Montgomery vs. Marano is the new “Bout of the Week” on USA Wrestling Members-Only website

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
07/16/2004


USA Wrestling has updated its new "Bout of the Week" on USA Wrestling's Members-Only website.    The featured match this week will be the deciding match of the Toccara Montgomery vs. Kristie Marano Championship Series at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in 72 kg/158.5 lbs. in freestyle wrestling.    The series was held in Indianapolis, Ind. Posted is the second match of the Championship Series. Montgomery won the first match, 9-6 in overtime, coming from behind for that win.  An athlete needed two victories to earn the spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, so Montgomery had to win a second time to advance to the Athens Olympic Games.    This was a battle against two of sport's great champions. Montgomery is a two-time World silver medalist who was named FILA's Women's Wrestler of the Year in 2001. Marano has won seven World medals, the most of any U.S. woman, including a pair of World gold medals.    Montgomery quickly rose through the U.S. women wrestling ranks while still in high school, coming out of Cleveland, Ohio. By the end of her senior year at East Technical High School, she made her first U.S. team. Later that year, in the summer of 2001, she won her first World silver medal.    She followed her high school coach Kip Flanik to Cumberland College, which has one of the nation's women's varsity wrestling teams. Montgomery, who has completed her junior year in college, has been the top athlete in women's college wrestling since she has entered.    She has claimed many of the highest honors in the sport. Montgomery boasts four U.S. Nationals titles and three World Team Trials titles. She was a 2003 Pan American Games champion, as well as a 2003 World Cup champion. She boasts a pair of Junior World silver medals, as well.    Once the IOC announced that there would be four Olympic weight classes, and FILA identified the actual divisions, Montgomery quickly moved into the highest weight class at 72 kg. She had been competing at the weight below, but immediately changed to the new division and built herself up for success there.    Montgomery has developed a healthy rivalry with Japanese star Kyoko Hamaguchi, a five-time World champion. Hamaguchi defeated Montgomery in the World Championship finals in New York City in the fall of 2003. A few weeks later, Montgomery beat Hamaguchi at the World Cup, held in front of a stunned Japanese crowd in Tokyo.    A finals showdown in Indianapolis between Montgomery and Marano was unexpected. For the past three seasons, Marano had been wrestling at 63 kg/138.75 lbs., another of the Olympic divisions. That was where Marano was supposed to wrestle in Indianapolis.    Marano started her star-studded career competing at the highest weight class, then at 75 kg/165 lbs. She switched to wrestling full-time from judo, where a knee injury had hampered her ability to compete. She was also a high school wrestler in her native Albany, N.Y.    Her first year on the national scene was very successful, with a U.S. Nationals title and a World silver medal. For four years in a row, Marano reached the finals of the World Championships and won a silver medal. Among the athletes who defeated Marano at that division was Japan's Hamaguchi.    Marano's first World title came in 2000 in Sofia, Bulgaria, competing at 68 kg/149.75 lbs. In 2001, she did not make the World team, as Montgomery made her first team.    During the fall of 2001, the IOC announced that women's wrestling was going into the Olympics and the weight classes were later identified. Marano, who was in tremendous condition, chose to drop to 63 kg/138.75 lbs. in her quest for Olympic glory. In 2002 and 2003, she lost to Sara McMann in the finals of the World Team Trials. In Special Wrestle-offs each year, she then moved up to the non-Olympic weight of 67 kg/147.5 lbs. and made the U.S. team. In 2002, she won a World bronze medal. In 2003, on her home mats in New York City, she claimed the World gold medal again.    At the 2003 U.S. Nationals, Marano made the finals against McMann again, and she won the title, pinning McMann. That placed her at the No. 1 seed at the Olympic Trials at 63 kg. However, at the Olympic Team Trials, Marano was not able to make weight, and moved up to 72 kg, having to compete in the Challenge Tournament. It was a climb of almost 20 pounds in weight. Marano won that Challenge Tournament to set up her showdown with Montgomery.    The athletes have a contrast of styles. Montgomery has a power game, with strong athletic skills and instincts. Her "blast double" is among the best in the world. Marano, who has a strong influence from judo and Greco-Roman wrestling, is comfortable in upper body situations and with throws. She has also mastered the basic positions of wrestling, which helps in close matches. Both are fierce competitors, hate losing and have confidence in themselves.     When Montgomery was able to win a close battle in match No. 2 at the Olympic Trials, she earned a spot on the historic first U.S. Women's Olympic Team, while Marano was unable to reach that goal. As both are still young, there could be another chance for them in the 2008 Olympic Trials.    This popular feature will be changed on a regular basis, allowing members to enjoy many of the greatest matches in wrestling history.     Posted in the archive section of the Members Only webpage is last week's 2004 Joe Williams and Joe Heskett bout in men's freestyle. Many other entertaining and historic matches are in the archive section for the Bout of the Week.     USA Wrestling has done a complete redesign and expansion of its Members-Only website, providing all USA Wrestling members with an impressive new resource stocked with interactive learning tools and entertaining features.     This on-line resource is available free of charge only to current members of USA Wrestling, one of the most exciting benefits of joining the organization.    USA Wrestling members will only need to enter the number from their 2003-04 membership card into an entry form, and the exciting new Members-Only page will become available to them.    RECENT BOUTS OF THE WEEK PLACED IN ARCHIVE  2004 Joe Williams vs. Joe Heskett men's freestyle match  2004 Eric Guerrero vs. Mike Zadick men's freestyle match  2004 Cael Sanderson vs. Lee Fullhart men's freestyle match  2004 Dennis Hall vs. Brandon Paulson men's Greco-Roman match  1996 Townsend Saunders vs. Pat Santoro men's freestyle match  1988 Mark Fuller vs. T.J. Jones men's Greco-Roman match  1988 Nate Carr vs. Andre Metzger men's freestyle match  2004 Jared Frayer vs. Eric Larkin men's freestyle match  1987 Bill Scherr vs. Greg Gibson men's freestyle match  1992 Dennis Koslowski vs. Andrzej Wronski men's Greco-Roman match  1989 Jim Scherr vs. Makharbek Khadartsev men's freestyle match  2003 Sally Roberts vs. Marianna Sastin women's freestyle match  1996 Melvin Douglas vs. Mike Van Arsdale men's freestyle match  1988 Ike Anderson vs. Buddy Lee men's Greco-Roman match  1996 Tom Brands vs. Jang Jae-Sung men's freestyle match  2004 Eric Larkin vs. T.J. Williams men's freestyle match  1992 Rodney Smith vs. Cecilio Rodriguez men's Greco-Roman match  1988 Rico Chiapparelli vs. Lukman Jabrailov men's freestyle match  2003 Kristie Marano vs. Ewelina Pruszko women's freestyle match  1999 Stephen Neal vs. Andrei Shumilin men's freestyle match  2003 Cael Sanderson vs. Sajid Sajidov men's freestyle match