Eliana Bommarito named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week
by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Eliana Bommarito (Brighton, Mich./Michigan Revolution) was named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week on September 12.
Bommarito won two World gold medals in Beach Wrestling, representing the United States in Constanta, Romania this weekend.
On Friday, September 8, Bommarito won the Over 70 kg weight class at the UWW Beach World Series Constanta.
She won her Group competition, with a 3-0 win over Katelyn Lewis of the USA, a pin of Stefania Zacheila of Greece in 20 seconds and a 3-0 victory over Liudmyla Pavlovets Tychnyna of Ukraine. In the semifinals, she stopped Aikaterini Pitsiava of Greece, 3-0. In the championship finals, Bommarito defeated Cataline Axente of Romania in the finals, 3-0.
Bommarito came into the event with a No. 11 Beach World Series ranking for the year. Along the way, she defeated four higher ranked athletes, No. 2 Zacheila, No. 3 Pavlovets Tychyna, No. 4 Axente and No. 5 Pitsiava.
She became to first U.S. Senior wrestler to win a gold medal at a United World Wrestling international Beach Wrestling event, going all the way back to 2007.
On Sunday, September 10, Bommarito won the Over 70 kg weight class at the U20 Beach World Championships.
Bommarito won all three of her Group B matches, with 3-0 wins over Katelyn Lewis of the USA and Ionela Cojacaru of Romania, and an injury default over Ambre Cheveau of France. In the semifinals, she beat Taisila Heha of Ukraine, 3-0 in 19 seconds. Her finals win was a rematch with Cojacaru, the six second pin. None of Bommarito’s five matches lasted longer than 22 seconds.
She became the first U.S. wrestler to win a U20 Beach World Championships gold medal and is the now first U.S. wrestler to own two UWW Beach gold medals.
Bommarito was a 2023 U.S. Senior Beach Nationals champion. She was an NJCAA national champion for Indian Hills CC last year. Bommarito won two Junior National freestyle titles while in high school.
To nominate a wrestler for this honor please email the athlete's name, wrestling program, weekly accomplishments, and career accolades to communications@usawrestling.org.