Kyle Snyder, the best pound-for-pound wrestler on the planet and a reigning Olympic, World and NCAA champion, is one of seven finalists for this year's AAU James E. Sullivan Award, an award recognizing the nation's top amateur athlete.
He was also a finalist for the award in 2017, and was named a finalist for the 2018 award after a round of fan voting that concluded Monday. Other finalists include Olympic bronze-medal ice dancers Maia and Alex Shibutani, North Carolina basketball star Joel Berry II, women's volleyball players Kelly Hunter and Annika Albrecht, distance runner Erin Finn and para-equestrian athlete Annie Peavy.
We're excited to announce to this year's finalist class for the AAU James E. Sullivan Award presented by Eastbay! Join us in celebrating these outstanding athletes and vote for your favorite NOW through March 29 here: https://t.co/JkaGmcuJcMhttps://t.co/KLEe5lAuBq
— AAU Sports (@TheRealAAU) March 23, 2018
The AAU Sullivan Award is an annual honor presented since 1930 to the nation’s best amateur athlete. Its first recipient was golf legend Bobby Jones, and the most recent Buckeye to receive the award was running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Other past recipients include swimmers Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps, quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow and track stars Carl Lewis and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Only three wrestlers have ever won the award: John Smith in 1990, Bruce Baumgartner in 1995 and Rulon Gardner in 2000.
Snyder's official nomination, from the award's website:
An AAU James E. Sullivan Award finalist last year, Snyder was an NCAA Champion, Big Ten Champion and All-American in 2017. He earned U.S. Male Olympic Athlete of the Year honors and was crowned Ohio State Male Athlete of the Year. Snyder is the Ivan Yarygin gold medalist (97kg) and his 2017 World Championship match was dubbed “Match of the Century,” as his win gave USA Wrestling its first World Team title in 22 years.
Fans can vote for their favorite finalist once daily until 11:59 p.m., Thursday, March 29.
