University World gold medalist Max Nowry (right) and bronze medalist Jamel Johnson.

KOURTANE, Finland – American Max Nowry captured a gold medal and teammate Jamel Johnson earned a bronze medal at the University World Championships in Greco-Roman wrestling on Friday.

Nowry (Wheeling, Ill./New York AC) downed Dzmitry Brychak of Belarus 6-0, 1-0 in the gold-medal match at 55 kg/121 lbs.

Nowry opened with a 1-0, 2-0 win over Poland’s Marcin Kunysz before pinning Turkey’s Seref Kilic in the semifinals. Kunysz placed fifth in the 2010 University Worlds and Kilic placed fifth in the 2012 Junior World Championships.

“I had been close to winning a medal in the past at the Junior World Championships and I just really had the drive to get something here,” Nowry said. “I wanted to score on my feet and push the pace. I felt really good in the finals and wore the guy down.

“It was a real good day for our team. This was big for the Greco program.”

The U.S. has now won three World University titles at 55 kilos since 2006. Spenser Mango won a World University crown at 55 in 2006 and Sam Hazewinkel followed with a title in the same weight class in 2008.

Johnson (Greensboro, N.C./YES Wrestling) won a bronze medal after defeating Romania’s L. Macarei-Storus 4-0, 3-0 at 60 kg/132 lbs.

Johnson opened by defeating Sofian Salah of France 3-0, 0-2, 2-0. He followed by downing Japan’s Masaki Aoki 1-0, 2-0 in the quarterfinals. He then fell to Poland’s Michal Tracz in the semifinals. Tracz, 11th in the 2010 Junior Worlds, won 2-0, 1-0.

“I just stayed focused and kept moving forward,” Johnson said. “It’s a great honor to win a medal for my country and see our flag raised. I trained hard and I felt like I belonged here.”

American Jon Anderson (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) finished fifth at 74 kg/163 lbs.

Anderson won his first two matches before falling to eventual champion H. Alizadehpournia of Iran 1-0, 3-0 in the semifinals. He then fell to Russia’s Konstantin Shipaev in the match for bronze.

Anderson defeated Finland’s Veli-Karri Suominen and Poland’s Piotr Przepiorka to reach the semifinals.

The U.S. is in second place in the team race with 24 points through four of seven weight classes. Belarus leads with 27 points. Turkey is third with 23, followed by Russia (20) and Iran (20).

“It was a really good day for us,” U.S. Coach Ike Anderson said. “Our guys wrestled really well and competed hard. Max did a great job – he didn’t even have to go to a third period. Jamel bounced back to win a bronze medal and Jon Anderson wrestled tough.”

American Nick Alvarez dropped his first match at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. Alvarez fell in three periods to Finland’s Petteri Martikainen. Alvarez was eliminated when Martikainen lost his next match.

UNIVERSITY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Kourtane, Finland, October 5

Greco-Roman results

55 kg/121 lbs.
Gold – Max Nowry (USA)
Silver – Dzmitry Brychak (Belarus)
Bronze – Seref Kilic (Turkey)
Bronze – Ivan Blatsev (Russia)
5th – Marcin Kunysz (Poland)
5th – Tomaski Nakano (Japan)
7th – Mohsen Hajpour (Iran)
8th – Radostin Shindov (Bulgaria)

60 kg/132 lbs.
Gold – Donior Islamov (Moldova)
Silver – Michal Tracz (Poland)
Bronze – Jamel Johnson (USA)
Bronze – Dzmitry Alenski (Belarus)
5th – Ugur Tufenk (Turkey)
5th – L. Macarei-Storus (Romania)
7th – Feihu Wan (China)
8th – Masaki Aoki (Japan)
9th – Bagher Tavakkolian (Iran)
10th – Sofian Salah (France)

66 kg/145.5 lbs.
Gold – Istvan Kozak (Hungary)
Silver – Meviut Arik (Turkey)
Bronze – C. Motoi (Romania)
Bronze – Yarasiau Kardash (Belarus)
5th – Petteri Martikainen (Finland)
5th – Marat Shokarov (Russia)
7th – Ali Mohammadi (Iran)
8th – Takahiro Inoue (Japan)
9th – Mateusz Wanke (Poland)
10th – Dmytro Stognushko (Ukraine)

74 kg/163 lbs.
Gold – H. Alizadehpournia (Iran)
Silver – Laszio Szabo (Hungary)
Bronze – Konstantin Shipaev (Russia)
Bronze – Damian Hartmann (Germany)
5th – Jon Anderson (USA)
5th – Daniel Aleksandrov (Bulgaria)
7th – Diego Jussot (France)
8th – Maksym Biloborodov (Ukraine)
9th – Valery Palenski (Belarus)
10th – A Iantock (Romania)

U.S. Greco-Roman results

55 kg/121 lbs. – Max Nowry, Wheeling, Ill. (New York AC) – GOLD MEDAL
WIN Marcin Kunysz (Poland), 1-0, 2-0
WIN Seref Kilic (Turkey) 6-0, fall 2nd period
WIN Dzmitry Brychak (Belarus), 6-0, 1-0

60 kg/132 lbs. – Jamel Johnson, Greensboro, N.C. (YES Wrestling) – BRONZE MEDAL
WIN Sofian Salah (France), 3-0, 0-2, 2-0
WIN Masaki Aoki (Japan) 1-0, 2-0
LOSS Michal Tracz (Poland), 0-2, 0-1
WIN L. Macarei-Storus (Romania) 4-0, 3-0

66 kg/145.5 lbs. – Nick Alvarez, Miami, Fla. (USOEC)
LOSS Petteri Martikainen (Finland), 0-3, 1-0, 0-4

74 kg/163 lbs. – Jon Anderson, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) – 5th
WIN Veli-Karri Suominen (Finland), 4-0, 2-3, 6-0
WIN Piotr Przepiorka (Poland), 1-0, 0-1, 5-0
LOSS H. Alizadehpournia (Iran), 0-1, 0-3
LOSS Konstantin Shipaev (Russia), 1-3, 0-1

U.S. Greco-Roman draws for Saturday

84 kg/185 lbs. – Mark Stenberg, Lockport, Ill. (New York AC)
vs. Adrian Mocanu (Moldova)

96 kg/211.5 lbs. – Caylor Williams, Greensboro, N.C. (YES Wrestling)
vs. Robert Papp (Romania), 2008 Junior World bronze medalist

120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Toby Erickson, East Helena, Montana (New York AC)
vs. Shori Maekawa (Japan), Fifth in 2012 Asian Championships