time NCAA champion for Augsburg and was seeded second at the canceled 2020 championships.

87kg – Richard Carlson, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse – Carlson was the #2 seed at 87kg. His opening match came against Payton Jacobson. Jacobson won 4-0 and then went on to win the whole thing and earn a spot on the 2024 Olympic team. Carlson did not compete on the back side. He was a two-time All-American finishing 6th in 2015 and 5th in 2017.

130kg – Donny Longendyke, Augsburg University – Longendyke was the 4th seed and opened his tournament with a 5-3 win over the 5th seed Jeremiah Imonode. He fell 9-0 to the eventual champion Adam Coon but bounced back to win 9-0 in the consolation finals, also against Imonode. That put him in a true third match with Aden Attao, but he came up on the short end of a 4-2 decision. His fourth place finish puts Longendyke on the national team.