Brandon’s Grajales featured by USA Wrestling

Posted Dec 7, 2011 by Bill Ward

Updated Dec 7, 2011 at 11:58 PM

Ok, it’s probably a little early to get excited about next summer’s London Olympic Games but it’s nearly 2012 and the Tampa Bay area is going to have several athletes in the hunt for a spot on Team USA in their respective sports.

Among them is former Brandon wrestling star Eric Grajales, who is also a former winner of the Tampa Tribune’s Athlete of the Year for all sports.

Grajales, now a sophomore wrestling for Michigan, is ranked No. 3 nationally in the 149-pound weight class. He has bounced back from two losses earlier this season to win his division at the Cliff Keen Invitational on Saturday in Las Vegas.

While still at Brandon High, Grajales competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Greco-Roman wrestling, a style that, unlike freestyle, forbids holds below the waist and therefore places an emphasis on throws. Grajales seems likely to return to the trials in Greco this April but says he’s so surrounded by athletes doing folkstyle and freestyle, he’s unsure what he wil do.

To read a feature on Grajales by USA Wrestling’s Craig Sesker, please follow ths link: http://www.themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=24441