U.S. women have four wrestlers still looking for bronze at 2005 World University Games
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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
08/15/2005
Izmir, Turkey - Three U.S. women's freestyle wrestlers will compete for bronze medals at the 2005 World University Games on Monday evening at the Ozel Yamanlar High School Sports Hall. Those competing for bronze are 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. and Alaina Berube (Escanaba, Mich./Cumberland College/New York AC) at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. Sara Fulp-Allen (El Granada, Calif./Menlo College) will wrestle one repechage match to see if she will compete for a bronze medal at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. Kelly pinned Francine DePaolo of Italy in the third period of her win. DePaola won the first period 1-0 after scoring a takedown, and Kelly won the second period 1-0 after forcing DePaola out of bounds. Midway through the third period, Kelly used a three-point throw to put DePaola on her back for the win. In the semifinals, Kelly was pinned by Olympic gold medalist Irini Merleni of Ukraine. Kelly will face the winner of a repechage bout between Maigorata Bucka of Poland and Zeynep Yildrim of Turkey in a bronze-medal match. Van Dusen won her first two bouts, downing Maigorzata Kruza of Poland (0-1, 3-0, 2-0) and Kitti Godo of Hungary (1-0, 1-0) before losing in the semifinals to Olympic silver medalist Tonya Verbeek of Canada (2-0, 5-1). Against Kruza, Van Dusen started slow, losing the first period, but she dominated the match from her feet in the second and third periods, scoring three takedowns overall. She kept the pace slow versus Godo, who placed fifth at the European Championships this year. In the first period, Van Dusen scored a takedown. In the second period, she forced Godo out of bounds to win. Verbeek was able to control the pace of the semifinal bout against Van Dusen. A two-point exposure in the first period was all Verbeek needed, and in the second period, after Van Dusen raced out in front with a 1-0 lead, Verbeek scored two takedowns and three exposure points to finish the bout. Van Dusen will face So Ra Lee of Korea in the bronze-medal match. Berube was dominant in her first two matches, defeating Maria Diana of Italy (5-0, 0-3, 6-0) and pinning Teodora Dimitrova of Bulgaria in 38 seconds. In the first period against Diana, who placed seventh in the Junior World Championships, Berube used a five-point throw to end the period quickly. Diana battled back in the second period, forcing Berube out of bounds and then scoring two takedowns. In the third period, Berube scored a takedown and five exposure points to advance. After pinning Dimitrova, Berube dropped a semifinal decision to Olga Khilko of Belarus (5-0, 3-1). Khilko placed sixth at the 2004 Olympic Games. After Khilko dominated the first period, Berube scored the first takedown in the second period for a 1-0 lead. One minute later, Khilko tied the match with a takedown of her own, which also gave her tiebreaking criteria. Khilko scored two exposure points at the end of the bout as Berube was attempting to score. Berube will face two-time Pan American Championships gold medalist Juliana Borges of Brazil in a bronze-medal bout. Fulp-Allen lost her first-round match to Yuuri Funatsu of Japan (3-1, 3-0). Four of Funatsu's six points came on takedowns, and most of those were created immediately after a whistle blew. Because Funatsu earned a spot in the gold-medal match, Fulp-Allen will wrestle Filiz Cikikci of Turkey in a repechage match. The winner will compete for a bronze medal. Ali Bernard (New Ulm, Minn./Univ. of Regina) lost her first-round bout at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. to Agnieszka Wieszcek of Poland (5-7, 3-2, 1-2). In the third period, Bernard took a 1-0 lead on a takedown, but a late takedown by Wieszcek tied the score at 1-1 and gave the Polish wrestler the tiebreaker advantage. Wieszcek did not advance to the finals, though, which means that Bernard will not have a chance to compete for a bronze medal. The women's repechage and medal matches will take place at 5:00 p.m. local time in Turkey.