U.S. wins nine medals at Henri Deglane Challenge in France; Jantzen and O’Donnell win gold

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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
12/02/2004


U.S. teams won nine medals overall in all three Olympic styles of wrestling at the Henri Deglane Challenge in Nice, France on Nov. 27.    Two wrestlers won gold medals - Jesse Jantzen (Cambridge, Mass./Dave Schultz WC) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. in men's freestyle and 2004 Olympian Tela O'Donnell (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC) at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. in women's freestyle.    Jantzen recorded two pins in his four victories. In the finals, he won by decision over Ibrahim Salloum of France, a three-time World Championships competitor.    O'Donnell, who wrestled up two weight classes from her Olympic weight of 55 kg/121 lbs., also won four matches in the tournament. Her closest match was in the first round, as she defeated Nadia Moussaoui of France by a decision. Moussaoui placed fifth at the 2002 and 2004 World University Championships.    Winning bronze medals for the U.S. men's freestyle team were Scott Schatzman (New York, N.Y./Dave Schultz WC) at 60 kg/132 lbs., Joe Heskett (Grover Beach, Calif./Gator WC) at 74 kg/163 lbs., Nick Preston (Columbus, Ohio/Sunkist Kids) at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. and Ryan Tobin (Philadelphia, Pa./Dave Schultz WC) at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.    Heskett and Schatzman each won three matches while Preston and Tobin won two matches a piece.    Preston and Tobin were both able to win bronze medals at the same weight class under FILA's new rules, which allow competitors who lost to a finalist to enter a consolation bracket. However, there is no bronze medal match and a bronze medal is awarded to both competitors who win out in the consolation bracket.    The five U.S. medals in men's freestyle helped give the U.S. a first-place finish in the team standings with 34 points.    Laura Felix (Bakersfield, Calif./Dave Schultz WC), the only other U.S. woman competing, won a bronze medal at 55 kg/121 lbs.    To earn the bronze medal, Felix defeated Marti Mar Serrano of Spain, who placed 10th at the 2004 Junior European Championships.    The U.S. women placed third in the team standings with 18 points behind Spain and France.    In Greco-Roman action, Justin Ruiz (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) won a silver medal at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. and Joe Warren (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) won a bronze medal at 60 kg/132 lbs.    Ruiz competed in a five-man weight class, which was competed in a round-robin format. He won three of his four matches to earn the silver.    Warren also won three of four matches, two of those in the consolation bracket, in winning his bronze medal.    The U.S. Greco-Roman team placed second behind Ukraine with 30 team points.