Woods advances to finals in NYC, earns trip to Olympic Trials
Spencer Woods
Next stop for Spencer Woods of Shungnak will be the Olympic Trials.
The Greco-Roman wrestler won a silver medal at 170 pounds at the Bill Farrell Memorial in New York City, securing his bid to the Olympic Trials after finishing as the top American at his weight.
Woods, of Kotzebue High fame, lost the final 6-1 to Ahmed Mohamed of Egypt for his only loss in five matches.
Woods is a former standout at the University of Maryland who now trains at the Northern Michigan University Olympic Training Site.
He will compete at the Olympic Trials April 4-5 in University Park, Pennsylvania.
His road to qualifying didn’t come easy, even though Woods made it look such.
He won four matches by a combined 24-6 score, including a 5-0 win over teammate Jesse Porter in the semifinals.
Earlier this month, Woods won a gold medal at the Malar Cupen in Sweden. The 2019 U.S. Open runnerup finished with a 5-0 record, beating 2019 European Cadet bronze medalist Simon Borkenhagen of Sweden in the final.