PAN AMERICAN GAMES U.S. earns 8 golds
By Craig Sesker TORONTO, Canada – All they see is
gold.
Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Snyder and Zach Rey joined teammate Brent Metcalf as gold medalists to cap a superb Pan American Games for the U.S. men’s freestyle team.
Americans Jake Herbert and Angel Escobedo added silver medals for the powerful American team. The United States captured first place in the Pan Am Games medal count in freestyle along with winning the overall medal count in wrestling.
The U.S. medaled in 15 of the 16 weight classes it competed in from July 15-18 in men’s and women’s freestyle, and Greco-Roman. American wrestlers won eight gold medals overall. The Greco team also won the medal count. Greco-Roman wrestlers Andy Bisek and Jon Anderson also struck gold in Toronto along with women’s wrestlers Whitney Conder and Adeline Gray. Men’s freestyle
Burroughs overpowered Ecuador’s
Yoan Blanco by an 11-0 technical fall in the finals at 74 kg/163 lbs. Blanco placed seventh at the 2014 Worlds at 70 kg/154 lbs.
“Gold never gets old,” Burroughs said, flashing a smile. “(U.S. Coach) Bruce Burnett talked to me before the match and said the guy would stay down, stay low, back up and give you a hard time early. I knew that would happen but I just stayed had to stay the course. “The focus was on continuing to move and continuing to work, and get angles and then obviously I thought he would break a little bit at the end.”
Burroughs, an Olympic gold medalist,
outscored his three opponents 35-3, including a 13-3 technical fall over Olympic and World medalist Livan Lopez of Cuba in the quarterfinals. Snyder built a quick early lead and scored five takedowns en route to a 10-0 technical fall over Canada’s Arjun Gill in the finals at 97 kg/213 lbs. Snyder, a 2013 Junior World champion,
outscored his three opponents 31-1 in the Pan American Games. “I felt like I was very prepared for this
32 USA Wrestler
Two-time World champion Adeline Gray captured a Pan American Games championship for the United States in women’s freestyle. Tony Rotundo photo.
event,” Snyder said. “I trained really hard leading up to it. This is something I marked down on my calendar as a goal that I wanted to win the Pan Am Games moving forward to the World Champion- ships to build some momentum. I was very prepared and he’s a good opponent, but I was just ready to wrestle.” Rey earned a hard-fought 3-0 win over Canada’s Korey Jarvis in the finals at 125 kg/275 lbs.
Metcalf, a four-time World Team mem-
ber, turned in a dominating 8-2 win over Cuba’s Franklin Maren in the finals at 65 kg/143 lbs.
“I had to be patient,” he said. “He really wanted to stay away. I just had to wrestle a smart match. It was good. It was just a matter of getting my offense going and I did.”
Esobedo, fifth at the 2013 Worlds, fell by a 10-0 technical fall to 2014 World bronze medalist Yowlys Bonne of Cuba 57 kg/125.5 lbs. Herbert, a 2009 World silver medalist, ran into a tough finals opponent in two- time World silver medalist Reineris Salas
of Cuba.
Salas came out strong with a four-point arm throw en route to a 12-7 win over Herbert at 86 kg/189 lbs. Greco-Roman
Bisek, a 2014 World bronze medalist, steamrolled to a 8-0 technical fall over Panama’s Alvis Almendra in the gold- medal match at 75 kg/165 lbs. “That’s a good mark that I’ve still got a lot of different tricks on top,” Bisek said. “I’m trying to find different lifts and differ- ent turns, and push the pace on my feet. I felt really good out there.”
Anderson, second in the 2015 U.S.
World Team Trials, used a relentless, hard-charging attack to beat Venezuela’s Querys Perez by a 9-0 technical fall in the finals at 85 kg/187 lbs. “It feels amazing,” Anderson said. “It was a lot of hard work, but it felt amazing to hear our National Anthem being played after I won.
“I’m proud to take home this gold medal for our country. It means a lot.” Bryce Saddoris fell to Venezuela’s
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