Aaron Brooks (wrestler) facts for kids

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Aaron Brooks

Personal information
Born	(2000-06-15) June 15, 2000 (age 23) Hagerstown, Maryland, U.S.
Residence	State College, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Weight	184 lb (83 kg)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Wrestling
Event(s)	Freestyle and Folkstyle
College team	Nittany Lions
Club	Nittany Lion Wrestling Club
Coached by	Cael Sanderson
Medal record Men's freestyle wrestling Representing the  United States World U23 Championships Gold 2023 Tirana 86 kg Junior World Championships Silver 2018 Trnava 79 kg Cadet World Championships Gold 2017 Athens 76 kg Collegiate Wrestling Representing the Penn State Nittany Lions NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Gold 2021 St. Louis 184 lb Gold 2022 Detroit 184 lb Gold 2023 Tulsa 184 lb Big Ten Championships Gold 2020 Piscataway 184 lb Gold 2021 State College 184 lb Silver 2022 Lincoln 184 lb Gold 2023 Ann Arbor 184 lb

Aaron Brooks (born June 15, 2000) is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes internationally at 86 kilograms and collegiately at 184 pounds. In freestyle, he is a Cadet World Champion and Junior World Championship silver medalist. As a collegiate wrestler, Brooks is a three-time NCAA champion and a three-time B1G Conference champion out of the Pennsylvania State University. As of May 25, 2022, Brooks is the top-ranked 184-pound NCAA wrestler in the country as per Intermat.

Folkstyle career

High school

Brooks was born in Hagerstown, Maryland and attended North Hagerstown High School. As a freshman ('14-'15), he won his first MPSSAA title and also won the NHSCA Freshman National championship, both at 126 pounds. As a sophomore (15'-16'), he bumped up to 138 pounds and repeated last year's results as he became a two-time Maryland state champion and won the NHSCA Sophomore National championship. As a junior (16'-17'), he once again bulked up now to 152 pounds and became a three-time state and national champion. As a senior (17'-18'), he became just the seventh wrestler to ever win four NHSCA National championships and also the seventh wrestler to win four MPSSAA titles. He compiled an overall record of 163 wins and just two losses (45–1, 43–1, 46–0 and 22–0).

College

In early February 2018, Brooks committed to Cael Sanderson and the Penn State Nittany Lions as the number one recruit in the country. After focusing on freestyle during the 2018–19 season, Brooks arrived to Pennsylvania State University.

2019–20

Brooks started the season as a redshirt athlete at 184 pounds and compiled 3 wins and no losses during a Mat-Town Open title run before getting his redshirt pulled in December and becoming the starter of the team. After getting four more convincing victories in different dual meets, Brooks was downed by Nebraska's Taylor Venz in his first and only setback of the season, as he continued to get his hand raised in five more meetings before the regular season's end. In the post-season, he competed at the Big Ten Conference championships, where he major'd the Gopher Owen Webster in the opening round and avenged his only collegiate loss to date with a fall over Venz in the next round. In the tournament's final, Brooks took out Michigan State's Cameron Caffey with a 3-2 decision to claim the Conference championship. Brooks was then scheduled to compete at the 2020 NCAA Championships, however, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the season, he earned All-American honors due to his performance through the year and was also named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

2020–21

In October 2020, the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to winter athletes due to the last season being cut short. Competing as a sophomore, Brooks compiled an undefeated 6–0 record during regular season. To start the post-season, Brooks claimed his second straight Big Ten Conference title, defeating Nelson Brands from Iowa, John Poznanski from Rutgers and Taylor Venz from Nebraska. On March 20, Brooks claimed the NCAA title for the Nittany Lions after going 5–0 at the tournament.

Freestyle career

Cadet & Junior level

Brooks excelled in freestyle at the cadet level, winning his first Fargo National title in 2016, as well as the Greco-Roman one. In 2017, he went on to compete at the UWW Cadet Nationals, a qualifier for the Cadet World Championships. After making the finals, Brooks was downed twice by Travis Wittlake, ending as an alternate for the World Team. However, it was then reported that Wittlake had suffered an injury and Brooks replaced him. In between, he once again won Fargo but now in the junior level, At the World Championships, Brooks outscored his opponents by a total of 57 points to 14 and claimed the World title.

