Spenser Mango is shown competing at the 2011 World Championships. He was fifth at 60 kg at the Vantaa Cup in Finland. Larry Slater photo

VANTAA, Finland – Two U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers placed fifth on the final day of the Vantaa Cup of Greco-Roman on Sunday.

Taking fifth after dropping bronze-medal bouts were Spenser Mango (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 60 kg/132 lbs. and Ben Provisor (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) at 74 kg/163 lbs.

Mango, a 2008 Olympian, was competing up a weight class from his normal 55 kg/121 lbs. Mango won his first two matches, defeating Juho Huttunen of Finland and Stepan Maryanyan of Russia. In the semifinals, he fell to eventual champion Ivan Kuylakov of Russia, 1-0, 2-0. Kuylakov is a two-time champion at the respect Poddubny Tournament in Russia.

In the bronze-medal match, he was defeated by Ibragim Labazanov of Russia, 0-2, 0-3. Labazanov was a 2007 Junior World silver medalist.

Provisor, a 2011 U.S. Open champion, opened with a win over Vemeri Varkoski of Finland, then lost his second round match to Veli-Karri Suominen of Finland. When Suominen reached the finals, Provisor was drawn back into the repechage. He won two matches in a row, stopping Janne Kauppinen of Finland, 1-0, 7-0 and Mohammed Ahmed of Egypt, 2-0, 1-0.

In the bronze medal match, he lost to Evgeny Saleev of Russia, 0-1, 0-2.

Two-time World bronze medalist Justin Lester, competing up a weight class at 74 kg/163 lbs., was defeated in his opening match by Saleev and could not wrestle back when Saleev did not reach the finals.

The United States placed third in the team standings, behind Russia and Ukraine. Team USA was led by silver medalist Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. and four athletes who placed fifth.

“There were several past world, Olympic and European place winners at this tournament. Our guys wrestled at a higher level to keep pace with the competition and were in most of the matches to the end. A lot of our losses were to quality competitors and we gained valuable experience at this tournament,” said U.S. coach Dale Oliver.

VANTAA CUP
At Vantaa, Finland, November 19

60 kg/132 lbs.
Gold - Ivan Kuylakov (Russia)
Silver - Ildus Yamukov (Russia)
Bronze - Matti Kettunen (Finland)
Bronze - Ibragim Labazanov (Russia)
5th - Vincenzo Macri (Italy)
5th - Spenser Mango (USA)
7th - Stepan Maryanyan (Russia)
8th - Kostiantyn Balitskyi (Ukraine)
9th - Esa Uimomenen (Finland) 
10th - Sayed Abdelmonem Hamed (Egypt)

74 kg/163 lbs.
Gold - Ruslan Isakov (Russia)
Silver - Veli-Karri Suominen (Finland)
Bronze – I. Abdelhafiz Tolba (Egypt)
Bronze - Evgeny Saleev (Russia)
5th - Saverio Scaramuzzi (Italy)
5th - Ben Provisor (USA)
7th - Volodymyr Shatskykh (Ukraine)
8th - Mohamed Seddik Ahmed (Egypt)
9th - Petteri Kukkola (Finland)
10th -  Henri Valimaki (Finland)

96 kg/211.5 lbs.
Gold - Dimitriy Timchenko (Ukraine)
Silver - Daigoro Timoncini (Italy)
Bronze - Eerik Aps (Estonia)
Bronze - Timo Kallio (Finland)
5th - Beniamino Scibilia (Italy)
5th - Konstantin Efimov (Russia)
7th - Maksim Safaryan (Russia)
8th - Artur Shakhbanov (Russia)
9th - Jonne Jokela (Finland)
10th - Antti Hakala (Finland)

U.S. Greco-Roman performances

60 kg/132 lbs. - Donavan Depatto, Camp LeJeune, N.C. (U.S. Marines), dnp
LOSS I. Payzulaev (St. Petersburg – Russia), 0-1, 0-2

60 kg/132 lbs. – Spenser Mango, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army), 5th
WIN Juho Huttunen (HaHe – Finland), 6-0, 7-0
WIN Stepan Maryanyan (Russia), 3-0, 2-1
LOSS Ivan Kuylakov (Russia), 1-0, 2-0
LOSS Ibragim Labazanov (Russia), 0-2, 0-3

74 kg/163 lbs. - Ben Provisor, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids), 5th
WIN Vemeri Varkoski (YTK – Finland), 4-0, 3-0
LOSS Veli-Karri Suominen (VV-Finland)
WIN Janne Kauppinen (HaHe-Finland), 1-0, 7-0
WIN Mohammed Ahmed (Egypt), 2-0, 1-0
LOSS Evgeny Saleev (Russia), 0-1, 0-2

74 kg/163 lbs. - Corey Hope, Carol Stream, Ill. (USOEC), dnp
LOSS Mohammed Ahmed (Egypt), 0-2, 0-1

74 kg/163 lbs. – Marco Toledo, Colorado Springs, Colo., dnp
Vs. I Abdelhafiz Tolba (Egypt)

74 kg/163 lbs. – Justin Lester, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army), dnp
Vs. Evgeny Saleev (Russia), 0-3, 0-6

96 kg/211.5 lbs. - Pete Gounaridis, Leominster, Mass. (Sunkist Kids)
LOSS Maksim Safaryan (St. Petersburg – Russia), pin

96 kg/211.5 lbs. - Moises Hernandez, Camp LeJeune, N.C. (U.S. Marines)
LOSS Konstantin Efimov (Russia), 0-2, 0-1

Team standings (top 10)
1 Russia, 108
2 Ukraine, 57
3 United States, 37
4 Italy, 36
5 Egypt, 28
6 Estonia, 25
7 St Petersburg Club, Russia, 22
8 Finland, 20
9 VaaTo Club, Finland, 11
10 OP Club, Finland, 10