OPHS grad hopes to make Olympic wrestling team
Source: Florida Times-Union (Original Article)
Brad Ahearn, a 1999 Orange Park High graduate, has an opportunity to earn a spot on the United States Olympic wrestling team.
Ahearn won the 185-pound weight class in the U.S. National Senior Men & Women’s Wrestling Championships, April 24-26, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. He finished fourth in 2006 and seventh in 2007 in the same event.
The 27-year-old Ahearn, who is stationed with the U.S. Army in Colorado Springs, Co., beat Brad Vering, a returning world silver medalist, to earn the No.1 seed in Olympic Trials set for June, 13-15, at the UNLV Campus in Las Vegas.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Ahearn said. “This is a dream for me during the past several years. It’s the farthest that I’ve gotten.”
After graduating from Orange Park, Ahearn went to the Marine Corps. He was not allowed to wrestle his first two years during his time in an infantry unit. When he was able to try out, he made the team and wrestled for two years. Then he went to Central Michigan University where he wrestled for one season. Next, he enlisted in the Army in 2004 where he has been ever since.
Ahearn is a member of a unit called the World Class Athlete Program, where he trains as a wrestler for two hours twice a day.
During the trials in June, Ahearn will be the No. 1 seed. Ahearn said he could face Vering, the No. 2 seed, in the finals of the trials.
Ahearn said there is a distinct advantage of being the No. 1 seed.
“It’s like a basketball tournament,” he said. “The No. 1 seed wrestles the lowest place seed. There are only 12 guys at the trials, so in my first round match, I wrestle No. 12. My first match is the quarterfinals and the second match is the semifinals. The finals are the best two out of three, so I could wrestle four matches or possibly five.”
He will train in Colorado until shortly before the trials.
Ahearn has an advantage because he has wrestled the other BankWest Credit Cards 11 participants during his career.
“I’ve …continue reading