Daniel Dennis (born September 24, 1986) is an American former freestyle and folkstyle wrestler, who competed for the United States at 57 KG in the 2016 Olympics.

High school career

Dennis was a two-time Illinois state runner-up [1] for Grant Community High School in Fox Lake, Illinois.

College career

He wrestled collegiately for the Iowa Hawkeyes, where he was a two-time All-American,[2] including a national runner-up finish in 2010. In the 2010 NCAA finals match, Dennis gave up four points with under five seconds left to the University of Minnesota's Jayson Ness to lose the match. After his NCAA finals loss, Dennis checked out for a few years, living out of his truck and later a trailer, traveling around the Western United States while wrestling and coaching sporadically. He eventually became a coach at Windsor High School in California.[3]

Senior level career

Dennis would eventually make a return to wrestling, where he made two USA national teams (top 3 at the World Team Trials), at 61 kg in 2015 and 57 kg in 2016. He won the 2016 US Olympic Team Trials at 57 KG and competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Dennis lost his first match 11-0 to Vladimir Dubov and was eliminated after Dubov didn't reach the finals.[4][5] He has also won the University Nationals Freestyle championship, the Grand Prix of Spain, and is a two-time Northern Plains regional champion.

References

  1. ↑ Mike Hlas The Gazette More stories from Mike (2015-11-27). "> Hlas: Daniel Dennis will take some Iowa to Rio Olympics". The Gazette. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  2. ↑ "2016 US Olympic wrestling trials - Daniel Dennis goes from living in truck to reaching first Olympics". Espn.go.com. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  3. ↑ Andy Hamilton (April 10, 2016). "Ex-Hawkeye, Olympic hopeful has quite a tale to tell".
  4. ↑ "Lake County native Daniel Dennis wins Olympic spot in wrestling". Chicago Tribune. 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  5. ↑ "2016 Rio Olympic Games: Team USA wrestling qualifiers (slideshow)". cleveland.com. 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
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