After the three greco-roman American competitors were unable to grab Olympic spots on Friday the attention turned the US women in the freestyle on Saturday. The women had a little more success as two of the four, Halley Augello and Helen Maroulis, claimed Olympic spots. For Maroulis this was not surprising at all. The reigning world champion at 55kg dominated the field winning 8-2, 10-0, and getting a fall to grab the Olympic spot and reach the final. In the final she shut out Maria Prevolaraki of Greece 10-0.
For Augello the Olympic berth was a little more shocking. The 21-year-old 48kg competitor had never wrestled at a senior world championship and was 15th at the junior world championships when she last appeared in 2013. Augello blitzed through the field with 12-1, 10-0, and 10-0 wins to get an Olympic berth and qualify for the final. Admittedly her opponents were not the strongest but she won’t be worried about that as she heads for Rio. In the final against Hyon Gyong Kim the result was not so favorable with Augello losing 9-2.
Coming close to qualifying in the 69kg division was Tamyra Mensah. Mensah opened with 10-0 and 10-7 wins before running into Ilana Kratysh of Israel in the semifinals. Kratysh narrowly out wrestled Mensah 6-5 to advance to the Olympics. Mensah did win her bronze medal match against Diana Miranda Gonzales of Mexico 7-0 and will have a good chance to qualify in the second Olympic qualifying event.
In the 58kg division Kelsey Campbell didn’t come close to qualifying but also lost in the tightest manner possible, on a tiebreaker at 1-1 to Emese Barka of Hungary. Barka lost in the next round so Campbell did not participate in the repechage competition at all. Campbell and Mensah will join the three greco-roman wrestlers at the second and final Olympic qualifying competition in Istanbul May 6th-8th.
Sunday on the final day of competition two American men in the freestyle category will attempt to qualify. In the 65kg division Frank Molinaro will face Vietnam’s Xuan Dinh Nguyen in the first round needing to win three times to reach the semifinals. Nguyen was 17th in the world championships in the fall. The other American competing is J’Den Cox in the 86kg division. Cox will take on Shamir Atyan of Armenia in the first round needing three wins to reach the semifinals like Molinaro. Atyan is yet to compete at a world championship on the senior level.
Previous Wrestling Coverage:
Olympic Qualifying Preview
Day 1 Update
