Sieracki wins gold, U.S. wins five medals overall at Vantaa Cup in Vantaa, Finland
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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
11/24/2003
2001 U.S. World Team member Keith Sieracki (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) captured a gold medal at 84 kg/185 lbs. in the 2003 Vantaa Cup held in Vantaa, Finland, Nov. 22-23. Winning silver medals for the United States were Lindsey Durlacher (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Paul Devlin (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. U.S. wrestlers capturing bronze medals were Glenn Nieradka (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 60 kg/132 lbs. and 2002 World Champion Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. Sieracki defeated Marko Yli-Hannuksela of Finland 4-2 in the gold-medal finals. Yli-Hannuksela was a 1997 World Champion and 2000 Olympic silver medalist. Sieracki outscores his four opponents by a combined score of 21-2. Durlacher won all three of his pool matches to advance to the gold-medal match. He lost in the finals to 2000 Junior European World Champion Sergei Petrov of Russia by a 3-0 score. Devlin dropped a 4-0 decision to Juha Ahokas of Finland in his gold-medal match. Ahokas placed seventh in the 2003 World Championships and has competed in seven World Championships and two Olympic Games overall. Nieradka defeated Matti Kettunen of Finland with a first-period pin. Nieradka's only loss was to eventual champion Akor Mazaian of Russia by a 3-2 overtime score in the semifinals. Byers dropped his first pool match of the tournament to Ahokas by a 3-2 score before coming back to win his next three bouts to win the bronze medal. The other U.S. wrestler who won his pool was Steve Woods (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Air Force) at 74 kg/163 lbs.