Williams, Montgomery secure World Championship medals; three wrestlers from second group advance

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Heather Van Peursem (USA Wrestling)
11/24/2001


SOFIA, BULGARIA - The U.S. captured two medals in the first round of finals Saturday evening. Tocarra Montgomery (68kg) earned a silver after falling 4-1 to Christine Nordhagen of Canada in the finals, while Joe Williams (76kg) came back from his semi finals loss with a dominant 11-0 tech fall of Radion Ketanti of Slovakia.    Williams, started the day winning his quarter finals over Hajizadeh Joy Mehdi of Iran with a 7-3 decision. Williams entered the second period of the match at a 3-0 deficit, then scored four takedowns and exposure points to secure a semi finals position. In his semi finals match, Williams faced Bouvaisa Satiev of Russia. In a hard fought battle, Williams lost the match 5-4 after a controversial non-cal in which Williams threw Satiev with three seconds left. However, officials ruled that he had stepped out of bounds and did not award any points.    "It's not just about beating your opponent, said Williams. "You also have to wrestle above the officials when the calls don't go your way."    After pinning her way through her pool and her semi final match, Montgomery met fout-time World Champion Christine Nordhagen from Canada. Montgomery came back from a 2-0 deficit in the first 30 seconds of the match scoring a takedown at the edge of the mat to narrow the gap 2-1 going into the second period. Nordhagen would score two more exposure points in the second period in the 4-1 decision.    After winning her pool with three pins of her pool opponent, Montgomery skipped with quarter final round and went directly into the semis where she met Sveta Yaroshevitch of Russia. Her Russian opponent would score the first two points of the match on takedowns before Montgomery hit two takedowns, then headlocked and pinned Yaroshevitch shortly after the start of the second period.    The second group of U.S wrestlers wrestled the third pool round yesterday, advancing three out of pool competition.    At 51kg, Stephanie Murate handed a 9-3 decision to Poubouridou of Greece to win her pool and secure a quarter final position where she will face Canadian Lyndsay Belisle,     Brandon Eggum (85kg) secured his quarter final position winning the first two pool rounds. He is set to challenge Magomed Kurugliyev (KAZ) in the quarters Sunday morning     Kerry McCoy (130kg), who drew into the last pool, advanced directly to a semi final position after pinning Golegiamts Usukhbayar of Mongolia in third pool round competition. Less than a minute into the match McCoy is called for passivity and put in par terre position. In an gut wrench attempt by Usukhbayar, McCoy caught Usukhbayar on his back for the fall at 1:17. McCoy's semi final opponent will be determined during the quarter finals Sunday morning.    Eric Guerrero (58kg), Chris Bono (69kg), and Jenna Pavlik (75kg) all won their third pool round match Saturday, but did not advance out of their pools.    Guerrero and Bono both soundly tech falled their opponents; Aly Abou Talep of Egypt, 12-0 in 3:42 and Carlos Dominguez of Spain, 11-0 in 4:13, respectively. While Pavlik secured a fall over Damos Yasmili (VEN) in 1:28.    Quarter final rounds are set to begin at 10 a.m. Sunday morning.