ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Spencer Woods is out. His AIN opponent Shafarenka just lost. Koontz is up on Mat C in two. He's the last man standing in the championship bracket today for the World Leader in Freedom, the Land of Liberty, the United States of America!

Schultz gets pinned in the first minute. The Lithuanian bear hugged and took him straight to the mat. That was unfortunate.

Disappointment! Kamal Bey goes out very active. Over-extends himself and gets thrown. Now down 6-0 after an additional gut, he again is aggressive and gets taken down. Loses 0-8. Don't know Sulymanov's chances at the finals. He'll have to face the #1 seed. Man, you can lose a dream in an eye blink in Greco. Even with the disappointment, Bey is gracious at the end. I'm still a Bey Believer, and will always be a Bey fan, but not this year (probably).

Kamal Bey on deck at Mat D. He's got the Azerbaijani Suleymanov. Just who I thought he'd see.

Brady Koontz up 7-0 at the break. He's comically taller than his Korean foe. Koontz called for passivity when he was anything but. That's my hang-up again with Greco. The Korean gets that point and a gut. Brady almost pins the over-eager tiny man. 7-3 win for Koontz! Really, really nice day so far for the beacon of Democracy in the World!

Colton Schultz with the pin! To the poster above who asked about medal threats from the USA, well, in my non-expert opinion, it is the two winners on the day so far: Bey and Schultz. They call it a tech fall 9-1 and not a pin. Schultz was stronger and had a better gas tank than his opponent. One thing I really dislike about Greco is that they will put both men down in the match, even in cases like this when Schultz so obviously dominated the action.

Cohlton Schultz on Mat D. He looks bigger than ever, even bigger than Micic if you can believe that. He got the first passivity point but couldn't turn his Czech opponent. Not a good sign, that. Then, he got a pushout. That's a good sign! 2-0 Schultz at the break.

Spencer Woods dropped a 5-3 match to Shafarenka of AIN. I thought he was Bulgaria? Close match. Good fight from Woods but I doubt he gets a chance at repechage.

Dang! The one day I fall asleep and miss the start of the tournament. On the results board, it looks like a 4-1 win. I'm so pissed at myself!

I actually think the three ILLINOIS wrestlers have good draws. They all get winnable matches in the first round. Then, for Kamal Bey, his toughest opponent before the semifinals is a guy he doubled up at the last ranking series tournament. That fellow is the #1 seed, but Bey has shown he can beat him. Joe Rau has a guy in the first round that he pinned two years ago, and Zac Braunagel gets a young fellow who is 1-4 in age-group Asian Championships. But the best part of their draws is their second round matches. They both get Greco legends. So, they either shock the world or have a nice chance for repechage. Remember, though, they don't call me Homelander for nothing!

Nice win for Adeline! Really impressive coming back to the sport after twins.

I've finished up a post about the ILLINOIS guys going Greco in the next few days. The brackets are out. I have a question: Zac Braunagel faces a first round opponent named Annamammedow from Turkmenistan at 87 kilos. There is not a wrestler by that name ranked in the top 100 by UWW at 87, 82 or 97 kg. I also checked the google and youtube and zilch. Finally, I translated "Wrestling Greco Annamammedow" into the Turkmen language (göreş Annamammedow grek) and got bupkis. Anybody know this guy?

That was me screaming.

Bruntil wins! And more importantly to me, she threatened or attempted about 8 footsweeps! I love those. Even when they don't work, they help out.

Pending challenge, Bruntil a 5-3 winner against China. China was close to a takedown in the final seconds but never gained control. Challenge should be lost.

Elor 7-0 winner over Turkey. So strong with great timing. That's a pretty sweet combo.

Adeline Gray with the folkstyle half nelson for the pin. She wrestles for Bronze now, right? Kayla Miracle picks her opponent off the ground, holds her up, then walks her out of bounds for the tech. She had the strength to do that with about :10 left in the match.

Huge pinfall for Page!

Japan wins, Gray to repechage.

Unfortunately, Helen had 0 for Sakurai.

In the first period, the ref blew his whistle calling passivity on the Mongolian just as Hildebrandt was securing a takedown. That has to be like the other team in a basketball game hitting a bank shot three-pointer as the half-time buzzer goes off. A bad omen.

What's that supposed to mean?

These Azerbaijaini women are tough, but Maroulis with the easy win.

I would have her on my team any day. She fought like a dog when down, and she is lightening quick. Of course, she'd be JV behind Hildebrandt. Still, I hope Sarah brings her through repechage.

The Azeri is unbelievably quick. Hildebrandt is just out-techniquing her now. Fun match!