In 2018, Brooks competed at the US Open (junior level) in April. He outscored his five opponents 53 points to 7 and claimed the championship. In May, he won the best-of-three for the World Team Trials. At the World Championships, he reached the finals of the tournament with victories by technical fall, points and disqualification. He lost the finale to Hayato Ishiguro in a back-and-forth 10–11 match, claiming the silver medal.

After graduating in 17'-18', Brooks spent the entire 18'-19' season at the US Olympic Training Center, sharpening his freestyle abilities. During 2019, he made his third age-group World Team, winning the US Open and then the WTT, just like last year. Despite high expectations, Brooks went out early in the opening round as he fell 3–5 to Abubakr Abakerov.

Senior level

2019

During his time at the OTC, Brooks made his senior level debut on January, at the Dave Schultz Memorial International. He completely dominated both of his matches, pinning Stacey Davis and tech'ing Nate Jackson, a class of '17 collegiate graduate and former two-time NCAA Division I All-American, 13 points to 0.

Brooks came back in December at the US Senior Nationals. After reaching the semifinals of the tournament, he was downed by two-time NCAA Division I champion and eventual winner of the championship Zahid Valencia, 0 points to 6. He then lost his match at the consolation semifinals to graduated Gopher and two-time DI All-American Brett Pfarr. In the fifth place match, he got teched by Samuel Brooks, whom he had defeated earlier in the tournament, placing sixth. He was one place away from qualifying for the US Olympic Trials.

2020

Brooks was scheduled to come back into the freestyle scene against Brett Pfarr on October 20, at the NLWC II. However, Brooks was dropped out of the card of undisclosed reasons and replaced by Jaime Espinal.

Brooks competed at the rescheduled US Olympic Team Trials in April 2, in an attempt to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Brooks went 2–2 at the tournament.

Freestyle record

Senior Freestyle Matches
Res.	Record	Opponent	Score	Date	Event	Location
2020 US Olympic Team Trials DNP at 86 kg
Loss	7–5	Pat Downey	TF 0–11	April 2–3, 2021	2020 US Olympic Team Trials	Fort Worth, Texas
Win	7–4	Sammy Brooks	6–3
Loss	6–4	Zahid Valencia	3–6
Win	6–3	Nate Jackson	3–0
2019 US Nationals 6th at 86 kg
Loss	5–3	Sammy Brooks	TF 0-10	December 20–22, 2019	2019 Senior Nationals - US Olympic Trials Qualifier	Fort Worth, Texas
Loss	5–2	Brett Pfarr	5-5
Loss	5–1	Zahid Valencia	0-6
Win	5–0	Sammy Brooks	15-9
Win	4–0	Max Dean	10-7
Win	3–0	Matthew Alejandro	TF 10-0
2019 Dave Schultz M. International 1 at 79 kg
Win	2–0	Nate Jackson	TF 13-0	January 24–26, 2019	2019 Dave Schultz Memorial International	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Win	1–0	Stacey Davis	Fall

