Alli Ragan advanced to the gold-medal match at 60 kilograms (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)PARIS -- The momentum that Helen Maroulis and Becka Leathers used in winning gold and bronze on Wednesday was passed like a baton to the anchor leg, to the American competitors on Thursday.
Almost as if mirroring the opening session on the first day of the women's wrestling competition, America has two women wrestlers going for medals.
Alli Ragan goes for gold, while Victoria Anthony goes for bronze.
USA has clinched a spot in the top three team race after the conclusion of the morning session. The outcome of the individual matches in the evening session will determine where Team USA goes on the medal stand.
All four of the women on Team USA competing on Thursday reached the quarterfinals, going 6-0 in the first few rounds, with four technical falls and one pin.
Alli Ragan (60 kilograms), rocking the pink headgear, was methodical on her way to a technical fall over Sleisz of Hungary in her first match, capitalizing on snap downs and go-behinds to win 10-0. Against Luisa Neimesch in the quarterfinals, she won a low scoring match using a single leg takedown to cap the scoring and win 4-0.
Ragan's semifinal match was much more exciting. She found herself in a back-and-forth match tied at 2, then going down by one, right before she used a perfectly timed headlock to cement Anastasija Grigorjeva of Latvia in the second period.
"I knew every match was going to be a fight," Ragan said. "I didn't wrestle up to my capability in the world finals last year. (To win the finals), just keep the pressure on, tie up and win the battle."
Victoria Anthony gets her hand raised after a victory (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)The other American going for a medal is 5-foot-1 mighty mouse, hence the nickname Vicki Mouse, Victoria Anthony (48 kilograms), who uses her strength and quickness to attack opponents, with concise leg attacks. She used an inside trip and gut wrench turn to defeat her first adversary Miran Cheon of Korea, 10-0.
In her next match, she found herself behind 4-0 against India's Vinesh, but used a beautiful hip toss to secure a fall at the 5:09 mark.
In the quarterfinals, Anthony lost to a tough competitor in three-time cadet world champion Yui Susaki of Japan 11-0.
Anthony earned a repechage match when Susaki reached the finals.
In her repechage match, she used a take down and a couple gut wrench turns to go up 7-0 on Julie Sabatie of France, before tossing Sabatie to her back and getting the fall, much to the dismay of the home crowd.
To win the bronze match, Anthony said she must continue doing what she did to get here.
"I need to keep the intensity high in every second, every minute, every position, keep finding points," Anthony said. "You want to medal at the World Championships even if it's not the color that I want."
She will wrestle Sonhyang Kim of North Korea for bronze.
At 53 kilograms, Haley Augello used a series of double leg takedowns and gut wrenches to beat Thi Vu of Vietnam by technical fall 10-0 in her initial match. She then won a gritty bout over Lannuan Luo of China, 3-0.
In the quarterfinals, Augello suffered a tough loss to Polish veteran Roxana Zasina. She found herself down 6-0 and got on the scoreboard with a takedown to cut the deficit to 6-2, but Zasina would score again and close the bout 8-2.
"I feel like I had fun out there my first two matches," Augello said. "But it's devastating when you work really hard and the outcome isn't what you expected. I'll get back out there and work really hard and come back stronger."
Augello was eliminated when Zasina lost her next bout.
Tamyra Mensah (69 kilograms) began her day with a 12-2 technical fall over Alla Belinska of Ukraine. She suffered a devastating 5-2 loss to Junior world silver medalist Yue Han of China.
She didn't gain a repechage match when Han lost in the semifinals.
Tonight's finals are scheduled for 7 p.m. local time, 1 p.m. ET.
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