U.S. women’s freestyle wrestlers weigh-in and receive first-round draws

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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
08/14/2005


Izmir, Turkey - The U.S. women's freestyle wrestlers weighed-in and received their draws at Sunday evening in what looks to be a strong field for the 2005 World University Games.    The five U.S. women competing are Sara Fulp-Allen (El Granada, Calif./Menlo College) at 48 kg/105.5 lbs., Mary Kelly (Mahomet, Ill./Northern Michigan Univ./New York AC) at 51 kg/112.25 lbs., Marcie Van Dusen (Colorado Springs, Colo./Univ. of Minnesota-Morris/Sunkist Kids) at 55 kg/121 lbs., Alaina Berube (Escanaba, Mich./Cumberland College/New York AC) at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. and Ali Bernard (New Ulm, Minn./Univ. of Regina) at 72 kg/158.5 lbs.    Fulp-Allen is in the lower half of an 11-woman bracket. She will first face Yuuri Funatsu of Japan in the pigtail round. Funatsu placed fourth at the 2003 Junior World Championships.    Also in Fulp-Allen's half of the bracket is Marina Markevich of Belarus, who placed third at this year's Junior World Championships and seventh at this year's European Championships.    Other notables at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. are two-time World medalist Carol Huynh of Canada, Sigrun Dobner of Germany, who placed fourth at the 2004 World University Championships and Filiz Cikrikci of Turkey, who placed seventh in the 2004 Junior European Championships.    Kelly will face Tirancine DePaola of Italy in the quarterfinals. If she is able to get past her, then Kelly will most likely face 48 kg Olympic champion Irini Merleni of Ukraine.    Other strong competitors in Kelly's weight class include 2004 Olympian Lyndsay Belisle of Canada, Yuri Kai of Japan, who placed second in the 2004 Asian Championships and Ying-Chi Wang of Chinese Taipei, who placed fifth at the 2004 World University Championships.    Van Dusen will compete in the pigtail round against Kruza Matgonato of Poland. If she wins that match, she will face either Kitti Godo of Hungary, who placed fifth in this year's European Championships, or Mariya Yahorava of Belarus, who placed eighth in the 2003 Junior World Championships.    Also in Van Dusen's weight class are 2004 Olympic champion Saori Yoshida of Japan, 2004 Olympic silver medalist Tonya Verbeek of Canada and Ramona Scherer of Germany, who placed eighth in the 2004 World University Championships.    Berube will meet Maria Diana of Italy in the first round of the largest weight class that has 14 competitors. Diana placed seventh in the 2005 Junior World Championships.    On the opposite side of the bracket from Berube is 2004 Olympic champion and two-time World champion Kaori Icho of Japan.    Also competing at Berube's weight are 2001 World Cup silver medalist Tara Hedican of Canada, Olga Khilko of Belarus, who placed sixth in the Olympic Games, two-time Pan American Championships gold medalist Juliana Borges of Brazil and Teodora Dimitrova of Bulgaria, who placed fifth in the 2005 European Championships,     Bernard will meet Wienuek Aguieszke of Poland in a quarterfinal bout.    Also in Bernard's weight class are 2002 World champion and two-time European champion Katerina Burmistrova of Ukraine, two-time World Cup silver medalist Ohenewa Akuffo of Canada and Yesim Kilic of Turkey, who placed fifth in the this year's Junior World Championships.    Women's competition will begin at 10:00 a.m. at Ozel Yamanlar High School Sports Hall. TheMat.com will provide complete coverage of the event.