USA wins U17 Women’s Beach World team title with four medals; Snow gets second career medal

first time the United States has won a UWW age-group Beach team title.

The United States was led by four individual medalists, with three silver medals and a bronze medal. Team USA scored 60 team points, with France in second with 50 team points and Ukraine in third with 39 team points.

Silver medals were claimed by Jayden Keller of Missouri (women’s 50 kg), Kennedie Snow of North Carolina at 60 kg and Piper Zatechka of Nebraska (70 kg). A bronze medal went to Sadie Evans of Washington (70 kg).

Snow became the first U.S. wrestler to win two career age-group Beach World medals for the United States, after winning a gold medal last year.  

Snow placed second in Group A with a 2-1 record, with wins over teammate Sara Pauls of the USA and Eleni Gavrinioti of Greece. She qualified for the semifinals, where she pinned Georgia Chasampalioti of Greece in 1:04. In the finals, she had a rematch with Théa Ambre Roussel of France, who had beaten her in the pool competition. Roussel beat Snow, 4-0 in the finals.

Keller went 1-1 in Group B, with a pin over Evenia Lamprou of Greece and a loss to Reisa Kojima of Japan. Keller qualified for the semifinals, where she defeated U.S. teammate Sarina Gunn, 3-0. In the championship finals, Kojima beat Keller again, 4-1.  

Zatechka went 2-1 in  Group A, with wins over Anna Nitsevych of Ukraine and Polyxeni Chrysikaki of Greece. Her only Group loss was to U.S. teammate Cameron Millsapps. Zatechka and Nitsevych advanced to the semifinals from Group A. Zatechka defeated U.S. teammate Sadie Evans in the semifinals, then she lost to Lise Landouzy of France in the finals, 3-0.

Evans went 2-1 in Group B, with her only lost to Landouzy. After falling to Zatechka, Evans rallied for a pin of Nitsevych in 12 seconds to secure her bronze medal.

Sarina Gunn, who won Group A at 50 kg with a 2-0 record, went into a bronze medal match after her loss to Keller. Gunn was beaten for the bronze by Oleksandra Karbovska of Ukraine and placed fourth.

Cameron Millsapps finished in fifth place at 70 kg and Sara Pauls ended up in seventh place at 60 kg.

The four medals by the U17 Women’s Beach team is the most by any U.S. age-group Beach team since the age-group Beach World Championships were created in 2019. This is the second straight year that the USA has come home with a Beach World Trophy at the U17 Beach Worlds, as the women placed third last year.

The U.S. also had four men competing in the U17 Beach World Championships. Benjamin Graham was the only wrestler to qualify for a men’s medal match, losing to Stepan Minchev of Ukraine in the bronze-medal bout to place fourth. Minchev beat Graham twice in the tournament. Graham won his first two matches and finished with a 2-1 record in Group B to qualify for the semifinals where he lost to Nazar Velinskyi of Ukraine.

All four U.S. men placed in the top 10 of their weight class, and the USA was sixth in the team standings.

The World Championships continue on Friday with the U20 Beach World Championships. The USA will have talented men and women competing at the U20 level, led by Senior and U20 World champion Eliana Bommarito in the women’s division and past age-group Beach World medalists Thor Michaelson of Washington (men’s 80 kg), Lars Michaelson of Washington (men’s 90 kg) and Ciara Riner of West Virginia (women’s 60 kg).

U17 BEACH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Katerini-Pierria, Greece, September 19-20

U17 women’s Beach medalists

40 kg

Gold - Alexandra Covaci (Romania)

Silver Alina Maci (Romania) 

50 kg

Gold - Reisa Kojima (Japan)

Silver - Jayden Keller (Ukraine)

Bronze - Oleksandra Karbovska (Ukraine)

60 kg

Gold - Théa Ambre Roussel (France)

Silver - Kennedie Snow (USA)

Bronze - Georgia Chasampalioti (Greece)

70 kg

Gold - Lise Landouzy (France)

Silver - Piper Zatechka (USA)

Bronze - Sadie Evans (USA)

U.S. U17 Women's Beach results

50 kg: Jayden Keller, Saint Catharine, Mo., silver medal

WIN Evenia Lamprou (Greece), pin 1:42

LOSS Reisa Kojima (Japan)

