Welker pins World champion in finals, U.S. women top team standings at 2026 Pan American Championships

CORALVILLE, Iowa – Sensational is putting it mildly when talking about Kylie Welker’s gold-medal run at the 2026 Senior Pan American Championships.

Wrestling in front of her Hawkeye faithful, Welker took out both bronze medalists from the 2024 Olympic Games and the reigning World champion on Saturday at Xtream Arena to claim the 76 kg gold medal. Additionally, Welker was awarded the Golden Boot Award as the outstanding wrestler of the women’s freestyle division.

In the gold medal match, Welker emerged with a powerful pin from an overhook toss against Ecuador’s Genesis Reasco Valdez. It was a competitive back-and-forth spar between the two World-class competitors before Welker launched Reasco Valdez while leading 1-0 early in the second period.

Earlier in the day, Welker took out Colombia’s Tatiana Renteria by 11-0 technical fall and Cuba’s Milaimy Marin Potrille by pin. Both Renteria and Marin Potrille stood on the podium at the Paris Olympics and are recent Senior World medalists. Welker is a two-time Senior World bronze medalist and a three-time age-group World champion.

Two more American women won Pan American titles on Saturday—Abigail Nette at 59 kg and Kayla Miracle at 65 kg. Both went undefeated in round robin brackets to claim gold. Nette’s notable win came by 12-2 technical fall over 2025 World bronze medalist Laurence Beauregard of Canada in round one. Miracle, the two-time Olympian, was the clear class of her weight, posting a pair of 10-0 technical falls across two matches wrestled.

Welker, Nette and Miracle joined women’s freestyle group one champions Katie Gomez (50 kg), Everest Leydecker (55 kg), Amanda Martinez (57 kg), Adaugo Nwachukwu (62 kg) and Precious Wieser (72 kg) as gold medalists for Team USA.

2024 U20 World champion Cristelle Rodriguez rebounded from a tough semifinal loss to Olympic silver medalist Lucia Yepez Guzman of Ecuador and claimed a bronze medal at 53 kg. She gritted out a 7-2 decision against Alexa Alvarez Valenzuela of Venezuela in the bronze medal round.

The U.S. women bagged the team title with eight champions, a silver medalist, and a bronze medalist, collecting 235 total team points. Canada finished as runners-up with 136 team points. Mexico reeled in third place with 128 team points.

For a complete match-by-match breakdown of every Team USA match from Saturday, browse our day three match notes.

Wrestling fans in the U.S. market can watch the 2026 Senior Pan American Championships live or on-demand at FloWrestling.com. Complete brackets and match-by-match results are available on UWW Arena.

The tournament concludes on Sunday with men’s freestyle group two (57-65-70-79-92-97-125 kg). The action begins at 10 a.m. (CT). Entered for the U.S. are Liam Cronin, Real Woods, Ridge Lovett, Levi Haines, Trent Hidlay, Stephen Buchanan and Wyatt Hendrickson.

Stay tuned to TheMat.com and USA Wrestling’s social media platforms for complete coverage of the Senior Pan American Championships.