Howk pins her way into Junior World Championships semifinals at 53 kg
by Taylor Miller, USA Wrestling
TRNAVA, Slovakia – Two-time age-group World Team member Alisha Howk secured a spot in the semifinals at 53 kg on Thursday morning, collecting two pins at the 2018 Junior World Championships in Trnava, Slovakia.
Between both of her matches, Howk spent less than a period on the mat all morning.
In her first bout, Howk defeated host country native Nina Kollarova of Slovakia with a fast pin in 29 seconds.
Her quarterfinals match pitted her against Ellada Makhyaddinova of Kazakhstan, who took fifth at the 2018 Junior Asian Championships. Makhyaddinova struck first converting a single for a takedown, but Howk was quick to respond with a takedown of her own, maneuvering the Kazakh to her back for a fall at the 2:09 mark.
Tonight, Howk will take on Aktenge Keunimyaeva of Uzbekistan, who is a two-time age-group Asian medalist and took fifth at the Senior Asian championships in February.
The other four U.S. women’s wrestlers lost their first-round matches.
Alexandria Liles at 62 kg, Jayden Laurent at 65 kg and Alyvia Fiske at 72 kg were knocked out of the competition, while Alex Hedrick will find out tonight if she will be pulled back into repechage.
The women’s freestyle semifinals are scheduled for 5:15 p.m. local time (11:15 a.m. ET), followed by the first of the women’s medal matches. Wrestling in the finals for USA tonight is 2018 Cadet World champion Macey Kilty at 68 kg.
Fans can watch all the action live on Trackwrestling.
2018 JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Trnava, Slovakia
U.S. women’s freestyle results
53 kg: Alisha Howk (River Falls, Wisc./Sunkist Kids)
WIN Nina Kollarova (Slovakia), fall 0:29
WIN Ellada Makhyaddinova (Kazakhstan), fall 2:09
vs. Aktenge Keunimyaeva (Uzbekistan)
57 kg: Alex Hedrick (Fair Oaks, Calif./Titan Mercury WC)
LOSS Viktoria Vaulina (Russia), 10-0
62 kg: Alexandria Liles (Allen, Texas/Musky WC)
LOSS Hedda Strand (Norway), 3-3
65 kg: Jayden Laurent (Green Bay, Wisc./Musky WC)
LOSS Yue Zhang (China), fall 2:52
72 kg: Alyvia Fiske (Napa, Calif./Titan Mercury WC)
LOSS Zsuszanna Molnar (Slovakia), 1:04
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