FORTALEZA, Brazil – The first session of the women’s freestyle tournament of the 2018 Junior Pan American Championships wrapped up with three 2017 Junior Pan American runners-up turning in undefeated performances, setting themselves up to reach the top of the podium.
All three of those wrestlers hail from Canada, including Jayd DAVIS at 53 kg, Hannah TAYLOR at 57 kg and Dejah SLATER at 68 kg.
Davis has rolled through the 53 kg bracket so far with two early falls and a 12-2 technical fall, which came against 2017 Cadet World athlete Vayle BAKER (USA).
Tonight, Davis will face Fatima ROJAS CHAVEZ (MEX), who is a 2018 Senior Central American and Caribbean Championships runner-up and Senior Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalist.
At 57 kg, Taylor pinned 2018 Senior Pan American bronze medalist Michaela BECK (USA) at the final buzzer. The Canadian continued on with another pin in 5:44 against 2017 Cadet Pan Am silver medalist Susana LOZANO (MEX).
To open her tournament at 68 kg, Slater defeated 2015 Cadet World bronze medalist Kayla MARANO (USA) with a 15-4 technical fall. She followed it up with a 10-0 win against Grabriela PEDRO (BRA).
The 50 kg bracket saw Mariela ESCALANTE (MEX) and Greidy ESTUPINAN (COL) advance to the finals. This tournament marks their Pan American debuts.
There are three head-to-heads tonight that will determine the round-robin winner. Those weights include 59 kg, 62 kg and 76 kg.
At 59 kg, Brenda REYNA (USA) will face Katherine CUERO (COL), while the 62 kg deciding match also features USA vs. Colombia with Brianna CSONTOS (USA) taking on Paula MONTOYA (COL) for gold.
With only two people in the bracket, Beatriz RODRIGUES (BRA) and Miriam OLVERA (MEX) will wrestle their first matches of the day, going for the 76 kg title.
At 72 kg, Thais DE LUCAS (BRA) went 2-0 in the first half of the day. Should she win her last match tonight, she will take home the crown.
At 65 kg, there are four wrestlers tied with 2-1 records going into tonight’s session, counting Megan FENDELET (CAN), Andrea GARCIA (COL), Atzimba LANDAVERDE (MEX) and Ashlynn ORTEGA (USA). The winner will be determined after the last two matches are wrestled.
The medal matches are set for 5 p.m. ET live on unitedworldwrestling.org.
