IOWA CITY—Arizona State wrestling’s alumna Kelsey Campbell won the title at the women’s 58kg weight class at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials on Saturday at Hawkeye-Carver Arena.
Campbell opened the day matched up against current Sun Devil Arian Carpio, and won with a 10-0 tech fall. She followed with a win over Natalia Hinojo in a 6-0 decision, and then defeated Teshya Alo in a 4-2 decision, which put her in the best-of-three finals against NYAC’s Alli Ragan.
“I’m just really taking it all in right now,” Campbell said. “The biggest challenge for me was to not get ahead of myself, I just had to take it one match at a time. It was a really hard day and a really tough bracket, and I’m just very thankful and excited for what’s next. I have to qualify my weight class, and the first chance to do that is in Mongolia.”
In the opener against Ragan, Campbell had the edge in the 2-1 decision, and followed with another 2-1 decision in the second of three match, leaving no need for the final bout.
Now Campbell needs to qualify her weight class for this upcoming Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, over August 14-21, and has two chances to do so. The first qualifying tournament is slated for April 22-24 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and the second is over May 6-8 in Istanbul, Turkey.