IOWA CITY – Officials don't award points lightly at the Olympic wrestling trials, and Mark Hall II was equally stingy with himself on Sunday. After his first Olympic trials experience, the Apple Valley senior graded his performance as a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Still, Hall viewed that as a victory. At age 19, the six-time state champion is adjusting his mind-set, learning to value the fight as much as the reward. Hall won his first match in the 74-kilogram freestyle class Sunday, then lost to Andrew Howe, a 2010 NCAA champion and assistant coach at Oklahoma. Howe made it to the finals, while Hall went 1-1 in the consolation bracket.

Going into the trials, Hall's goal was to win. On his way out of Carver-Hawkeye Arena — and on to college wrestling at Penn State, plus national and international freestyle competition — he saw things differently, thanks to a weekend that lifted him to a new level.

"I think now, I'm starting to grow as a competitor and as a person,'' said Hall, who won a cadet world championship in 2014. "My goal from here on out is to just wrestle hard and not think so much about winning.

"If I just wrestle, I can go with the best of them. I know it. My coaches know it. My family knows it. I'm not disappointed at how this weekend went. I had a good competition.''

Hall won a 13-11 decision in his first match, against Logan Massa — a childhood friend from Michigan and a Wolverines freshman. He lost by technical fall to Howe, then beat Quinton Godley 11-5 before dropping a 14-5 decision to Adam Hall.

"I wasn't at my best, by any means,'' he said. "But I'm learning. That's the biggest part.''

Team USA named

In addition to awarding Olympic berths, the trials determined USA Wrestling's national team for 2016-17. The top three finishers at each weight made the team. They will receive stipends to fund their training and money to cover the cost of traveling to competitions.

Minnesota Storm wrestlers Andy Bisek (winner, 75kg Greco-Roman), Joe Rau (winner, 98kg Greco), Jake Clark (second place, 85kg Greco) and Pat Smith (second place, 66kg Greco) made the national team, as did Hayden Zillmer of Crosby (third place, 85kg Greco).

Right at home

As Jim Ravannack told it Friday, there wasn't any question about the host city for the 2016 Olympic wrestling trials. After the 2012 trials in Iowa City, Ravannack — the president of USA Wrestling — decided there was no need to look any further.

"[USA Wrestling executive director] Rich Bender and I were driving back to Colorado, and I said, 'Let's call Dan [Gable] and see if four years from now, we can come back,'' Ravannack said. "The energy and the dynamic there were just great.''

Judging by the turnout this weekend, they might want to return again in 2020. A total of 44,254 fans attended the four sessions, including the 11,162 who went wild at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday during a double-Hawkeye final between Tony Ramos and Daniel Dennis in the 57kg freestyle class.

"I'm happy I didn't wrestle here in college, because their fans would have chewed me alive,'' said Zach Rey, runner-up to Tervel Dlagnev in the 125kg freestyle class. "It's amazing. It's a real honor to wrestle here.''