By Nate Hubbard
Bristol Herald Courier
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Olympic athlete – it’s the ultimate sports fantasy.

Maybe you had your dreams of international athletic glory when you were just a tyke diving into the pool for the first time or racing your best bud across the schoolyard.

Perhaps you simply sat on your couch and marveled at the spectacle of an Olympic athlete in action and wondered what would it be like to be in their shoes?

For a dozen King University women’s wrestlers, Olympic dreams will play out in front of 15,000-plus people in Iowa next month.

Twelve competitors either currently wrestling for King or recent alums of the powerhouse Tornado program have qualified for the Olympic Trials set to be held April 9-10 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on the campus of the University of Iowa with spots on the U.S. team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the line.

“Very few people get the opportunity to actually go out and try to make that dream a reality,” said Julia Salata, a 2015 King grad who earlier this month returned to Bristol to train with the Tornado squad in the lead up to Iowa.

“Whether you’re a person who barely qualified for the Trials or you’re going in as the favorite, every single person there is that much closer to realizing a dream that millions of people have and can’t quite put together.”

Under the direction of coach Jason Moorman, King has become the top collegiate women’s wrestling program in the country, winning its third consecutive national titles in both the National Wrestling Coaches Association Duals and Women’s College Wrestling Association tournament earlier this year.

Now, the Tornado has a chance to make its biggest mark in the sport yet.

In 2012, the still-fledgling King squad – founded just in 2009 – sent six wrestlers to the Trials, with Salata placing a program-best fourth as a wide-eyed college freshman.

This time, the Olympics are within reach for a number of the King-forged competitors.

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