{"id":372925,"date":"2022-07-25T06:06:19","date_gmt":"2022-07-24T20:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=372925"},"modified":"2022-07-25T06:06:19","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T20:06:19","slug":"aden-attao-completes-triple-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/aden-attao-completes-triple-crown\/","title":{"rendered":"Aden Attao completes triple crown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Aden Attao proudly holds his freestyle and Greco-Roman championship plaques from the 2022 USMC Wrestling Nationals last Friday (Saturday on Saipan) in Fargo, North Dakota. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aden Attao completed a triple crown in junior wrestling after winning gold in the 2022 USMC Junior Greco-Roman Nationals last Friday (Saturday on Saipan) in Fargo, North Dakota.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old grandson of Jesus and Ramona Attao of Saipan defeated Sebastian Lopez of Kansas in the finals of the weightlifting division (285 lbs) to earn the coveted triple crown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To complete a triple crown, a wrestler must win a folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman national championship in the same calendar year, according to USA Wrestling.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmazing. It\u2019s great just knowing that all of the hard work and years I put into this sport is all paying off,\u201d said Attao, who resides in Boise, Idaho.
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Aden Attao joins other weight class winners of this past weekend\u2019s 2022 USMC Greco-Roman Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

He celebrated the triple crown by only doing a backflip, which in itself was already impressive without even considering he weighs around 285 lbs.<\/p>\n

USA Wrestling reported that Attao was spectacular in the championship round, scoring an 8-0 technical fall over Lopez. He scored a four-point throw, then scored a pair of front headlock turns from par terre to end the match in the first period.<\/p>\n

After winning the medal in freestyle wrestling earlier in the week, Attao said his focus continues to be to complete the\u00a0 triple crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust having fun doing what I love…I didn\u2019t celebrate much because I was so exhausted, and I did what I came to do so I didn\u2019t celebrate much\u2026I beat a lot of really good kids, and multiple kids who were ranked on my way to gold, just had to trust in my coaches and training to be able to beat those good kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that his success so far this year is attributed to his continued dedication to the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy training and trusting in the process and believing in my family and coaches\u2026It was difficult to train during COVID-19 but my coaches gave me equipment to use and gave me workout plans so I was able to keep training and working during COVID-19,\u201d said Attao.<\/p>\n

His family on Saipan said they\u2019re truly proud of the wrestling prodigy\u2019s historic triple crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a nephew who wrestled in North Idaho. And there was a tournament in southern Idaho where my sister saw an \u2018Attao\u2019 on the bracket (different class). Attao is a very small family\u2014we are all related. So I asked around and found out that he is Jesse\u2019s son! So since then, I would keep track of his journey! Always so exciting to witness young athletes get so passionate about their sport and just continue to put hard work in! Hard work definitely pays off,\u201d said Catherine Attao-Toves, an executive at TanHoldings.<\/p>\n

Northern Marianas College chief financial officer David Attao is also quite proud of Aden\u2019s success in the biggest stage of junior wrestling.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonored to see individuals of NMI descent compete in and succeed in events they love! What is more exciting is that the world and national champion is an Attao. Aden is probably the first NMI descent to be a junior world champion, the first to be a national champion, the first to be a triple crown champion, one of the first to possibly represent Team USA on the world stage and internationally and more. Being proud is an understatement.\u00a0 So happy for him, his parents, grandparents, and entire family\/friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The son of Jesse Attao and Stacey Hammar, Aden\u00a0 last visited the CNMI in 2011 when he was 6 years old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aden Attao completed a triple crown in junior wrestling after winning gold in the 2022…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":372927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-372925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}