It was not easy at all, but Frank Molinaro, prevailed. 

In the most loaded bracket of the Olympic Team Trials, he was the last man standing. The Gorilla Hulk put together an incredible string of wins, which included collecting the final two championship matches after dropping the first, to win the 65kg spot. In his first match he rolled to a 14-1 technical fall win over Kellen Russell.

Then, with the odds stacked against him, he knocked off reigning World Team Member Brent Metcalf 3-3 on criteria to advance to the semifinals.

In the semis, he once again defied the odds when he came from behind to get his second straight win on criteria over Logan Stieber, 5-5. Everything was capped off with two of the gutsiest wins over Aaron Pico in the finals after losing the first match of the best-of-three series. 

It was clearly the most incredible performance of the weekend. Frank Molinaro’s impressive run to claim the 65kg spot makes him the FloWrestler of the Week.

FloWrestler of the Week Nominees:

J’Den Cox: It all started when he tweeted “86kg.......yeah I can make that. #olympictrials,” and now he claimed the spot. Cox kept his NCAA championship momentum going as he defeated Clayton Foster, Jake Herbert, Keith Gavin and Kyle Dake in the finals to claim the spot. 

Daniel Dennis: He said he wanted to dethrone Tony Ramos and that’s exactly what he did. He put together a great run en route to the finals, but it was his domination of his fellow HWC team member, Ramos, in the finals to take the 57kg spot.

Jesse Thielke: His choice to take an Olympic redshirt paid off. Thielke cleared the field and finished it off with 8-4 and 10-0 victories over Ildar Hafizov in the finals. His biggest win of the tournament, outside the finals, came when he defeated Spencer Mango by 8-0 technical fall in the semis.

Haley Augello: Made her way to the finals after edging reigning World Team member Alyssa Lampe in the semifinals before defeated Victorie Anthony two match to one in the finals to become the 48kg representative. 

Ben Provisor: Made his second Olympic Team in grand fashion as he pinned Jake Clark to get the series-clinching win in the finals to claim the 85kg spot at the OTT. Provisor defeated World Team members Patrick Martinez and Jordan Holm on his way to the finals.