Here’s how Penn State wrestlers, commit fared at U20 United World Wrestling Championships
When the men’s freestyle portion of the United World Wrestling U20 World Championships got underway on Friday in Pontevedra, Spain, Penn State was well represented.
The Nittany Lions had four current wrestlers in Luke Lilledahl (57 kilograms, freshman), Zack Ryder (79 kg, freshman), Josh Barr (86 kg, redshirt freshman) and Connor Mirasola (92 kg, freshman) competing, along with commit PJ Duke (70 kg), who is a senior at Minisink Valley High School in New York.
Lilledahl, Ryder and Barr all made the finals for Team USA, which secured the team title on Saturday.
Lilledahl was the lone Penn State wrestler to come away with a title.
Lilledahl, who is expected to wrestle at 125 pounds, claimed his title on Saturday.
Lilledahl grabbed the lead first on Lev Pavlov thanks to a passivity point from Pavlov in the finals match. In the second period, the pair traded passivity points, which gave Lilledahl a 2-1 victory and the crown.
The freshman opened his title run on Friday with an easy 10-0 technical of Turkmenistan’s Kabe Matjanov in 1:07. In the quarterfinals, Lilledahl tallied a takedown in the first and second period to hang on for a 4-3 win over India’s Ankush Ankush.
Before his finals match, Lilledahl picked up a 4-1 win over Armenia’s Hayko Gasparyan in the semifinals.
Barr, who is a front-runner to replace Aaron Brooks at 197 pounds, saw his stellar tournament come to a close with a loss on Sunday.
Barr, who was seeded fifth, had no problems making the finals. He had three straight technical superiorities, outscoring his opponents, 30-0.
In the finals, Barr trailed Ibragim Kadiev, 3-1, after one period. Kadiev then poured it on in the second period to the tune of five points, and won 8-2 over Barr.
Ryder and Duke also got started on Friday with Lilledahl, with each securing their medals on Saturday.
Ryder, who is projected to wrestle at 174 pounds, rolled to the semifinals with three straight techs without giving up a single point. He outscored his opponents, 32-0.
In the semifinals, Ryder trailed 3-2 midway through the second period, when he snapped off a nice blast-double leg takedown. He tacked on a late takedown for good measure in a 6-3 win over the No. 1 seed in Said Saidulov.
Ryder was shut out by Turkmenistan’s Alp Arslan Begenjov, 5-0, in the finals.
Duke cruised to the semifinals outscoring his opponents, 32-1, to set up a controversial match with Magomed Baitukaev, who was taking advantage of match stoppages and returning to action.
Baitukaev led 3-0 after one period thanks to a takedown and a push out point. Duke opened the second period with a pair of push out points with 1:47 left in the match.
Baitukaev collected a takedown to extend his lead to 5-2 with 1:26 left, but Duke got to within one with a takedown of his own 20 seconds later that officials initially didn’t award.
Duke tied the bout with a push out point with seven seconds remaining, but fell on criteria, 5-5.
He rebounded to claim a bronze medal, but trailed 4-0 early in the match against Kazakhstan’s Aikyn Bolatuly.
Duke tallied 13 unanswered points to lead 13-7 after one period. In the second period, he snapped off five quick points to collect an 18-7 tech.
Mirasola, who was unseeded, opened his tournament on Saturday with three straight wins over seeded wrestlers. He had a pair of techs over the No. 14 seed and No. 3 seed to reach the quarterfinals.
He led 4-3 over Ukraine’s Oleh Kuzmenko Taison, who was seeded 11th, after one period in the quarterfinals. Mirasola, who is projected to wrestle at 197 pounds, scored five unanswered in the second period to win, 9-4.
After suffering a 5-4 loss to another unseeded wrestler in Bulgaria’s Sali Yusrefov Saliev in the semifinals, Mirasola suffered another loss, 6-2, to come up short of a medal on Sunday.
