2003 U.S. Women’s Nationals preview at 59 kg/130 lbs.

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
05/03/2003


The top athlete at this division is veteran Lauren Lamb, a six-time World team member who won her first U.S. Nationals title as a teenager. Lamb claimed the U.S. Nationals and World Team Trials last year. She also won a major international meet in Sweden this winter, showing that she will not easily let go of her spot at the top. Lamb is very tough to score on and uses her experience once she gets a lead in a match. Lamb has still not won a World medal, with her highest placement being fifth. She will have some decisions to make if she wants to try out for an Olympic spot next year, whether to go up or down.    Michigan high school sensation Brandy Rosenbrock of Shamrock placed second to Lamb in the World Team Trials, her top Senior-level achievement. She has dominated the age-group wrestling scene and qualified for a number of U.S. youth teams, including this year's Junior World team. Rosenbrock won TheMat.com/ASICS Girls High School Wrestler of the Year award last year as a junior.    Ranked at No. 3 is veteran Tonya Evinger of Stars and Stripes, who has been near the top of the national ladder since competing in high school. Evinger won a silver medal at the 2002 Pan American Championships. Also in the hunt is two-time U.S. Nationals runner-up Erin Tomeo of the Sunkist Kids, who has battled injuries this season but has a long history of national-level achievements. Tomeo is a USOTC resident athlete, which could help her develop more consistency in future performance    If she drops to this weight, Sally Roberts of the Gator WC has shown tremendous skill, including a gold medal at the Dave Schultz Memorial International, where she pinned Lamb in the finals. Roberts did not make this division at the University Nationals, but jumped up and still won the tournament. Kiersten Hyatt and Leigh Jaynes, teammates at Missouri Valley College, placed at this weight last year in both the U.S. Nationals and World Team Trials. Jaynes may be up a weight this season, and Hyatt may move down. Both are national-calibre competitors when they are wrestling well.    Among the college wrestlers expected to be in the race are Brooke Bogren of Cumberland, Sharon Jacobsen of UM-Morris, Lindsey Owens of Menlo and Jaimie Alvesteffer of Cumberland. Bogren was second to Rosenbrock at the FILA Junior Nationals this year, and was a national placewinner last year at a lower weight class. Owens won a gold medal at the first ASICS Junior Nationals last year, defeating a number of talented competitors, and has continued her improvement in college.    This weight class may suffer some defections, either down or up in weight, and young newcomers may make their mark at this year's U.S. Nationals. As a non-Olympic weight, it will be interesting to see who chooses to stay here and who does not.    2002 U.S. Women's Nationals results at 59 kg/130 lbs.  1st -Lauren Lamb, Farmington, N.Y. (Michigan WC) dec. Erin Tomeo, Volant, Pa. (Sunkist Kids), 6-5, ot, 6:49  3rd - Tonya Evinger, Bates City, Mo. (Stars and Stripes) pin Brandy Rosenbrock, Warren, Mich. (Shamrock), 4:32  5th - Kiersten Hyatt, Carmichael, Calif. (Missouri Valley) dec. Leigh Jaynes, Burlington, N.J. (Missouri Valley), 4-0