FOWLERVILLE, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Fowlerville is a classic, small-town in Michigan’s Livingston County where you can get a great breakfast at the Olden Days Café. The quiet town in the Brighton/Howell area will be on the map this summer traveling to the bright lights and big city of Paris. Fowlerville natives Adam Coon and Dalton Roberts take their Michigan roots across the seas to the 2024 Summer Olympics representing the U.S.A as Greco-Roman style wrestlers. Both wrestlers took two of the 12 spots at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

Roberts, who started wrestling in the seventh grade with his twin brother when offered pizza at the sign up, has now turned into a world-class athlete representing the Army. He went to Northern Michigan University as a Greco-Roman wrestler and traveled the world before joining the Army in May 2020. His ride to Paris is not set yet as he has to qualify in his weight class (60-kilograms) by reaching the championship round in Istanbul, Turkey, May 9-12, at the World Olympic Qualifier.

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Getting to this point came with a lot of hard work for Roberts. Working his wrestling moves through college, he became a two-time University National Champion in 2016 and 2017 and U23 World Team Member in 2017 and 2019. In 2018, he became a Senior World Team Member and by 2023 became the U. S. National Champion in the 60-kilogram class at the championships in Las Vegas. That year also brought a third-place finish in the CISM World Military Championships at Baku, Azerbaijan. It was 2023 that became his breakout year world-wide and now he is on the verge of representing the U.S. this summer.

In a higher weight class, Coon has already qualified for the 130-kilogram wrestling championship. For Coon, a four-time state champion and former University of Michigan wrestler, this qualification is a goal he has been working for since 2021. After winning the trials three years ago, he could not represent the U.S.A. because his weight class wasn’t qualified to represent the U.S. in Toyko. He then had to wrestle at the U.S. Trials and reach the championship round but fell in the quarterfinals.

That led to a unique time in his life where he pursued professional football. Not having played football since 2012 as a first-team Michigan All-State player, the Tennessee Titans wanted to bring a world class wrestler to camp for a trial and Coon received that chance. An injury during his time with the Titans kept him from making the NFL team, so he turned his talents back towards wrestling in 2023.

Coon has been in this position before as an Olympic alternate in 2016. This time around, though, the alternate name is gone as he has become a member of the U.S. Olympic team.

It is fitting that both Roberts and Coon were first Gladiators at Fowlerville. They will now be Gladiators for the U.S.A. vying for Olympic Gold in Paris bringing their slower pace of life to the bright lights of France.