NCAA record

NCAA Division I Record
Res.	Record	Opponent	Score	Date	Event
2022 NCAA Championships 1 at 184 lbs
Win	50–2	Myles Amine	5-3	March 18–20, 2021	2022 NCAA Division I National Championships
Win	49–2	Trent Hidlay	6–4(sv)
Win	48–2	Kaleb Romero	13-2
Win	47–2	Hunter Bolen	9-1
Win	46–2	A.J. Burkhart	21-7
2022 Big Ten Conference 2 at 184 lbs
Loss	45–2	Myles Amine	4-6 (sv)	March 5–6, 2021	2022 Big Ten Conference Championships
Win	45–1	Taylor Venz	7-2
Win	44–1	Kyle Cochran	Fall
Win	43–1	Taylor Venz	23-8	January 16, 2022	Penn State - Nebraska Dual
Win	42–1	Rocky Jordan	Fall	February 4, 2022	Penn State - Ohio State Dual
Win	41–1	Abe Assad	8-3	January 28, 2022	Penn State - Iowa Dual
Win	40–1	Layne Malczewski	4-0	January 23, 2022	Penn State - Michigan State Dual
Win	39–1	Myles Amine	3-1	January 21, 2022	Penn State - Michigan Dual
Win	38–1	John Poznanski	10-2	January 16, 2022	Penn State - Rutgers Dual
Win	37–1	D.J. Washington	13-4	January 9, 2022	Penn State - Indiana Dual
Win	36–1	Kyle Cochran	19-7	January 7, 2022	Penn State - Maryland Dual
Win	35–1	Josh Nummer	Fall	December 21, 2021	Penn State - Arizona State Dual
Win	34–1	Jonathan Loew	15-3	December 20, 2021	Penn State - Cornell Dual
Win	33–1	Parker Keckeisen	3-2	December 20, 2021	Penn State - Northern Iowa Dual
Win	32–1	Brad Laughlin	21-7	November 18, 2021	Penn State - Army Dual
Win	31–1	Jackson McKinney	Fall	November 13, 2021	Penn State - Oregon State Dual
Win	30–1	Joe Accousti	23-8	November 13, 2021	Penn State - Sacred Heart Dual
Start of 2021-2022 Season (Junior year)
End of 2020-2021 Season (Sophomore year)
2021 NCAA Championships 1 at 184 lbs
Win	29–1	Trent Hidlay	3–2	March 18–20, 2021	2021 NCAA Division I National Championships
Win	28–1	Parker Keckeisen	6–4
Win	27–1	Taylor Venz	9–4
Win	26–1	Owen Webster	5–0
Win	25–1	Jha'quan Anderson	TF 17–1
2021 Big Ten Conference 1 at 184 lbs
Win	24–1	Taylor Venz	10–5	March 6–7, 2021	2021 Big Ten Conference Championships
Win	23–1	John Poznanski	MD 10–2
Win	22–1	Nelson Brands	14–8
Win	21–1	Kyle Cochran	MD 18–5	February 21, 2021	Maryland - Penn State Dual
Win	20–1	Rocky Jordan	MD 13–4	February 19, 2021	Penn State - Ohio State Dual
Win	19–1	Jaden Bullock	10–5	February 14, 2021	Penn State - Michigan Dual
Win	18–1	Chris Weiler	MD 12–3	February 2, 2021	Penn State - Northwestern Dual
Win	17–1	Jack Jessen	TF 21–6	January 30, 2021	Penn State - Northwestern Dual
Win	16–1	Drayton Harris	MD 18–5		American - Penn State Dual
Start of 2020-2021 Season (sophomore year)
End of 2019-2020 Season (freshman year)
2020 NCAA's Cancelled (COVID-19)
2020 Big Ten Conference 1 at 184 lbs
Win	15–1	Cameron Caffey	3–2	March 7–8, 2020	2020 Big Ten Conference Championships
Win	14–1	Taylor Venz	Fall
Win	13–1	Owen Webster	MD 15–4
Win	12–1	Tanner Harvey	8–5	February 23, 2020	American - Penn State Dual
Win	11–1	Rocky Jordan	MD 15–4	February 15, 2020	Ohio State - Penn State Dual
Win	10–1	Owen Webster	MD 13–3	February 9, 2020	Penn State - Minnesota Dual
Win	9–1	Johnny Sebastian	3–2	February 7, 2020	Penn State - Wisconsin Dual
Win	8–1	Abe Assad	7–3	January 31, 2020	Penn State - Iowa Dual
Loss	7–1	Taylor Venz	5–9	January 24, 2020	Penn State - Nebraska Dual
Win	7–0	Billy Janzer	Fall	January 19, 2020	Rutgers - Penn State Dual
Win	6–0	Zach Braunagel	9–4	January 10, 2020	Illinois - Penn State Dual
Win	5–0	Jesse Quatse	TF 19–4	December 8, 2019	Pennsylvania - Penn State Dual
Win	4–0	Chris Weiller	10–5	December 6, 2019	Penn State - Lehigh Dual
2019 Mat-Town Open I 1 at 184 lbs
Win	3–0	Kyle Myers	Fall	December 1, 2019	2019 Mat-Town Open I
Win	2–0	Jared McGill	11–5
Win	1–0	Kyle Inlander	7–4
Start of 2019-2020 Season (freshman year)

Stats

Stats

Personal life

Brooks is a Christian. He has three brothers and one sister.