TORINO, Italy – Zac Nielsen (Zimmerman, Minn./Minnesota Storm) placed fifth at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. in Greco-Roman on the final day of the 2010 FISU University World Championships, held at the Pala Ruffini arena on Saturday. He lost to Marcin Olejniczac of Poland in the bronze-medal match, 0-1, 0-2. He opened with a win over Tomislav Lavric from Croatia, 1-0, 3-0, then was defeated in the quarterfinals by Diagoro Timoncini of Italy, 0-1, 0-1. When Timoncini reached the finals, Nielsen was pulled back into the repechage. Nielsen defeated J. Svetislav from Serbia, 2-0, 2-0 to qualify for the bronze-medal bout. “Zac wrestled really well,†said National Greco-Roman Developmental Coach Ike Anderson. “The two guys he lost to were bigger than him. He still has to grow into this weight class a bit. He is a good fighter. He can compete at this level. He wrestled the best on the team, and it showed.†Nielsen is a member of the U.S. Olympic Education Program at Northern Michigan Univ. He had the highest placement in the tournament for the U.S. Greco-Roman team. He was a member of the 2008 U.S. Junior World Team. Joe Kemmerer (Mountain Top, Pa./Virginia Gold) placed eighth at 60 kg/132 lbs. He opened with a victory over Jakub Szczepaniak of Poland, 0-1, 5-0, 1-0. In the quarterfinals, he lost to Takumi Yokohama of Japan, 3-4, 0-4. When Yokohama was beaten in the semifinals, Kemmerer was not eligible for the repechage rounds. Aaron Briggs (Tucson, Ariz./New York AC) dropped his only match at 74 kg/163 lbs. and did not place in the top 10. Kemmerer was a two-time Div. II national champion for Kutztown Univ., while Briggs was a member of the USOEC program at Northern Michigan. The United States placed 12th in a very competitive event, scoring 14 points. Iran won the team title with 64 points, followed by Turkey with 57 points and Russia with 40 points. A number of Senior-level stars were entered in the event in Greco-Roman. During the week, the United States won a total of five medals. Claiming gold medals were women’s freestyle wrestlers Elena Pirozhkova (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. and Ali Bernard (New Ulm, Minn./Gator WC) at 72 kg/158.5 lbs Winning bronze medals were women’s freestyle wrestlers Gabrielle Henry (Columbus, Ohio/Univ. of the Cumberlands) at 51 kg/112.25 lbs. and Trinity Plessinger (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids), plus men’s freestyle wrestler Reece Humphrey (Columbus, Ohio/New York AC) at 60 kg/132 lbs. FISU WORLD UNIVERSITY CHAMPIONSHIPS At Torino, Italy, Oct. 30 Greco-Roman results 60 kg/132 lbs. Gold - Orkhan Pashayev (Azerbaijan) Silver - Ivan Blattsev (Russia) Bronze - Abdussamet Ugurli (Turkey) Bronze - Takumi Yokoyama (Japan) 5th – Alexandar Alexsandrov (Bulgaria) 5th – Donior Islamov (Moldova) 74 kg/163 lbs. Gold - Adel Baeitabar (Iran) Silver - Mykola Daragan (Ukraine) Bronze - Seref Tufenk (Turkey) Bronze – M. Magomedaliev (Russia) 5th – Valery Palenski (Belarus) 5th – Martin Szabo (Hungary) 96 kg/211.5 lbs. Gold - Moammadreza Akbari (Iran) Silver - Daigoro Timoncini (Italy) Bronze – Ahmet Tacyildiz (Turkey) Bronze - Marcin Olejniczac (Poland) 5th – Zac Nielsen (USA) 5th – Volodymir Teslenko (Ukraine) U.S. Greco-Roman performances 60 kg/132 lbs. - Joe Kemmerer (Mountain Top, Pa./Virginia Gold), 8th WIN Jakub Szczepaniak (Poland), 0-1, 5-0, 1-0 LOSS Takumi Yokohama (Japan), 3-4, 0-4 74 kg/163 lbs. - Aaron Briggs (Tucson, Ariz./New York AC), dnp/12th LOSS Ciro Russo (Italy), 1-1, 0-2 96 kg/211.5 lbs. - Zac Nielsen (Zimmerman, Minn./Minnesota Storm), 5th WIN Tomislav Lavric (Croatia), 1-0, 3-0 LOSS Diagoro Timoncini (Italy), 0-1, 0-1 WIN J. Svetislav (Serbia), 2-0, 2-0 LOSS Marcin Olejniczac (Poland), 0-1, 0-2 Team Standings 1 Iran, 64 2 Turkey, 57 3 Russia, 40 4 Poland, 37 5 Azerbaijan, 29 6 Ukraine, 26 7 Japan, 22 8 Hungary, 19 9 Belarus, 16 10 Italy, 15 11 Bulgaria, 15 12 USA, 14 13 Estonia, 12 14 Moldova, 9 15 Finland, 7 16 Croatia, 4 17 Norway, 4 18 Sweden, 4 19 Spain, 3 20 Greece, 1