BEIJING, CHINA - Alyssa Lampe (Tomahawk, Wis./USOEC) claimed a bronze medal at 48 kg/105.5 lbs., the top U.S. performance on the final day of the women's freestyle competition at the Junior World Championships at the China Agriculture University Gymnasium on Sunday.

Lampe won two matches during the evening session to capture the bronze medal after losing her only match in the morning.

Lampe opened the session by pinning Lenka Matejova of Slovakia in 1:43 in her first wrestleback match. Lampe scored a takedown, turned Matejova with a gutwrench, then turned her again to secure the fall. 

In the bronze medal match, Lampe defeated Elza Tazetdinov of Russia, 3-2, 5-5. 

Lampe scored a double leg takedown and a two-point exposure to win the first period. In the second period, trailing by one point. Lampe scored a takedown with 10 seconds left to tie the bout. Lampe won the period by scoring the highest-point move, a three-point double leg takedown to exposure early in the match.

"I was kind of nervous, so I was just trying to relax," said Lampe, who is a member of the U.S. Olympic Education Center program at Northern Michigan Univ. "My game plan is always to try to be aggressive. I just wanted to get my shots in."

In the morning session, Lampe was pinned by 2006 Junior World bronze medalist Fuyoka Mimura in 1:08.  When Mimura qualified to compete in the gold-medal match, Lampe became eligible for the wrestleback rounds.

"Alyssa started slowly. She never had a chance to wrestle in her first match," said USA Wrestling Women's Developmental Coach Izzy Izboinikov. "We were all praying for her to have a chance to get back in and prove herself. Once she got that second chance, she wasn't going to let it get away."

Lampe was the only U.S. wrestler to win a match or to place in their weight division on the final day. The other three U.S. women who competed on Friday were eliminated after one match.

The United States finished in a tie for fourth in the final team standings, along with Sweden, with 36 points. The U.S. team was in second place in the standings after the first day of competition.

China won the team title with 68 points, led by three individual champion and seven medalists. Russia placed second with 59 points, featuring two champions and three runners-up. Ukraine was in third with 43 points.

The U.S. finished with three individual medalists for the tournament. Whitney Conder (Payallup, Wash./USOEC) claimed a gold medal at 51 kg/112.25 lbs. and Tatiana Padilla (LaVerne, Calif./California Grapplers) won a silver medal at 59 kg/130 lbs. on Thursday.

"We had youth on the team this year," said Izboinikov. "They all trained well. We didn't know how they would hande the competition. The group yesterday handled the pressure better. There has been tremendous in the last few months with these young athletes. I showed partially in their performance, but it will show for sure in the future. I am happy with this group."

The men's freestyle competition begins on Saturday, with four weight classes contested.  The draws for the U.S. wrestlers are listed below.

JUNIOR WORLD WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Beijing, China, August 24

U.S. performances on Friday

48 kg/105.5 lbs. -Alyssa Lampe, Tomahawk, Wis. (USOEC), 3rd
LOSS Fuyoka Mimura (Japan), pin 1:08
WIN Lenka Matejova (Slovakia), 1:43
WIN Elza Tazetdinov (Russia), 3-2, 5-5

55 kg/121 lbs. - Cherae Pascua, Oahu, Hawaii (USOEC), dnp
LOSS A Sandagdorj (Mongolia), 0-2, 2-2

63 kg/138.75 lbs. - Deanna Rix, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), dnp
LOSS Kundu Suman (India), 0-1, 0-2

72 kg/158.5 lbs. - Paige Rife, Fowlerville, Mich. (USOEC), dnp
LOSS Jenny Fransson (Sweden), pin 1:27

U.S. men's freestyle draws for Saturday

50 kg/110 lbs. - David Taylor, St. Paris, Ohio (unattached)
vs. Nurlan Orozbek (Kyrgyzstan)

60 kg/132 lbs. - Angel Escobedo, Griffith, Ind. (Hoosier WC)
vs. Samet Duegler (Germany)

74 kg/163 lbs. - Jake Kerr, Oskaloosa, Iowa (Hawkeye WC)
vs. Kurt Botha (South Africa)

96 kg/211.5 lbs. - Taylor Moore, Kansas, City, Mo. (unattached)
vs. Alan Zaseev (Russia)