RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — 5PM has learned that Multi-time US National Team member and World Team Trials finalist Jon Anderson (Army/WCAP) will no longer be competing in the 2019 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, slated to begin tomorrow morning from the William Neal Reynolds Coliseum here in Raleigh.
Anderson, a Major in the United States Army, was seen as a serious contender in a crowded 87-kilogram class that also features two-time Olympian Ben Provisor (NYAC/NLWC) and reigning World Team member Patrick Martinez (NYAC).
The popular WCAP wrestler is heading to Fort Knox, Kentucky to help run Cadet Summer Training on an assignment that will take him from June to August, eliminating his availability to compete at the Final X Series if he were to win the Challenge Tournament on Saturday.
Earlier this year, Anderson returned to competition at the Dave Schultz Memorial after serving on a near year-long deployment in Afghanistan that held him out of the ‘18 Trials in Tulsa. He placed second to former Cuba representative Alan Vera, and in his next time out a month later, dropped down a weight class for the Armed Forces Championships, eventually finishing with a silver.
On Wednesday afternoon, Anderson was more optimistic than he was disappointed to miss his second Trials tournament in a row. Those familiar with his approach to the relationship between his careers as both a soldier leader and elite Greco-Roman athlete will not be surprised to learn that he is facing this development with a full head of steam as he looks forward to achieving bigger things down the road.
“The Army calls and I’ve got to answer,” Anderson said. “I’ll come back in August and start training again to get back on the path towards 2020.”
More on Anderson’s next mission and how he plans on making the push to the Tokyo Olympics will be discussed with the man himself on the post-Trials episode of the Five Point Move Podcast.
Listen to “5PM23: World Team Trials Challenge Tournament Preview” on Spreaker.
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