Berreyesa battles his way into Junior World finals at 82 kg
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by Taylor Miller, USA Wrestling
TRNAVA, Slovakia – Andrew Berreyesa shocked many on Tuesday evening in Trnava, Slovakia, advancing to the 2018 Junior World Championships Greco-Roman finals at 82 kg after a heart-pounding semifinal.
“This is my first World Championships and my last year as a Junior,” Berreyesa said. “Coming here, I told myself, ‘This is your only opportunity for the Junior World Championships. You can’t waste it.’ The last few weeks, I’ve just been building into this moment.”
It marks the first time since 1999 and 2000 that the U.S. has had back-to-back Junior World Greco-Roman finalists. Last year Kamal Bey won a Junior World title and Cevion Severado finished with silver in Tampere, Finland.
To earn a bid to the finals, Berreyesa took on Muhutdin Saricicek of Turkey, who took 13th at the Junior European Championships.
The Cornell student-athlete scored first when he capitalized on an attempted throw from the Turk and landed on top for two points. Later in the period, Berreyesa was hit with passivity, giving a point to Saricicek, but the American went into the break with a 2-1 lead.
Halfway through the second period, Berreyesa was dinged for passivity again. Saricicek failed to score in par terre once again, bringing the score to 2-2.
The final 40 seconds were filled with tension as the Reno, Nev., native held on for a 2-2 win and a spot in the 82 kg finals.
For gold, Berreyesa will take on reiging Junior World champion and two-time Cadet World champ Aleksander Komarov of Russia.
“He’s never wrestled me. It’s easy for him to win a World Championship when I’ve never wrestled him,” Berreyesa said. “It’ll be fun. I’ve watched film on him, and I’m prepared for him.”
Wednesday’s action will begin at 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET) with repechage and the start of the women’s tournament. The medal matches are scheduled for 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET). Fans can watch all the action live on Trackwrestling.com.
2018 JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Trnava, Slovakia
U.S. Greco-Roman results
60 kg: Taylor LaMont (Mapleton, Utah/Sunkist Kids)
WIN Galym Kabdunassaro (Kazakhstan), 5-1
LOSS Ararat Manucharyan (Armenia), 7-3
67 kg: Peyton Omania (Concord, Calif./CYC)
LOSS Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed (Egypt), 10-0
72 kg: Tyler Dow (Stoughton, Wisc./Badger RTC)
LOSS Gergely Bak (Hungary), 9-2
82 kg: Andrew Berreyesa (Reno, Nev./New York AC/Finger Lakes WC)
WIN Simone Fidelbo (Italy), 4-1
WIN Abubakr Alimov (Uzbekistan), 3-0
WIN Muhutdin Saricicek (Turkey), 2-2
97 kg: Chad Porter (Phoenix, Ariz./Sunkist Kids)
LOSS Ilija Laurynovich (Belarus), 11-0
