Kyle Snyder gets in on a double leg against Koki Yamamoto (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)NEW YORK -- Led by Olympic champions Kyle Snyder, Jordan Burroughs and Helen Maroulis, the Americans were dominant against Japan at the Beat the Streets Benefit in Times Square on Wednesday night.
The United States swept the seven freestyle matches against Japan and picked up wins in two of the three women's wrestling matches.
The 21-year-old Snyder cruised to a 10-0 technical fall over Koki Yamamoto at 97 kilograms. The 2016 Olympic gold medalist started the match with bang, picking up four points off a double leg. He added three more takedowns in the first period to finish the match quickly.
"I was just happy Japan could bring a guy for my weight class," said Snyder, who won his second NCAA title at Ohio State two months ago. "Competing out here is so cool, as you guys can see. It's just good to be able to compete at this event. I wasn't able to last year, so I'm glad I could this year."
Jordan Burroughs gets his hand raised after defeating Sohsuke Takatani (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Burroughs, competing in his seventh Beat the Streets event, claimed a convincing 9-2 victory over world silver medalist Sohsuke Takatani in the final match of the event at 74 kilograms. The score was 1-1 after the opening period before Burroughs broke it open in the second period.
"It's a difficult position that I'm in," said Burroughs, a three-time world champion who Olympic gold in London in 2012. "I'm probably the most reviewed, most watched, most scouted wrestler. I never have a game plan. My game plan is to score as many points as possible. Sometimes that's extremely difficult because those guys have game plans. So I just keep firing off what I have, continue to improve in positions and have fun."
Helen Maroulis defeated Yuzuru Kumano (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Maroulis, who became the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in women's wrestling last summer in Rio, notched a 7-4 victory over Yuzuru Kumano. The American scored two first-period takedowns to build a 5-0 lead at the break. Maroulis went up 7-0 after securing another takedown with just under a minute remaining. Kumano scored four points late in the match, but it was too little too late.
"I was really excited to wrestle this Japanese girl," said Maroulis, who defeated Japanese wrestling legend Saori Yoshida to win her Olympic gold medal. "I heard she won Junior Worlds. Japan is always at the top. They're always performing the best. So any time you get to wrestle one of them, it's a really great experience. They always bring a fire. They always bring a discipline and a respect and push. So you know it's always going to be a good battle. It was really just amazing to get that here today, and to get that on this stage, for this cause."
World champion Logan Stieber rolled to a technical fall, 11-0, over Shingo Arimoto at 61 kilograms, improving his record at Beat the Streets events to 3-1.
Tony Ramos (57 kilograms), James Green (70 kilograms) and Nick Gwiazdowski (125 kilograms) also picked up technical falls by shutout.
David Taylor locks up cradle against Takahiro Murayama (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)World No. 6 David Taylor used a cradle to earn a fall in the first period over Takahiro Murayama at 86 kilograms.
"I take a lot of pride in wrestling in Times Square, wrestling for the United States," said Taylor, who was named Outstanding Wrestler at the U.S. Open last month. "I've had a lot of great opponents over the years. Right now, just going out, having fun. Going out wrestling as hard as I can. Ben Askren told me to hit a cradle today. I haven't hit one in a while, so I was trying really hard for that today. Wrestling right now is more than it's ever been. I'm wrestling the best guys in the world, so I can't complain."
Two Americans competed at 65 kilograms, U.S. Open champion Jordan Oliver and Hodge Trophy winner Zain Retherford.
Italy's Frank Chamizo, a world champion and Olympic bronze medalist, edged Jordan Oliver 7-6 in an action-filled match. Retherford topped Daichi Takatani 8-2.
In women's wrestling, Tamyra Mensah earned a 5-1 victory over Miwa Morikawa at 69 kilograms. Japan's lone win came from Yuki Irie, who defeated Victoria Anthony 10-6 at 48 kilograms.
Daton Fix opened the event with a technical fall victory over Joey Melendez (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Oklahoma State signee Daton Fix, the nation's No. 4 wrestler in the Class of 2017, opened the event with a 14-1 technical fall over Joey Melendez.
Results
High school:
55 kilograms: Daton Fix (Oklahoma) tech. fall Joey Melendez (Illinois), 14-1
Women's wrestling:
48 kilograms: Yuki Irie (Japan) dec. Victoria Anthony (USA), 10-6
69 kilograms: Tamyra Mensah (USA) dec. Miwa Morikawa (Japan), 5-1
58 kilograms: Helen Maroulis (USA) dec. Yuzuru Kumano (Japan), 7-4
Freestyle:
70 kilograms: Frank Chamizo (Italy) dec. Jordan Oliver (USA), 7-6
57 kilograms: Tony Ramos (USA) tech. fall Steven Takahashi (Canada), 10-0
61 kilograms: Logan Stieber (USA) tech. fall Shingo Arimoto (Japan), 11-0
65 kilograms: Zain Retherford (USA) dec. Daichi Takatani (Japan), 8-2
70 kilograms: James Green (USA) tech. fall Nobuyoshi Takojima (Japan), 10-0
86 kilograms: David Taylor (USA) pinned Takahiro Murayama (Japan), 1:19
97 kilograms: Kyle Snyder (USA) tech. fall Koki Yamamoto (Japan), 10-0
125 kilograms: Nick Gwiazdowski (USA) tech. fall Katsutoshi Kanazawa (Japan), 11-0
74 kilograms: Jordan Burroughs (USA) dec. Sohsuke Takatani (Japan), 9-2
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now