Ex-Hawkeye Metcalf wins Olympic 'test'

Bre

USA Wrestling

LONDON, England - Brent Metcalf  of Iowa City, a former three-time NCAA champion for the University of  Iowa, won a gold medal at 145.5 pounds in men's freestyle at the Olympic Test Event at the ExCel Center on Sunday.

Metcalf defeated 2010 Junior World silver medalist Kotaro Tanaka of Japan in the finals, 5-0, 5-0. Metcalf was a member of the 2010 U.S. World Team, and was a 2011 World Team Trials runner-up.

Metcalf had a big semifinals win over two-time World bronze medalist Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan, 3-0, 0-1, 4-0. In his opening match, he defeated Gergo Woller of Hungary, 0-1, 5-0, 3-0.

Metcalf was named Outstanding Wrestler in the men's freestyle competition.

“Metcalf was a monster today. He nailed down his points and was down right stingy on defense. Huge improvements by him,” said National Freestyle Coach Zeke Jones.

Team USA won five medals in the competition, which included many top Olympic hopefuls from around the world.

Claiming silver medals were Angel Escobedo (Columbus, Ohio/New York AC) at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Andrew Howe (Cedar Lake, Ind./New York AC) at 74 kg/163 lbs.

Winning bronze medals were Reece Humphrey (Columbus, Ohio (New York AC) at 60 kg/132 lbs. and Dustin Kilgore (Berea, Ohio/Sunkist Kids) at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.