Kasper to Compete in U.S. Olympic Trials Saturday

DURHAM, N.C.—Duke University junior Jacob Kasper will head to Iowa City this weekend as he continues to pursue his dream of qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games in Greco-Roman wrestling. Kasper is one of 11 wrestlers to qualify at 98 kg for the 2016 USA Wrestling Olympic Trials for a spot in Rio de Janeiro this summer.

Kasper, a 2015 NCAA qualifier at 184 pounds for the Blue Devils, took the second semester off from Duke to train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center Colorado Springs to work towards getting the opportunity to garner a spot on Team USA.

He secured a berth in the Olympic Trials on April 9 by grabbing the final qualifying spot with a seventh-place finish at 217 pounds in the U.S. Open in Las Vegas in December. He is ranked seventh of the eight wrestlers competing with Joe Rau, who took third at the Pan-American Championships in March, topping the list.

Kasper is the youngest of the top eight wrestlers at 98 kg and is the second youngest of the 11 qualifiers for the trials.

Kasper qualified for the 2015 NCAA Championships for Duke at 184 pounds after taking runner-up honors at the ACC Championships his sophomore campaign. A starter in each of his first two seasons, the Lexington, Ohio native finished 2014-15 with a 24-12 overall record and 10-5 mark in duals. He is 39-28 for his career.

Official U.S. Olympic Team Trials seeding per weight class is subject to change based on the coaches seeding meeting after wrestlers weigh-in in Iowa City.

The Lexington, Ohio native will be in action April 9 as two freestyle men's weights and three women's divisions compete along with four of the Greco-Roman weights. Action begins at 10 a.m. (ET) and the championship series get underway starting at 7 p.m. (ET) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

98 kg/215 pounds
Top Eight Ranking
1. Joe Rau, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm)
2. Caylor Williams, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP)
3. G'Angelo Hancock, Colorado Springs, Colo. (NYAC/OTC)
4. John Wechter, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm)
5. Orry Elor, Walnut Creek, Calif. (NYAC/NMU)
6. Marcus Finau, Ewa Beach, Hawaii (CSU Pueblo Wrestling RTC)
7. Jacob Kasper, Mansfield, Ohio (Roughhouse)
8. Daniel Miller, Camp LeJeune, N.C. (U.S. Marine Corps)

Saturday, April 9
Men's freestyle (65 kg and 125 kg)
Women's freestyle (58 kg, 63 kg and 69 kg)
Greco-Roman (59 kg, 66 kg, 85 kg and 98 kg)
8:00 a.m. – Doors open to Carver-Hawkeye Arena
9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Preliminaries through Challenge Tournament finals
5:00 p.m. – Doors open to Carver-Hawkeye Arena
6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. – Best two of three Championship Series

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