UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Five members of the Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team competed at the United World Wrestling U20 World Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria this week. All five wrestlers came away with world medals in an exceptional week for the Nittany Lions. True freshmen PJ Duke and Marcus Blaze won U20 Gold, true freshman William Henckel brought home Silver and Cole and Connor Mirasola earned World Bronze Medals.
True freshman PJ Duke won the U20 World Championship at 70 kg. Duke began the tournament with three straight wins to advance to the Gold Medal bout. Duke teched Umut Talha of Turkey, pinned Mexico’s Gabriel Sanchez Zepeda and teched Abdullah Nakaev of France to advance to the semifinals. He then won a tight 2-2 (ct.) bout against Iran’s Ebrahim Elahichouran in the semis to move into the title bout where he met Alexandr Gaidarl of Moldova. Duke took an early lead then responded after Gairdarl tied the bout late, scoring the last two points of the match to post a thrilling 7-5 win to earn the Gold Medal at 70 kg for Team USA. Duke ended the tournament with a 5-0 record, including two techs and a fall.
True freshman Marcus Blaze won the U20 World Championship at 61 kg. Blaze opened up his competition with three straight victories. Blaze notched a 10-0 tech over Sandro Hungerbuehler of Switzerland and then got a DQ victory over Armenia’s Sargis Begoyan. Blaze teched Askat Toktomatov of Kyrgyzstan 11-1. He met UWW’s Magomedkhan Magamedkhanov in the semifinals and rolled through his opponent, notching a 15-4 technical superiority victory to advance to the Gold Medal bout. Blaze took on Iran’s Ahora Khateri and rolled over the Iranian in a 10-0 technical superiority to win the U20 World Gold Medal at 70 kg. Blaze ended the tournament with a 5-0 mark, including four tech falls.
True freshman William Henckel earned the U20 World Silver Medal at 79 kg. Henckel reeled off three straight wins on Monday to advance to the semfinals. He downed Maksat Tabyldyev of Kyrgyzstan 8-5 before notching a tech fall win over Ukraine’s Bohdan Oleksiienko. He then downed Davit Tchetchelashvili of Georgia to advance to the semfinals where he met Amit Amit of Indian. Henckel scored the first five points of the semfinals and posted a 5-4 win over Amit to move on to the Gold medal match to face Iran’s Mahdi Yousefi Hajivar. Henckel rallied late against the U23 World Champion but dropped an 8-6 decision in the title bout. Henckel’s 4-1 run in Bulgaria earned him the U20 World Silver Medal.
Redshirt freshman Cole Mirasola picked up the U20 World Bronze Medal at 125 kg. Mirasola advanced to the semifinals on day one with a two straight wins, a tech fall over Turkey’s Sertac Aksoy and a 3-0 win over Inal Gagloev of the UWW. He lost to Yedigde Kassimbek of Kasakhstan in the semifinals to drop into the Bronze Medal round. Cole then downed Narantulga Darmaabazar of Mongolia to claim the Bronze Medal, rolling to a 12-2 tech. He ended the event with a 3-1 record with two techs.
Redshirt freshman Connor Mirasola grabbed the U20 World Bronze Medal at 92 kg. Mirasola began the tournament with a 10-0 tech fall win over China’s Zixu Yuan before dropping a close 7-5 decision to Kamil Kurugliyev of Kazakhstan. Kurugliyev advanced to the finals, pulling Connor into the repechage. Mirasola notched a 12-2 tech fall over Georgia’s Teimuraz Kochkiani in the repechage to advance to a Bronze Medal match where he met Azerbaijan’s Anar Jafarli. He dominated Jafarli from the get-go, rolling to a 10-0 tech to claim the U20 World Bronze Medal. Mirasola went 3-1 with three tech falls at the event.
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