Aaron Brooks from Hagerstown Maryland won the Olympic Bronze medal today in Paris France for men’s freestyle wrestling against Shapiev of Uzbekistan in the 86 kilogram weight class with a 5-0 victory.
Brooks wrestled at North Hagerstown High School and was named the 2018 National High School Coaches Association Wrestler of the year and then wrestled for Penn State before joining Team USA at the Olympics.
According to Flo Wrestling, in the Bronze Medal Match “Brooks shot another blast double and drove Shapiev out for a stepout and a 5-0 lead. Brooks continued to hand fight hard and Shapiev was nowhere close to scoring” for the duration of the match with Brooks winning the Bronze Medal.
You can view his Bronze medal match here.
His career highlights at Penn State included:
“All-American as a true freshman…Was the 184-pound Big Ten Champion (2020)…Named Big Ten Freshman of the Year (2020)…Was to be the #3 seed at the 2020 NCAA Championships at 184 before the NCAA canceled the tournament… Named First Team All-American after 2020 tournament was canceled by the NCAA…2021 NCAA Champion at 184…2021 Big Ten Champion, second straight title…First-team All-Big Ten…Two-time Hodge Trophy Finalist…2022 NCAA Champion, winning second straight…2023 Big Ten Champion, winning third overall…First-team All-Big Ten…2023 NCAA Champion, winning third straight title…Four-time All-American.”
Image courtesy of NBC