Marquette, Mich.—Northern Michigan University Olympic Training Site Greco-Roman wrestler Spencer Woods finished second at the Bill Farrell Memorial held in New York City this weekend. His performance secured him the opportunity to compete in the Olympic Trials April 4-5 in University Park, Penn.
Competing at 77 kg, Woods won four straight matches, outscoring his opponents 24-6. He started the day off with a 15-4 technical fall over Alex Mossing of the U.S. Air Force. A pair of 2-1 victories followed that win – the first over teammate Thomas Brackett and the second over Corey Hope of the NYAC. In the semi-finals, Woods defeated teammate Jesse Porter 5-0, who had overpowered 2016 Olympic gold medalist Davor Sefanek of Serbia 11-1 on his path to the semi-finals. Porter finished the competition in fourth place.
In Woods' fifth and final match of the day, he lost 1-6 to Ahmed Mohamed of Egypt. Woods was the highest domestic placer in his weight class, earning the right to compete at the Olympic Trials.
Picking up a bronze medal for NMU was Sam Jones, who competed at 63 kg. Jones faced Matthew Schmitt of the West Virginia Regional Training Center in the bronze-medal match, winning by technical fall 8-0.
Woods joins teammates Dalton Roberts and Alston Nutter, as well as eight NMU alumni, who have qualified for the Olympic Trials. The next opportunity to qualify is Dec. 20-22 at the U.S. Senior Open in Fort Worth, Texas.
For more information on the NMU-OTS program, visit www.nmu.edu/ots.