Haley Augello finished 1-2 in the Olympic Games (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)RIO DE JANEIRO -- After three days of disappointment for Team USA wrestlers, Haley Augello managed to make it as far as the repechage round 48 kilograms in women's freestyle competition at the 2016 Olympics Wednesday, but lost the match, and has been eliminated from medal contention.
Augello fell to Zhuidyz Eshimova of Kazakhstan, 3-2, in the match that determined who would move on to wrestle for a bronze medal in that weight class later today.
The No. 17-ranked American was down 1-0 at the end of the first period. In the second, Augello scored a double-leg takedown to try to close the gap ... but the match ended with the final score of 3-2 for her fourth-ranked opponent, who then advanced to the bronze-medal match.
Augello got off to a great start Wednesday morning with a decisive 7-0 win over No. 12-ranked Jessica Blaszka of Netherlands, a 2015 world bronze medalist.
In the quarterfinal round, Augello went up against Eri Tosaka, three-time defending world champion from Japan. Augello trailed the No. 3-ranked wrestler 1-0 after the first period with a shot clock point the only difference. The Lockport, Illinois native scored a takedown midway through the second period to lead Tosaka, 2-1. However, the tide turned against Augello when Tosaka picked up a key reversal and exposure to take the lead, 7-2. Augello gave up four additional points, to fall, 11-2.
"I got too high on the high gut and slipped off," Augello said after that loss. "She fell right into her leg lace and it gave her a five to seven-point lead. That is hard to come back from when you are wrestling a country like Japan who has solid basic defense, and kind of just holds you off. I should have just kept my lead, been patient on top. I made a mistake and paid for it."
However, because Tosaka advanced to the gold-medal match, Augello then qualified for the repechage round, where she lost to Eshimova.
Augello had journeyed further through the 2016 Olympics than any other U.S. wrestler to date.
In the first three days of wrestling in Rio, all four Team USA Greco-Roman wrestlers lost in the first or second rounds of competition.
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