The Gazette, the newspaper for Eastern Iowa, has published its top 10 wrestling stories for 2012. This newspaper, which has published for more than 125 years, is Iowa's second largest paper and serves a 16-county area.

Wrestling is a big deal in this part of the state, one of the hotbeds for the entire nation. And the No. 1 wrestling story for the year was the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials held in Iowa City, Iowa, April 21-22.

Here is a short excerpt from the portion of the article about the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

1. Iowa City plays golden host to Olympic Trials

The most prestigious amateur wrestling competition in the United States came to one of college wrestling’s best venues. The University of Iowa and Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted the 2012 USA Wrestling Olympic Team Trials in 2012 and produced a fantastic display in April, celebrating the sport and its competitors of the past, present and future. It also helped bring in more than 11,000 fans from outside of Johnson County, making an estimated $5.6 million economic impact on the area. There was a Fan Fest, previous Olympic teams were recognized and a statue of former Olympic Gold medalist, former Hawkeye coach, Iowa State NCAA champion and Waterloo native Dan Gable was presented outside of CHA.
 
Click here to read Gazette story on Top 10 wrestling moments in 2012