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PAN AMS, Continued from page 19


National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner was impressed by Maroulis’ ability to stay focused under adversity.


“She competed really well. She stayed with the fight and stayed with the game plan. In the second period, she ended up losing 7-0. It would have been easy against a competitor like Verbeek to lay down and take your silver medal. She bounced back, let it go and scrapped a lot. Verbeek tried a throw at the end, and she caught her,” said Steiner. The U.S. silver medals came from Clarissa Chun at 48 kg and Elena Pirozhkova at 63 kg. Chun, a 2008 World champion, was pinned by 2008 Olympic champion Carol Huynh of Canada in the finals in the sec- ond period. Chun won the first period 3-2, but was trailing 1-0 in the second period when Huyhn hit a knee tap to take Chun to her back. Referees called the fall with just two seconds left in the period. “I felt like I should have defended it out there and not gotten to my back,” said Chun. “It is always fun to wrestle Carol. She is a very technical wrestler. It just didn’t work out well for me.” Pirozhkova, a 2010 World silver medal, was pinned in the second period of the finals by Katerina Vidiaux of Cuba. Vidiaux won the first period 6-2, ending the period with two three-point throws. Vidiaux was also able to get Pirozhkova to her back in the second period, secur- ing the fall. “I was prepared for her to come out with emotion. She came out a lot more enthusiastic than I did. I wrestled a little soft. I didn’t do my job out there,” said Pirozhkova. National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner saw some positive aspects of the team effort.


“The highlight was Helen’s match in the finals with Verbeek. That was a great win against a great champion. We have to keep working as a program. We are right where we need to be right now. We can continue to improve. To win gold medals at the Olympics, which we are capable of, we have to keep moving forward and plugging away. The competition keeps getting tougher,” said Steiner. The U.S. Greco-Roman team won three medals, two silvers and one bronze. The second day of competition featured both silver medal performances, by Joe Betterman at 60 kg and Ben Provisor at 74 kg.


Betterman was defeated by Luis Liendo of Venezuela in the finals, 2-0, 1- 0. Liendo was able to turn Betterman from the par terre position in the first peri- od. Betterman was unable to turn Liendo


32 USA Wrestler


Glenn Garrison (in red) won a bronze medal. Robbert Wijtman photo.


in par terre in the second period. This was a rematch of the first round of the 2011 World Championships, when Liendo defeated Betterman, 3-0, 1-0. Liendo went on to place fifth in the World Championships.


Betterman opened with victory over Manuel Lopez of Mexico, 1-0, 2-1, then stopped Jansel Ramirez of the Dominican Republic, 3-0, 1-0 in the semifinals. “The tournament was good. I worked some new things. Liendo is a good wrestler. I am closing the gap on him. He didn’t wrestle me, didn’t do any attempts. I kept pushing him and he ran a little bit. I have to take my opportunity to take him down,” said Betterman.


Provisor was defeated by Jorgisbell Alvarez of Cuba in the finals match, 0-1, 3-2, 0-2.


Alvarez lifted Provisor for a point in the first period. Provisor scored a takedown and a high gut-wrench turn to win the second period.


In the deciding third period, in the par terre position, Alvarez scored a point on a lift.


Provisor protested the call, but the offi- cials scored it the same way. Alvarez received a point for the unsuccessful protest.


“I don’t want to ever go to the protest,” said Provisor of the third period call. “I let him get that lift and let him get too far on it. I didn’t think I went over on it. They gave him one point, so I lost that call. That was the match. What can you do now?”


Provisor, a 2011 U.S. Open champion, beat Elton Brown of Panama, then


Hansel Mercedes of the Dominican Republic, by identical 1-0, 1-0 scores. On day one, Glenn Garrison won a bronze medal at 66 kg, beating Vicente Huacon of Ecuador in a bronze-medal match, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0.


Garrison was able to defend from the bottom position in the par terre to win both the first and third periods. “I was a little disappointed in myself, but I have to look at it positively. I wres- tled really open out there,” said Garrison. “It feels good to medal.”


Garrison opened with a victory over Ivan Duque of Colombia, 0-2, 2-0, 2-0. In the semifinals, Garrison was defeat- ed by 2011 World bronze medalist Pedro Isaac Mulens of Cuba, 0-1, 0-2. The U.S. just missed out on a medal at 96 kg when Pete Gounaridis lost a bronze medal match to Erwin Caraballo of Venezuela, 0-2, 0-1. Two athletes lost their first match, and did not qualify for the repechage when their opponent failed to reach the finals, Cheney Haight at 84 kg and Timothy Taylor at 120 kg. Haight lost to Jose Arias of the Dominican Republic, 1-3, 2-0, 2-3. Taylor lost by a first-period injury default to Ramon Garcia of the Dominican Republic.


“The bottom line is that this hurts as a team,” said National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser. “Cuba won six of the seven weight classes. The USA beat the Cubans at the last Pan Am Games. Leaving this place with three medals, I don’t know what to say. I am proud of the guy’s effort, but we have to get better.”


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