VARNA, Bulgaria - Mark Stenberg (Lockport, Ill./USOEC) placed fifth, the top performance among American wrestlers on the final day the Petko Sirakov/Ivan Illiev Junior International on Sunday. 

FILA Junior athletes are 17-20 years old. U.S. athletes competed in both men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Stenberg opened with two wins, defeating Devin Peterson of the USA and Tursynov Nursultan of Kazakhstan. He was beaten in the semifinals by eventual silver medalist Stjepan Lavric of Croatia, 0-1, 2-4.

He was beaten in a controversial bronze-medal match by Nikolay Dobrev of Bulgaria, 0-2, 2-0, 1-3. U.S. coaches believed that Stenberg scored a three-point move in the closing moments of the match which was not awarded by referees. 

Four other U.S. wrestlers competed in Greco-Roman on Sunday, including two athletes who had wrestled in freestyle earlier in the weekend.

The only other American to place in the top 10 of their division in Greco-Roman was Marcus Finau (Oahu, Hawaii/USOEC), who was seventh at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. Finau finished with a 1-1 record. He did not qualify for the repechage when the opponent he lost to failed to make the finals.

“Our guys are making a lot of mistake in the later part of the matches,” said National Greco-Roman Developmental Coach Ike Anderson. “We are not wrestling to win; we are wrestling hoping the other guy may make a mistake. We need to go out there and take it to them.”

The U.S. had one athlete in the men’s freestyle division on Sunday, Dalton Brady (Queen Creek, Ariz.) at 50 kg/110 lbs., who dropped his only bout of the day to Ali Reza Hatami (Iran), 0-1, 0-2. When Hatami was beaten in the semifinals, Brady was not eligible for the repechage rounds.

"While on tour in Bulgaria, our young men competed very hard and in most cases got their first taste of international competition,” ,” said National Freestyle Developmental Coach Bill Zadick. “I hope they will each use this experience as not just an experience but, as a motivator for future improvement. It is my aim, as the National Freestyle Development Coach, to see that this happens.”

“Overall, I feel we have to increase our skill level and our wrestling 'feel' to be able to compete and win on the international stage. I believe we have great athletes in the USA who work hard and want to win very much. I think we have got to combine this passion with very focused and smart training to improve in some key areas. If we can accomplish these tasks, I feel we will set ourselves up for a lot of future success,” said Zadick.

PETKO SIRAKOV/IVAN ILLIEV JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL
At Varna, Bulgaria, March 13

Greco-Roman results

55 kg/121 lbs.
Gold – Behzad Ghasemi (Iran)
Silver – Nurlybek Mukhabmetalin (Kazakhstan)
Bronze – Serif Kilic (Turkey)
Bronze – Zhaksiyk Aytbayev (Kazakhstan)
5th – Nurlan Asgarov (Azerbaijan)
5th – Petar Aluchev (Bulgaria)

84 kg/185 lbs.
Gold – Majid Aliyarifeizabadi (Iran)
Silver – Stjepan Lavric (Croatia)
Bronze – Nikolay Nikityk (Kazakhstan)
Bronze – Nikolay Dobrev (Bulgaria)
5th – Mark Stenberg (USA)
5th – Sultan Ismayilov (Azerbaijan)

96 kg/211.5 lbs.
Gold – Gyorgy Rizmayer (Hungary)
Silver – Serkan Aydemir (Turkey)
Bronze – Taha Yasin Dundar (Turkey)
Bronze – Huysein Hyusein (Bulgaria)
5th – Viktor Tzanov (Bulgaria)
5th – Royal Mirzoyev (Azerbaijan)

U.S. Greco-Roman performances

55 kg/121 lbs. - Aaron Runzo, Virginia Beach, Va. (USOEC), dnp
LOSS Nurtan Asgaroz (Azerbaijan)

84 kg/185 lbs. - Mark Stenberg, Lockport, Ill. (USOEC), 5th
WIN Devin Peterson (USA), 1-0, 2-0
WIN Tursynov Nursultan (Kazakhstan), 2-1, 3-1
LOSS Stjepan Lavric (Croatia), 0-1, 2-4
LOSS Nikolay Dobrev (Bulgaria), 0-2, 2-0, 1-3

84 kg/185 lbs. - Devin Peterson, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., dnp
LOSS Mark Stenberg (USA), 0-1, 0-2

96 kg/211.5 lbs. – Tanner Hall, Meridian, Idaho, dnp
Vs. Taha Yasin Dundar (Turkey), 0-4, 1-0, 0-7

96 kg/211.5 lbs. - Marcus Finau, Oahu, Hawaii (USOEC), 7th
WIN Luca Minguzzi (Italy), 3-0, 4-2, 2-0
LOSS Viktor Tzanov (Bulgaria), 0-1, 2-3

Men’s freestyle results

50 kg/110 lbs.
Gold – Mehran Sheikin (Iran)
Silver – Zoheir Elouarraque (France)
Bronze – Ali Reza Hatami (Iran)
Bronze – Georgi Vangelov (Bulgaria)
5th – Vladimir Tumparov (Bulgaria)
5th – Zhan Stilianov (Bulgaria)

60 kg/132 lbs.
Gold – Behnam Ehsanpoor (Iran)
Silver – Ashirov Meirzhan (Kazakhstan)
Bronze – Stefan Ivanov (Bulgaria)
Bronze – Boycho Boychev (Bulgaria)
5th – Joszef Molnar (Hungary)
5th – Brandon Diaz (Mexico)

120 kg/264.5 lbs. 
Gold – Jaber Sadeghzadehnoukolaei (Iran)
Silver – Ivan Sacharov (Bulgaria)
Bronze – Richard Czercicz (Hungary)
Bronze – Nikola Balazov (Bulgaria)
5th – Bincho Stoyanov (Bulgaria)
5th – Alibi Numakhanbetov (Kazakhstan)

U.S. freestyle performances

50 kg/110 lbs. - Dalton Brady, Queen Creek, Ariz., 10th
LOSS Ali Reza Hatami (Iran), 0-1, 0-2