Marano makes the semifinals at U23 World Championships, Fiske set to wrestle for bronze

Photo of Kayla Marano by Tony Rotundo
BELGRADE, Serbia – Kayla Marano won her quarterfinal match on Thursday to advance to this afternoon’s U23 World Championships semifinals at 72 kg. At 68 kg, Alyvia Fiske will wrestle for a bronze medal later tonight after winning in the repechage round to begin the day for Team USA.
Marano earned a bye to the quarterfinals, where she made a statement in a very impressive 11-0 win over Romania’s Maria Nitu. Marano fired early and often, scoring throughout the match to take control early and maintain it throughout. The win officially punched her ticket to the semifinals, where she will wrestle Ukraine’s Anastasiya Alpyeyeva.
Alpyeyeva took third at the 2019 Junior World Championships.
In her repechage match, Alyvia Fiske (68 kg) pulled off late heroics to advance against India’s Monika. Fiske was down, 4-1, with under 15 seconds left in the match, but finished a hard-fought takedown to cut Monika’s lead to one. Then, just as time was expiring, Fiske was able to expose Monika for two more points, finishing up an impressive 5-4 win.
In tonight’s medal match session, Fiske will wrestle Oksana Chudyk of Ukraine. Chudyk is a two-time Cadet World bronze medalist. Fiske is wrestling on her fourth career age-group World team this week in Belgrade.
Amanda Martinez (57 kg) was dominant in her first bout against Zeinep Bayanova of Kazakhstan, cruising to a 10-0 win to open up her tournament. Martinez, a North Central College standout, powered through four takedowns in the match to post the win. Martinez dropped her quarterfinal match to Esther Kolawole of Nigeria, 11-0. She will need Kolawole to win in the semifinals against Kristina Mikhneva of Russia to be pulled back into the tournament.
Emma Bruntil at 62 kg opened up her day with a win over Turkey’s Yagmur Cakmak, 8-3. Cakmak managed an early lead on a step out, but Bruntil took total control of the match, scoring four takedowns and impressing in her opening-round match. In the quarterfinals, Bruntil dropped a tough 11-0 match to Italy’s Aurora Campagna. Bruntil needs Campagna to win in tonight’s semifinal round against Ukraine’s Kateryna Zelenykh to be pulled back into the tournament.
At 65 kg, Ashlynn Ortega advanced through her opening-round match against Winrose Alivisa of Kenya due to a forefeit. She first took the mat on Thursday against Khadija Jlassi of Tunisia, where she earned a hard-fought 4-2 win. She scored a single-leg takedown in the second period to take command of the match and held tough as time expired to earn a spot in the quarterfinals. There, she suffered a loss via fall to India’s Nisha.
Ortega will need Nisha to make the finals tonight to be pulled back into tomorrow’s repechage. Nisha will wrestle Ukraine’s Anastasiia Lavrenchuk.
Ronna Heaton (53 kg) was dominant in her first match against Kazakhstan’s Ellada Makhyaddinova, winning with a pin in the second period. Heaton defended a shot and powered Makhyaddinova to her back to secure the fall. In the quarterfinals, Ukraine’s Mariia Vynnyk wrestled an action-packed match against Heaton. Vynnyk came out on the winning end of multiple scrambles, which highlighted a match that was wrestled almost primarily down on the mat. Vynnyk defeated Heaton, 6-1, to advance to the semifinals.
Heaton will need Vynnyk to win in the semifinals tonight to be pulled back into the tournament. Vynnyk is set to wrestle Lucia Yepez Guzman of Ecuador.
Also confirmed in this morning’s session is Kylie Welker’s (76 kg) opponent in tonight’s bronze medal match. She will face Genesis Reasco Valdez of Ecuador.
The semifinal session begins tonight at 4:45 p.m. local time, which is five hours ahead of U.S. eastern time. Fiske’s medal match will take place in the 6:00 p.m. local time session tonight.

All matches can be watched live on FloWrestling.
U23 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Belgrade, Serbia November 4


Women’s freestyle semifinal Group Two pairings
53 kg
Zeynep Yetgil (Turkey) vs. Ekaterina Verbina (Russia)
Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) vs. Mariia Vynnyk (Ukraine)
57 kg
Kristina Mikhneva (Russia) vs. Esther Kolawole (Nigeria)
Elvira Kamaloglu (Turkey) vs. Alina Akobiia (Ukraine)
62 kg
Ana Godinez Gonzalez (Canada) vs. Anna Fabian (Serbia)
Aurora Campagna (Italy) vs. Kateryna Zelenykh (Ukraine)
65 kg
Dinara Salikhova (Russia) vs. Asli Demir (Turkey)
Anastasiia Lavrenchuk (Ukraine) vs. Nisha (India)
72 kg
Kayla Marano (USA) vs. Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine)
Eleni Pjollaj (Italy) vs. Kendra Dacher (France)
U.S. women’s freestyle Group Two results
53 kg: Ronna Heaton (Brookings, S.Dak./Wisconsin RTC/Sunkist Kids WC)
WIN Ellada Makhyaddinova (Kazakhstan), fall 4:20
LOSS Mariia Vynnyk (Ukraine), 6-1
57 kg: Amanda Martinez (Riverside, Ill./Cardinal WC)
WIN Zeinep Bayanova (Kazakhstan), 10-0
LOSS Esther Kolawole (Nigeria), 11-0
62 kg: Emma Bruntil (Acme, Wash./Titan Mercury WC/McKendree Bearcat WC)
WIN Yagmur Cakmak (Turkey), 8-3
LOSS Aurora Campagna (Italy), 11-0
65 kg: Ashlynn Ortega (Pueblo, Colo./New York AC)
WIN Winrose Alivisa (Kenya), forfeit
WIN Khadija Jlassi (Tunisia), 4-2
LOSS Nisha (India), fall
72 kg: Kayla Marano (Jefferson, Ga./McKendree Bearcat WC)
WIN Maria Nitu (Romania), 11-0
Semifinals vs. Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine)
U.S. women’s freestyle Group One results
50 kg: Emily Shilson (Maple Grove, Minn./Titan Mercury WC/Twin Cities RTC)
WIN Lisa Ersel (Germany), 10-0
WIN Stefania Priceputu (Romania), fall 0:49
WIN Sarra Hamdi (Tunisia), forfeit
Gold medal finals vs. Pawar (India)

55 kg: Alex Hedrick (Fair Oaks, Calif./Titan Mercury WC)
WIN Zainab Barrie (Sierra Leone), forfeit
LOSS Anju (India), 11-8
59 kg: Michaela Beck (New York, N.Y./Wisconsin RTC/Sunkist Kids WC)
LOSS Krystsina Sazykina (Belarus), 6-1
68 kg: Alyvia Fiske (Napa, Calif./Titan Mercury WC)
WIN Nesrin Bas (Turkey), fall 5:58
LOSS Koumba Larroque (France), 12-0
WIN Monika (India), 5-4
Bronze medal match vs. Oksana Chudyk (Ukraine)
76 kg: Kylie Welker (Franksville, Wisc./Titan Mercury WC)
WIN Evgeniia Zakharchenko (Russia), 6-5
WIN Kamile Gaucite (Lithuania), fall 1:33
LOSS Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgystan), 8-0
Bronze medal match vs. Genesis Reasco Valdez (Ecuador)