PATTAYA, Thailand – Last year, during her second trip to the FILA Junior World Championships, Illinois native Erin Golston came back to the United States with a bronze medal.

Now it’s three trips, two bronze medals. 

Golston (Lake in the Woods, Ill./USOEC)  topped Kazakhstan’s Aidana Utegulova 3-0, 3-0 in the bronze medal final at 44 kg/97 lbs. on Thursday at the Eastern Sports Training Center in Pattaya, Thailand. 

“It definitely feels good to get another medal,” said Golston. “It wasn’t the color I wanted, but I’ll come back next year.”

Golston wrestled her last two years of high school in Marquette, Mich., at Marquette Senior High School and trained at the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University.

“It’s definitely helped me tremendously,” she said. “I had to make a lot of sacrifices to get where I am today. I’m just blessed.”

Golston reached the semifinals after picking up a 1-0, 3-0 win over China’s Liqiong Xiu and a marathon 0-1, 1-0, 1-0 win over Madalina Linguraru of Romania. Each period went to the ball draw. Golston won the third by defending the leg for 30 seconds to advance to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Golston was pinned 43 seconds into the second period by Ukraine’s Ilona Semkiv. 

Jennifer Page (Orangevale, Calif./OCU/Gator) finished fifth at 67 kg/147.5 pounds in her first Junior World Championships. 

Page was knocked out of the championship bracket by Canada’s Dorothy Yeats 7-0, 3-0, but was brought back into the repechage after Yeats reached the finals. Page pinned Austria’s Martina Kuenz at 1:52 to reach the bronze medal match. 

Against Sara Dosho, Page had little warning of the match, as tournament officials went right into bronze medal matches approximately 15 minutes after the repechage competition had ended, a diversion of the scheduled one-hour break the Greco-Roman tournament followed the previous two days. 

Page opened up the day with a quick fall over Korea’s Han Bit Lee. Page scored a quick takedown from a front headlock position to lead 1-0. After a restart, Page again scored from the front headlock position, and this time, scooped the leg, locked up a cradle and pinned Lee at 1:14. 

Page fell to Dosho 7-1, 1-0 to finish in fifth place. 

Haley Augello (Lockport, Ill./King College/NYAC) and Jenna Burkert (Rocky Point, N.Y./NYAC) also competed on Thursday, but did not reach the medal matches.

Augello, wrestling at 51 kg/112 lbs., lost her first round match to Davaachimeg Erkhembayar of Mongolia 2-0, 1-0. Erkhembayar won the first period with a two-point exposure from the leg clinch after the two wrestled the first two minutes of regulation scoreless. Erkhembayar would finish a takedown with 10 seconds remaining in the second to knock Augello out of the championship bracket.

Erkhembayar reached the finals, pulling Augello back into the repechage. Augello lost to Germany’s Nina Hemmer by fall at 1:30 in the second period after losing the first period 5-3. She finished in 16th place.

Burkert, wrestling at 59 kg/130 lbs., started out strong in each of the first two periods against Jiamin Feng of China. She won the first 3-3 after scoring three points on a chin-whip, taking Feng to her back. Feng would score three takedowns to tie the score, but since Burkert had the higher scoring move, she won the period. In the second, Burkert again threw Feng to her back, this time from her knees, scoring two points. Feng rallied with two of her own late to take the period 2-2. In the third, Burkert tried a front-headlock roll and got caught on her back and was pinned at 1:16 into the period. 

Burkert finished in 18th place. 

The rest of the U.S. women’s freestyle team weighed in on Thursday and received their draws for Friday’s final day of women’s competition.

At 48 kg/105.5 lbs., Kristi Garr (Goodrich, Mich./OCU/Gator WC) will face returing Junior World bronze medalist Emila Vuc of Romania. 

At 55 kg/121 lbs., Sarah Hildebrandt (Granger, Ind./King College) will take on Elena Turcan of Moldova. Turcan was the European Junior bronze medalist and was 12th at last year’s Junior World Championships at 51 kg/112 lbs. 

At 63 kg/138 lbs., returning Junior World bronze medalist Alli Ragan (Carbondale, Ill./King College) will face Laura Gavriliuc of Romania. Gavriliuc placed fifth at last year’s Junior World Championships at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. 

