Photo By Stephen Roughton | Cadet 2nd Class Patrick Hoopes qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in gymnastics....... read more read more
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U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Four U.S. Air Force Academy cadets advanced one step closer to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris in their individual sports. Cadet 2nd Class Tommy Nagle, Cadet 3rd Class Texas Tanner and Cadet 2nd Class Patrick Hoopes qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in swimming, track and field, and gymnastics in June. 2nd Lt. (then-Cadet 1st Class) Wyatt Hendrickson competed in the Olympic wrestling trials in April.
Participation in athletics fosters initiative, teamwork and the will to win – attributes critical to the development of cadets into leaders of character. All cadets are required to participate in the athletic program. In addition to physical education courses and the required fitness tests, every cadet participates in competitive sports by playing on an intercollegiate or intramural team. Indeed, the Academy is home to 27 different men’s and women’s Division I NCAA teams.
Since Nagle started swimming competitively while growing up in Tampa, Florida, the possibility of making the Olympics has been his dream. During his junior season with the Academy Men’s Swimming and Diving, Nagle recorded the fourth-best time in program history with a third-place finish in the 100 and 200-meter breaststroke at the Western Athletic Conference Championships. This year, he earned the program’s fourth-fastest finish in the 100-meter breaststroke at the same event.
He qualified for the Olympic trials during a meet at the University of Texas at Austin in May. “It’s something every swimmer dreams about when they’re young,” Nagle said. “You watch those swimmers in the Olympics, and you look up to them. They’re your role models. It’s been something in the back of my mind since I was 6 years old. To have that moment of celebration with my team was something I had been working toward for years.”
2nd Lt. Wen Zhang, Class of 2023, also qualified for the trials.
Tanner qualified for the hammer throw trials during his sophomore season even though he only began competing in the event two years ago. During his freshman year on the Academy Track and Field Team in 2022-23, Tanner debuted on the program’s top 10 in three events. He also set Academy freshman class records in the shot put and hammer throw at the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships.
Tanner qualified for the trials during a meet in Boulder, Colorado, April 5. He broke the Academy record with a 69.78-meter throw on his first attempt. Four throws later, Tanner set the conference record with a 72.36-meter throw that also put him in the trials.
“Something started to click, and I was throwing pretty far,” Tanner said. “I was throwing 65 or 66 meters and had one close to 70. At that point, I felt I would have a pretty good shot. I put my nose down, kept practicing and getting better. When the opportunity came, I performed, and now I’m here.”
2nd Lts. Sam Gilman and Ryan Johnson, Class of ’23, Cadet 1st Class Darek Hackett also will compete in the the track and field trials.
Hendrickson and his co-captain Sam Wolf led the wrestling team to two of the best performances at the Big 12 and NCAA Championships in Academy history. During his sophomore season, Hendrickson compiled a 26-2 record and ranked as high as fifth nationally in the heavyweight division. He followed with a 31-2 record as a junior and was named the NCAA’s Most Dominant Wrestler for the second consecutive year.
Despite an injury-marred senior season, Hendrickson finished his Academy wrestling career as a two-time All-American and Big 12 champion with 104 wins. In March, Hendrickson qualified for the Olympic trials in the 125-kilogram division.
Hendrickson attributes much of the credit to his success to his coaches and teammates, along with access to some of the world’s best wrestlers at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center.
“It’s really the unity of the team,” Hendrickson said. “We call ourselves ‘the band of birds.’ We are a tight-knit group. You are a part of the band of birds forever. Having that team environment meant a lot to me. It was a big push for me in wanting to be the best I could be, not just for me but for my team and my brothers.”
During his junior season with Academy men’s gymnastics, Hoopes earned a spot on the U.S. National Team with a second-place finish at the 2024 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, June 2. The Levi, Utah, native set the Academy record on the pommel horse against the U.S. Naval Academy and Stanford University during his All-American sophomore season in 2023. As a freshman, Hoopes scored career-high marks on the pommel, parallel bars and high bar at the Rocky Mountain Open.
Additionally, Hoopes is the first Academy men’s gymnast to win an individual NCAA national title after claiming gold on the pommel horse.
| Date Taken: | 06.17.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 06.24.2024 14:40 |
| Story ID: | 474696 |
| Location: | U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 82 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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