Mark Hall and David McFadden travel to Las Vegas this weekend to compete in the US Senior Nationals at the prestigious 2022 US Open. A multi-divisional event, the US Open features several tournaments in one as different age groups and styles compete throughout the weekend.

In addition to Hall and McFadden, the PRTC will have five athletes competing in the Senior Freestyle division and one athlete competing in the Senior Greco-Roman division. Competing in U20 Freestyle, there will be six athletes representing the PRTC and one in U20 Greco-Roman. Including coaches, the PRTC will have a total of twenty members traveling to the “City of Lights”

The top 7 place-winners at the Senior Nationals qualify for the upcoming World Team Trials. As the 2021 National Champion at 86kg, Hall is looking to repeat. He is the number one seed heading into competition beginning on Friday morning. After a successful training cycle that featured visits from other RTCs and members of the French and Canadian National team, Hall is prepared to compete at a high level.

“I’m ready”, says Hall. “Our team has worked hard and we’re excited to compete!”

McFadden, a U23 National Champion in 2020, is looking to make the podium at 79kg. He’ll be joined by former U20 National Champion and Drexel student-athlete Mickey O’Malley. The two are seeded 7th and 6th respectively. Placing and making it to the World Team Trials will give both an opportunity to compete for a chance to wrestle the PRTC’s Jordan Burroughs for a spot on the 2022 World Team. Burroughs, the returning World Champion at 79kg, holds the spot at Final X which will be held on June 8th in New York City.

Also competing at the Senior Nationals in freestyle will be Doug Zapf(70kg), Nick Incontrera(79kg), John Stout(86kg), and Drexel assistant coach CJ LaFragola(86kg). Jake Hendricks(82kg) will wrestle in the Senior Greco-Roman division for the PRTC.

In the U20 Freestyle division, Kelly Dunnigan(61kg), Kyle Hauserman(65kg), Aboubakare Diaby(74kg), Tate Nichter(74kg), John Janda(79kg), and Josh LaBarbera(86kg) all take the mat representing the PRTC team. LaBarbera will pull double duty competing at 87kg in the U20 Greco-Roman division.

It will take a full effort from all to bring home some hardware from this high level tournament. National Championships and All-American statuses are all within reach in Vegas for the PRTC crew.

PRTC Executive Director and Head Coach Brandon Slay will be joined by an experienced coaching staff to help him guide his athletes throughout the weekend. Roger Reina and Matt Azevedo from Penn and Drexel respectively will be in the corners along with their assistants Bryan Pearsall and Scotty Parker. PRTC Senior Athlete Richard Perry is also making the trip to assist with coaching duties.

All matches will be streamed live on Flowrestling. The tournament schedules can be found here. Competition begins Friday morning at 10am.

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