At 72 kg/158 lbs., Julia Salata (Canton, Mich./King College) will take on Asian Junior champion Elmira Syzdykova of Kazakhstan. Syzdykova is the returning bronze medalist. 

FILA JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Pattaya, Thailand, September 6

Women’s Freestyle Results
44 kg/97 lbs
Gold – Rie Matsumoto (Japan)
Silver – Ilona Semkiv (Ukraine)
Bronze – Indu Chaudhary (India)
Bronze – Erin Golston (United States)
5th – Evin Demirhan (Turkey)
5th – Aidana Utegulova (Kazakhstan)
7th – Liqiong Xie (China)
8th – Madalina Linguraru (Romania)
9th- Emilia Budeanu (Moldova)
10th – Aidan Safarli (Azerbaijan)

51 kg/112 lbs. 
Gold – Davaachimeg Erkhembaya (Mongolia)
Silver – Merve Kenger (Turkey)
Bronze – Lilya Horishna (Ukraine)
Bronze- Chunling Yang (China)
5th - Fredrika Petersson (Sweden)
5th – Nina Hemmer (Germany)
7th- Patimat Bagomedova (Azerbaijan)
8th- Mareka Sidochi (Japan)
9th- Simona Pricob (Romania)
10th – Thongkan Kanjana (Thailand)
16th – Haley Augello (United States)

59 kg/130 lbs.
Gold – Chiho Hamada (Japan)
Silver – Hafize Sahin (Turkey)
Bronze – Jiamin Feng (China)
Bronze – Oksana Herhel (Ukraine)
5th – Pooja Dhanda (India)
5th- Tserenchimed Sukhee (Mongolia)
7th- Hee-Jeong Seo (Korea)
8th- Anzhela Fomenko (Russia)
9th- Agnieszka Krol (Poland)
10th- Mimi Hristova (Hungary)
18th- Jenna Burkert (United States)

67 kg/147.5 lbs.	
Gold – Dorothy Yeats (Canada)
Silver – Svetlana Babushkina (Russia)
Bronze – Sara Dosho (Japan)
Bronze – Daria Osocka (Poland)
5th – Jennifer Page (United States)
5th – Oyuntuya Otgonbat (Mongolia)
7th – Kyrstsina Fedarshka (Belarus)
8th- Rui Xu (China)
9th- Karyna Stankova (Ukraine)
10th- Kiymet Kocyigit (Turkey)

U.S. Women’s freestyle performances
44 kg/97 lbs. – Erin Golston, Lake in the Woods, Ill.- Bronze
WIN Liqiong Xiu (China) 1-0, 3-0
WIN Madalina Linguraru (Romania) 0-1, 1-0, 1-0
LOSS Ilona Semkiv (Ukraine) 5-1, Fall :34
WIN Aidana Utegulova (Kazakhstan) 3-0, 3-0

51 kg/112 lbs. – Haley Augello, Lockport, Ill.
LOSS Davaachimeg Erkhembayar (Mongolia) 2-0, 1-0
LOSS Nina Hemmer (Germany) 5-3, Fall 1:30

59 kg/130 lbs. – Jenna Burkert, Rocky Point, N.Y.
LOSS Jiamin Feng (China)

67 kg/147.5 lbs. – Jennifer Page, Orangevale, Calif. – 5th place
WIN Han-Bit Lee (Korea), Fall 1:14
LOSS Dorothy Yeats (Canada) 7-0, 3-0
WIN Martina Kuenz (Austria) Fall 1:52
LOSS Sara Dosho (Japan) 7-1, 1-0

U.S. Women’s Freestyle draws on Friday
48 kg/105.5 lbs. – Kristi Garr, Goodrich, Mich.
vs. Emilia Vuc (Romania)

55 kg/121 lbs. – Sarah Hildebrandt, Granger, Ind.
Vs. Elena Turcan (Moldova)

63 kg/138 lbs. – Alli Ragan, Carbondale, Ill.
vs. Laura Gavriliuc (Romania)

72 kg/158 lbs. – Julia Salata, Canton, Mich.
vs. Elmira Syzdykova (Kazakhstan)