Jantzen will go for gold, Simmons for bronze at 2005 World University Games
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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
08/13/2005
Izmir, Turkey - Jesse Jantzen (Brookline, Mass./Harvard Univ./New York AC) will wrestle for the gold medal in men's freestyle wrestling at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. at the 2005 World University Games. Nick Simmons (Williamston, Mich./Michigan State Univ./Michigan WC) will compete for a bronze medal at 55 kg/121 lbs. The wrestling competition is being held at Ozel Yamanlar High School Sports Hall. Jantzen has won four matches so far in the competition, and none of the matches has gone to a third period. In the first round, Jantzen downed Maksyan Melnya of Ukraine, 6-0, 3-1. Jantzen scored three takedowns in the bout and used two gut wrenches in the first period to gain a major advantage. In the second round, Jantzen dominated Ahto Raska of Estonia, 2-0, 6-0. Raska placed fourth at the 2002 and 2004 World University Championships. Perhaps Jantzen's toughest bout of the day came in the quarterfinals, as he defeated Otar Tushishvili of Georgia, 3-3, 2-0. Early in the first period, Tushishvili took Jantzen down to his back for a 3-0 advantage. But only 28 seconds later, Jantzen scored a three-point throw out of bounds, tying the match at 3-3 and taking the lead with criteria. Jantzen then defeated Arshak Hayrapetyan of Armenia in the semifinals, 1-0, 3-1. Hayrapetyan placed fifth in the 2000 Olympic Games. Jantzen wrestled a smart match, scoring early in the first two periods and holding off Hayrapetyan attacks for the win. Jantzen will face Kelaxsaev Berding of Russia in the gold-medal match. Simmons lost a close semifinal match to Simonyan Vahan of Armenia, 0-1, 5-2, 0-2. The first period went to the leg clinch, which Vahan won. In the second period, Vahan took a 2-0 lead midway through the period, but Simmons clawed back, scoring two takedowns and then a three-point throw with two seconds remaining to force a third period. In the final stanza, Vahan used a front headlock to roll Simmons for two points and the win late in the period. Simmons also had a dramatic win in the quarterfinals, coming from behind to pin Nam Song of North Korea with one second remaining in the first period. Simmons trailed 4-0 in the period after stepping out of bounds on a throw attempt and getting thrown for three points later in the period. Trailing 6-3 late in the period, Simmons used his patented front headlock to put Song on his back for the fall. Simmons defeated Lasitsa of Belarus, 4-3, 0-6, 6-1 in the first round. His opponent for the bronze-medal bout has not yet been determined. Chris Pendleton (Stillwater, Okla./Oklahoma State Univ./Gator WC) posted a 1-1 record at 84 kg/185 lbs. In his first bout, Pendleton defeated Loic Bertrand of France, 6-0, 5-0. Pendleton dominated Bertrand, scoring five takedowns in the two periods. In the round of 16, Pendleton was defeated by Yavaser Gokhan of Turkey, 0-1, 0-4. Pendleton lost the first period off the leg clinch after being close to a takedown at the end of the period. In the second period, Gokhan scored a three-point throw at the edge of the mat late in the period to win. Gokhan was defeated in the quarterfinals, ending any chance of Pendleton wrestling for a bronze medal. Repechage matches and medal bouts will begin at 5:00 p.m.