BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh freshman Zach Rey will compete for a spot on the United States Olympic team this weekend as he heads to Las Vegas for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, which will be held at the Thomas and Mack Center, June 13-15. Rey is seeded seventh in the 120 kg (264.5 lb.) weight class in men’s freestyle and will have to contend with some tough competition in his quest to make the Olympic team.
Rey qualified for the trials by winning the Northeast Freestyle Regional qualifying tournament in Brockport, N.Y. in early April. At 19 years and two and a half months, Rey is the youngest of the 75 freestyle trials qualifiers across the seven international weight classes.
Competing for the Lehigh Valley Athletic Club, Rey will wrestle on Sunday as part of a seven man tournament, with the winner of the tournament facing U.S. National Champion Tommy Rowlands in a best-of-three series for the right to represent the U.S. at the Beijing Olympics in August. According to the pre-seeded brackets, Rey will face No. 2 seed Tervel Dlagnev, a two-time Division II National Champion from Nebraska-Kearney.
This past season Rey deferred his Lehigh eligibility while rehabbing from a knee injury. The Hopatcong, N.J. native returned to the mats competitively in February going 5-2 while competing unattached en route to a fourth place finish at the Edinboro Open. Rey originally came to Lehigh as a two-time New Jersey state champion and top-50 national recruit from Hopatcong High School.
Four years ago, three wrestlers with Lehigh ties competed at the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. Jon Trenge capped off his Olympic deferral year by placing fifth in the 96 kg (211.5 lb.) weight class. Former volunteer assistant coach Kerry McCoy won the heavyweight class and qualified for his second straight Olympic games. Former wrestler and volunteer coach Jason Kutz also competed but did not place after taking seventh four years prior.
The only active Lehigh wrestler to win the Olympic Trials was recent National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Weaver, who qualified for the 1980 team before the U.S. boycott of the Moscow games. Weaver returned four years later and after winning the trials went on to capture a Gold Medal at the Olympics in Los Angeles.
Action at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials begins Friday in Las Vegas with competition in women’s freestyle and men’s Greco-Roman. Rey and the men’s freestyle heavyweights will compete on Sunday.
NBCOlympics.com, in cooperation with USA Wrestling, will provide a live webcast of the Championship Series matches from the trials. Matches from the final round can be seen online on all three days of competition beginning at 8 p.m. (EDT). In addition a two-hour, tape-delayed show from the trials will be broadcast on Sunday June 22, at noon on MSNBC.
