RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - The U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling team will look to double its gold-medal total tonight.

Americans Lindsey Durlacher and Justin Ruiz powered their way into the finals of the Pan American Games by each winning a pair of matches on Wednesday morning at the Riocentro Sports Complex.

American T.C. Dantzler will wrestle for a bronze medal on Wednesday night.

The finals are scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday (5 p.m. Eastern) in Rio de Janeiro.

Americans Harry Lester and Brad Vering won gold medals in Greco-Roman on Tuesday night.

Durlacher (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), wrestling up a weight class at 60 kg/132 lbs., breezed into the finals by sweeping both of his opponents. He launched Nicaragua's Kelvin Escorcia with a spectacular early throw in his first match and then came out aggressively again in a lopsided semifinal win over Peru's Mario Molina.

Durlacher advances to face Cuba's Roberto Monzon in Wednesday night's finals. Monzon is a past Olympic and World silver medalist. Durlacher moved up from his normal weight class of 55 kg/121 lbs. with World champion Joe Warren not competing at 60 kg for personal reasons.

Dantzler (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) dropped a tough 1-1, 1-1 decision to Cuba's Odelis Herrero in the first round at 74 kg/163 lbs. Neither wrestler was able to score in the first minute of either period, and neither wrestler could turn the other in the 30-second segments in each period. Herrero won both coin flips and won both periods by virtue of scoring last.

Dantzler narrowly missed scoring on a pair of turn attempts in the final 30 seconds of the match. The officials looked at videotape of the late sequence, but elected not to award Dantzler any additional points. It was a rematch of this year's Pan Am Championships when Herrero caught and pinned Dantzler.

Dantzler will now face Venezuela's Alexander Brazon in a bronze-medal match. Dantzler won a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan Am Games.

Ruiz (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), a 2003 Pan Am Games silver medalist, is back in the finals again at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. Ruiz was body-locked and caught on his back early in his semifinal against Erwin Caraballo of Venezuela. Trailing 3-0, Ruiz kept his composure and closed to 3-1 after not being turned in the first 30-second period. He then executed back-to-back gut wrenches to win the first period 5-3.

Ruiz dominated from there, launching Caraballo with a dazzling throw to roll to a 7-0 win in the second period. Ruiz now faces Brazil's Luiz Fernandes in the finals.

The women's freestyle tournament is scheduled to start Thursday. The U.S. sends a strong four-athlete team into the competition. The team is comprised of two-time World champion Kristie Marano (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann (Gaffney, S.C./Sunkist Kids), World silver medalist Stephanie Murata (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) and World University champion Marcie Van Dusen (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids).

Marano wrestles at 72 kg/158.5 lbs., McMann competes at 63 kg/138.75 lbs., Murata is at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. and Van Dusen at 55 kg/121 lbs. The women compete in the four Olympic weight classes at the Pan American Games.

The seven-man men's freestyle team is scheduled to compete Friday and Saturday.

U.S. MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS

60 kg/132 lbs. - Lindsey Durlacher, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)
WIN Kelvin Escorcia (Nicaragua) 6-0, 6-0
WIN Mario Molina (Peru) 6-0, 4-1

74 kg/163 lbs. - T.C. Dantzler, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Gator WC)
LOSS Odelis Herrero (Cuba) 1-1, 1-1

96 kg/211.5 lbs. - Justin Ruiz, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)
WIN Manuel Simono (Dominican Republic) 5-0, 4-1
WIN Erwin Caraballo (Venezuela) 5-3, 7-0