Nick Simmons pins Alexandru Chirtoaca of Moldova with a spladle on Friday at the World Championships. Larry Slater photo.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – A wild first session saw all three American wrestlers reach the bronze-medal round at the World Championships on Friday at the Sinan Erdem Dome.

Freestyle wrestler Nick Simmons, and women’s freestyle wrestlers Ali Bernard and Adeline Gray will wrestle for bronze medals on Friday night.

Simmons and Bernard have qualified the U.S. for the 2012 Olympic Games in their weight classes by virtue of clinching a top-six finish at the Worlds. Gray competes in a non-Olympic weight class.

The U.S. is looking for its first medal on Day 5 of 7 of the World Championships. American wrestlers are 0-3 in bronze-medal matches in this tournament.

Simmons (Corvallis, Ore./Sunkist Kids) won his first four matches before falling to past World champion Radoslav Velikov of Bulgaria 1-0, 1-0 in the semifinals at 55 kg/121 lbs.

Simmons will face Iran's Hassan Rahimi in the bronze-medal match. Rahimi is a past Junior World champion who placed 10th in the 2010 Senior World Championships.

Bernard (New Ulm, Minn./Gator WC) navigated her way through a loaded bracket at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. to reach the semifinals.

She beat World fifth-place finisher Jenny Fransson of Sweden, Olympic gold medalist Jiao Wang of China and World silver medalist Ohnewa Akuffo of Canada to reach the semifinals.

Bernard then ran into four-time World champion and Olympic silver medalist Stanka Zlateva of Bulgaria in the semifinals. Zlateva earned a 3-1, 2-0 win to reach the finals.

Bernard, fifth in the 2008 Olympics, will face Guzel Manyurova of Kazakhstan in the bronze-medal match. Manyurova won a World bronze medal in 2007 and an Olympic silver medal in 2004 for Russia.

Gray (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) dropped her first match 4-1, 1-0 to China’s Luozhuoma Xi at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. but rebounded to beat three-time World champion Martine Dugrenier of Canada in the repechage at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. That win sent Gray into the bronze-medal match for the second time in the last three years.

Gray will face Burcu Orskaya of Turkey in the bronze-medal match. Orskaya placed seventh in the 2010 World Championships. Gray placed fifth in this event in 2009 before missing most of last season with an injury.

Freestyle wrestlers Reece Humphrey (Columbus, Ohio/New York AC), Cael Sanderson (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC) and Jake Varner (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC) are scheduled to compete on Saturday.

Humphrey competes at 60 kg/132 lbs. and is wrestling in his first Senior World Championships. He is a past World University silver and bronze medalist.

Sanderson, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist and the head coach at Penn State, will compete at 84 kg/185 lbs. He returned to competition this year after nearly a seven-year absence. Varner was a World quarterfinalist in 2009 at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.

Wrestling on Day 6 of 7 of the World Championships is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. local time on Friday.

U.S. RESULTS FROM FRIDAY’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Women’s freestyle

67 kg/147.5 lbs. – Adeline Gray, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)
LOSS Luozhuoma Xi (China), 1-4, 0-1
WIN Martine Dugrenier (Canada), 1-1, 3-1
vs. Burcu Orskaya (Turkey) for bronze

72 kg/158.5 lbs. – Ali Bernard, New Ulm, Minn. (Gator WC)
WIN Jenny Fransson (Sweden), 7-6, 2-1
WIN Jiao Wang (China), 4-6, 8-7, pin 1:56
WIN Ohnewa Akuffo (Canada), 1-0, pin 2nd period
LOSS Stanka Zlateva (Bulgaria), 1-3, 0-2
vs. Guzel Manyurova (Kazakhstan) for bronze

Men’s freestyle

55 kg/121 lbs. – Nick Simmons, Corvallis, Ore. (Sunkist Kids)
WIN Marcel Ewald (Germany), 1-0, 0-1, 1-0
WIN Alexandru Chirtoaca (Moldova), fall 1:25
WIN Nikolay Noev (Tajikistan), 2-1, 0-3, 4-3
WIN Shinichi Yumoto (Japan), 7-4, 6-5
LOSS Radoslav Velikov (Bulgaria), 0-1, 0-1
vs. Hassan Rahimi (Iran) for bronze