Addison Trail alumna vying for spot on Olympic wrestling team

In the midst of intensive training for the 2016 Olympic Team Trials, wrestler Veronica Carlson suffered an agonizing setback.

There were two minutes left in a match last spring when the 25-year-old Addison native felt a sharp pain near her elbow.

She would later learn she ripped a ligament and broke the tip of her humerus. At the time, though, all that mattered was finishing strong.

She pushed through the pain - and won.

The injury, however, forced her off the mat for six months as she underwent surgery and then began her long recovery process.

It could have been a devastating blow for any wrestler who has spent more than a decade working toward winning a spot on the U.S. Olympic women's wrestling team, most recently with dreams of competing this summer in Rio de Janeiro.

Instead, Carlson saw her mishap morph into something positive.

"It gave me a chance to reset my mind and hone in on this year," she said. "To have a forced break in momentum really challenged me to re-evaluate my passion for the sport and why I was in it and give me that extra surge. I just felt like this injury was another way to kind of prove who I am."

Still, it was discouraging being surrounded by others who continued to train at the U.S. Olympic Complex in Colorado Springs. So, Carlson packed her bags and moved in with her boyfriend in North Carolina.

As she recovered, she focused on improving her overall well-being. When her strength slowly returned, she found a renewed passion for wrestling in an old church converted into a professional gym.

Despite being back on the mat for just a few months, Carlson on Saturday will make her second attempt in eight years to fulfill her longtime goal of being an Olympian. She will join 59 other women and more than 100 men in Iowa City to compete in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

Only six women, one for each weight class, will be named to the women's team. Carlson is vying for the sole 69 kilogram, or roughly 152 pound, spot against six other competitors and feeling hopeful about her chances.

"When you're a kid you set out with this dream and you do anything in your power to obtain it," she said. "To have it so close right now, it's almost surreal.

"I never had any doubt that I could do this. I always knew it was within me. But to have it within reach, it's a different feeling."

A growing obsession

Carlson has always been athletic. She started swimming at a young age and competed in track and field at Addison Trail High School. But it was around seventh grade when she realized her energy and fiery attitude would be best fit for wrestling.

"I was hooked from day one," she said. "I just became, I guess 'obsessed' would be the word. I put all my time and effort into the practices and being the best I could be."

As a young teen, Carlson won a United States Girls Wrestling Association championship, surprising herself with how good she was.

She started pursing a career in the sport by joining the boys wrestling team at Addison Trail and moving to Michigan before graduation to train at the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University.

"She was a very focused, dedicated student-athlete," said Lora Davies, a former track and field coach at Addison Trail. "She knew what she wanted and she was going for it."

Davies said Carlson was always very "powerful and driven." Now, she believes Carlson has her best shot yet at the making the Olympic team, with four additional years of experience under her belt.

"She has done this for a while, so she knows exactly what she needs to do to make the team," Davies said. "She's ready to perform. She has all her tools in her tool chest to get the job done."

Davies said the competition is stiff and the matches will be "truly like war." But the physicality and warrior-like mindset required to win are just a few of the many reasons Carlson loves the sport.

"It's a very empowering feeling to be able to beat someone," she said. "Once you get a taste of it, you want more."

Carlson also finds joy in the creativity involved in each match.

"Wrestling is more like an art or a dance," she said. "Each match is so different. There's never going to be a time where my wrestling looks the same, basically because it's based off other people's reactions."

A better shot

In 2012, Carlson went to the Olympic trials with great passion and high expectations that she now says were "maybe a little unrealistic."

Much has changed since then.

"I really feel these last four years have given me a lot more wisdom for the sport," Carlson said, adding that she is training "smarter," and not just exerting herself to the max every day. "I think it is important to know your body, and that's what I've been learning."

In addition, the International Olympic Committee increased the number of weight classes from four to six. Carlson said she is shorter than most of the other women in the new 69 kilogram class, but otherwise, it's an improved fit from the 63 kilogram class she fell into last time.

"I feel so much better competing because I'm not dehydrated or starved," she said. "It allows me to be my best because I don't have to cut myself down to size."

There are two top competitors on Carlson's mind in these final days leading up to the trials: her former coach and Olympic bronze medalist Randi Miller, and Women's College Wrestling Association national champion and newcomer Tamyra Mensah.

"I think I'm kind of in the middle," Carlson said. "I'm accomplished, but I'm also newer to the sport in that I haven't made an Olympics."

But she remains confident and determined, along with her supporters.

"Words cannot describe how excited I am for her," Davies said. "I'm just thrilled that she's in the trials and thrilled that she's still going after her dreams."

If she is named a 2016 Olympian, Carlson imagines she'll cry. She'll travel extensively to train and be among the top athletes in the world in Brazil this August.

It's hard for her to think about what will happen if she doesn't make the team. She might pursue mixed martial arts, or finish her college career.

Regardless, she is happy to have made it this far, and to see the sport get more recognition and grow in popularity among women. Her success, she said, is a compilation of everyone who has supported her, all the way back to her days in Addison.

"Nobody makes it by themselves," she said, "and there have been a lot of people who have really helped me to grow as a person and wrestler on this journey."