Patrick McCaffrey of Glen Ellyn, Ill. won a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling at 50 kg/110 lbs. during the first day of competition at the FILA Junior World Championships in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 5.    Four U.S. athletes competed on the first day, and three were eliminated. Under the new international wrestling rules, each weight class is contested and completed in just one day.    McCaffrey opened the tournament with a loss to Sumit of India, 0-2, 1-2. Under the new international bracketing rules, only the losers to a gold-medal finalist are entered in the wrestle-backs. When Sumit qualified for the gold-medal match, McCaffrey was pulled back into the tournament.    In his first wrestle-back match, McCaffrey had a strong come-from-behind effort to defeat a talented Bazar Zhalsapov of Russia, 1-7, 4-1, 2-0. His tremendous conditioning was a key factor in the victory.    In the bronze-medal match, McCaffrey also lost the first period, but battled back to defeat Maxim Petrov of Bulgaria, 2-4, 5-0, 2-0. McCaffrey hit a five-point throw in the second period to win that period, then controlled the third and final period of the match to earn the bronze medal.    "He wrestled extremely well," said USA Wrestling Freestyle Developmental Coach Dave Bennett. "His only loss was to the Indian athlete, who was much stronger than McCaffrey. Both the Russian and the Bulgarian were very tough. He wrestled very hard to win those matches."    Bennett gave special credit for McCaffrey's come-back win over Zhalsapov, who led 5-0 early in the first period quickly. McCaffrey battled hard and lost the period, but tired Zhalsapov out, and McCaffrey won the last two periods. Bennett praised McCaffrey's constant pressure as the key to both of his victories.    The three U.S. wrestlers who were eliminated from medal contention with losses on Tuesday were Angel Cejudo (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOTC) at 60 kg/132 lbs., Steve Luke (Massillon, Ohio/Michigan) at 74 kg/163 lbs. and Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill.) at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. All three won at least one match during the tournament.    Cejudo opened with a 3-0, 2-0 win over Peter Beischlag of Hungary, 3-0, 2-0. In his second match, he lost a tight three-period bout to Mohsen Jahanbakhshian of Iran, 1-0, 0-4, 0-1. Jahanbakshian was defeated in the quarterfinals, eliminating Cejudo from the wrestlebacks.    Luke, a student at the Univ. of Michigan, opened with two straight wins, stopping Eldar Mansyrov of Ukraine, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0 and Archili Kitiashvili of Georgia, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0. In the quarterfinals, Luke suffered a close and controversial loss to Enur Aliev of Azerbaijan, 1-0, 0-1, 0-1. U.S. coaches questioned the call against Luke in the clinch during the second period. When Aliev was beaten in the semifinals, Luke was eliminated from the wrestlebacks.    Tamillow, a Northwestern Univ. student, opened with a strong victory over Nikos Papaoikonomou of Greece, 5-0, 4-0. In his second match, he lost a competitive bout to Stefan Kehrer of Germany, 5-0, 2-4, 3-5. Kehrer was beaten in the semifinals, thus eliminating Tamillow from the tournament.    When the weight classes were completed, two of the U.S. wrestlers placed eighth : Luke at 74 kg/163 lbs. and Tamillow at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.    Three other U.S. team members weighed in on Tuesday, and compete on Wednesday. They received their first-round opponents. The athletes are Henry Cejudo (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) at 55 kg/121 lbs., Eric Tannenbaum (Naperville, Ill./Overtime) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. and Bode Ogunwole (Millersville, Md./Harvard) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.    Cejudo opens with Yuri Bolandyuk of Ukraine. If he wins, he has the winner of the bout between Andrejs Vasilijevs of Latvia and Mauricio Gonzalez of Guatemala.    Tannenbaum, a student at the Univ. of Michigan, faces an opponent from Belarus in the first round. If Tannenbaum wins, he has the winner of the bout between Jake LeDoux of Canada and Stefan Gheorghita of Romania.    Ogunwole, a Harvard student, opens against Hajinia Osbo Askari of Iran. Should Ogunwole advance, he draws the winner of the match between Akos Woller of Hungary and an athlete from Kazakhstan.    The U.S. will not have an entry at 84 kg/185 lbs. in freestyle. U.S. team member Jake Varner (Bakersfield, Calif.) was injured in training just prior to the competition and was unable to participate.    Men's freestyle competition completes on Wednesday, July 6.  Women's freestyle competition will be held Thursday, July 7 and Friday, July 8. Men's Greco-Roman competition is set for Saturday, July 9 and Sunday, July 10.    The U.S. World Team members for men were determined in their Junior World Team Trials at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., May 27-28.    For more information, visit the official event web page at:  http://www.event-management.lt/wjwc2005/index.php?lang=eng