IOWA CITY, Iowa –
Tamyra Mensah took another step closer to qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics after winning the 69-kilogram weight class Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials.
"It doesn't feel real," Mensah said. "I'm excited I got first, but I'm still staying focused."
That's because Mensah still has to qualify her weight in order to wrestle in Rio de Janeiro, something she'll attempt to do in two weeks in Mongolia. A second event for wrestlers trying to qualify their weight will follow in Turkey. Mensah came up just short of qualifying her weight at the Pan American Qualifier in Frisco in early March.
On Saturday, Mensah – who took a hiatus from her studies at Wayland Baptist this academic year in order to train at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs – won all four of her matches in convincing fashion.
Following a first-round bye, the top-seeded Mensah, a native of Katy, Texas, defeated Veronica Carlson of NYAC by decision, 9-0, then topped Julia Salata of NYAC/OTC by technical fall, 11-1.
Wayland coach
Aaron Meister said both opponents had defeated Mensah previously. In fact, Carlson beat Mensah both times they wrestled previously.
"It had been a couple of years since we wrestled her, so we were a little bit nervous about that," Meister said. "But Tamyra came out and was very dominant."
Mensah had split previous matches against her semifinal opponent Salata.
"She had the last win against us last year," Meister said. "But Tamyra looked even better in that match than she did in her first match. Her confidence was growing."
Those victories qualified Mensah for the championship Saturday night against Brittney Roberts of Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club, who knocked off Randi Miller of Army (WCAP) in the other semifinal by 3-1 decision.
In the best-of-3 finals, Mensah prevailed in impressive fashion over Roberts, winning the first two bouts by identical 8-1 decisions.
"She won the first match very convincingly, had a short break and did it again in the same fashion," Meister said. "She was very dominant, very controlled. She showed great composure and held good position…things you see from an experienced wrestler.
"All of the matches she put in this past year showed up today."
Mensah, who will be a red-shirt senior at WBU in 2016-17, said she wrestled even better than she was hoping to going into the event, adding that the entire experience has been a bit surreal.
"It was fantastic. It was a prime moment for me, but I still have work to do."
Mensah is one of four wrestlers with connections to Wayland to compete at the Trials.
In the 58-kilogram class, Tamyra's twin sister Tarkyia, who also will be a red-shirt senior at WBU next academic year, lost in the first round to top-seeded Alli Ragan of NYAC by technical fall, 10-0, then fell to Trinity Griffith of Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club by tech fall, 14-3. Ragan advanced to the finals where she lost to Kelsey Campbell of Sunkist Kids.
Meister said Tarkyia wrestled "better than I've ever seen her wrestle" in the second-round match. "For her to do that at such a good competition…I was really pleased with her performance."
In the 63-kilogram division, WBU assistant coach
Rachael Shannon, competing for Xtreme Training, fell in the first round to second-seeded Erin Clodgo by tech fall, 10-0, before bowing out to Francesca Giorgio of Simon Fraser University by decision, 10-8. Clodgo went on to qualify for the finals where she lost to Elena Pirozhkova of Titan Mercury.
"Coach Shannon had some really good battles," Meister said. "She showed a lot of courage by jumping in here."
On Sunday, WBU sophomore
Nahiela Magee will compete at 75 kilograms.
NBC Sports will provide live coverage, including free online viewing of all the preliminary matches, beginning at 9 a.m. (CT) Sunday at NBCSports.com/LiveExtra. The best-of-three match finals will air live on NBC Sports Network at 9:30 p.m. (CT) Sunday, following NHL coverage.