WIN Sarina Gunn (USA), 3-0, 0:33

LOSS Reisa Kojima (Japan), 4-1, 2:45

50 kg: Sarina Gunn, Woodbridge, Va., 4^th place

WIN Sofiia Poremchuk (Ukraine), pin 0:09

WIN Oleksandra Karbovska (Ukraine), pin 0:39

LOSS Jayden Keller (USA), 3-0, 0:33

LOSS Oleksandra Karbovska (Ukraine), 3-0, 0:39

60 kg: Sara Pauls, Middletown, N.Y., 7^th place

LOSS Kennedie Snow (USA), 3-0, 1:09

WIN Eleni Gavrinioti (Greece), pin 1:17

LOSS Thea Ambre Roussel (France), 3-0, 1:14

60 kg: Kennedie Snow, Havelock, N.C., silver medal

WIN Sara Pauls (USA), 3-0, 1:09

LOSS Théa Ambre Roussel (France), 4-1, 2:22

WIN Eleni Gavrinioti (Greece), pin 2:18

WIN Georgia Chasampalioti (Greece), pin 1:04

LOSS Théa Ambre Roussel (France), 4-0, 2:03

70 kg: Piper Zatechka, Omaha, Neb., silver medal

WIN Anna Nitsevych (Ukraine), 2-1, 3:00

WIN Polyxeni Chrysikaki (Greece), 3-0, 1:37

LOSS Cameron Millsapps (USA), 3-1, 1:42

WIN Sadie Evans (USA), 2-1, 1:05

LOSS Lise Landouzy (France), 3-0

70 kg: Jaida Macaluso, Otisville, N.Y., 11^th place

Knockout – LOSS Cameron Millsapps (USA), 3-0, 1:19

70 kg: Cameron Millsapps, Arlington, Va., 5^th place

Knockout – WIN Jaida Macaluso (USA), 3-0, 1:19

LOSS Polyxeni Chrysikaki (Greece), pin 1:19

LOSS Anna Nitsevych (Ukraine), 3-2, 1:10

WIN Piper Zatechka (USA), 3-1, 1:42

70 kg: Sadie Evans, Belfair, Wash., bronze medal

WIN Leane Sandin Amblard (France), pin 1:41

LOSS Lise Landouzy (France), 3-2

WIN Foteini Nalmpanti (Greece), pin 0:25

LOSS Piper Zatechka (USA), 2-1, 1:05

WIN Anna Nitsevych (Ukraine), pin 0:12

U17 Women's Team Standings

1. United States, 60

2. France, 50

3. Ukraine, 39

4. Greece, 33

5. Japan, 31

6. Romania, 25

U17 men’s Beach medalists

50 kg

Gold - Lucian Somandru (Romania)

Silver - Christos Xenakis (Greece)

Bronze - Stanislav Diaconu (Moldova)

60 kg

Gold - Mirzakhan Gashymov (Ukraine)

Silver - Nazar Velinskyi (Ukraine)

Bronze - Stepan Minchev (Ukraine)

70 kg

Gold - Anri Goguadze (Georgia)

Silver - Koba Goguadze (Georgia)

Bronze - Dmytro Kursenko (Ukraine)

80 kg

Gold - Magor Lorincz (Romania)

Silver - Yurii Pyhulskyi (Ukraine)

Bronze - Charilaos Chaitidis (Greece)

U.S. U17 Men's Beach results

50 kg: Jackie Hutchins, Jacksonville, Ark., 7^th place

WIN Illia Klymchuk (Ukraine), 3-2, 2:00

LOSS Oleksandr Kara (Ukraine), 3-0, 0:46

LOSS Lucian Somandru (Romania), pin 0:12

60 kg: Benjamin Graham, New Lenox, Ill., 4^th place

WIN Marios Lamprou (Greece), pin 1:10

WIN Nikolaos Papadopoulos (Greece), forfeit

LOSS Stepan Minchev (Ukraine), 3-1, 1:09

LOSS Nazar Velinskyi (Ukraine), pin, 0:07

LOSS Stepan Minchev (Ukraine), pin 0:45

80 kg: Xavier Smith, Noblesville, Ind., 6^th place

LOSS Charilaos Chaitidis (Greece), 3-0

WIN Maksym Krets (Ukraine), 3-0, 0:57

LOSS Magor Lorincz (Romania), 3-2, 2:44

80 kg: Terrell McFarland, Pottsville, Pa., 10^th place

Knockout – LOSS Magor Lorincz (Romania), pin 0:11

Men's Team Standings

1. Ukraine, 72

2. Romania, 56

3. Greece, 49

4. Georgia, 34

5. Moldova, 33

6. United States, 29

7. France, 10

8. Vietnam, 0

U17 World Medals from the USA

(Age-Group World Championships held, 2019-present)

Women

Kennedie Snow, Havelock, N.C. (2023 U17 Gold, 60 kg)

Alessandra Elliott, Staten Island, N.Y. (2022 U17 Silver, 60 kg)

Jayden Keller, St. Catherine, Mo. (2024 U17 Silver, 50 kg)

Kennedie Snow, Havelock, N.C. (2024 U17 Silver, 60 kg)

Piper Zatechka, Omaha, Neb. (2024 U17 Silver, 70 kg)

Ciara Riner, Huntington, W.Va. (2022 U17 Bronze, 60 kg)

Sadie Evans, Belfair, Wash. (2024 U17 Bronze, 70 kg)

Men

Caspian Grabowski, Pacifica, Calif. (2019 U17 Worlds, Bronze at Over 70 kg)

Lars Michaelson, Bremerton, Wash. (2022 U17 Bronze, 80 kg)

Event Schedule

(local time is seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time zone)

Friday, September 20

10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. – U20 Worlds Group rounds (all weight divisions)

4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. – U20 Worlds elimination rounds and finals (all weight divisions)