Bronze medal in 87 kg class
NOVI SAD, Serbia – For the first time in the history of the Northern Michigan Greco-Roman Wrestling program, a member has won a U23 world medal as Payton Jacobson earned the bronze on Tuesday, October 21.
After a setback in the 87kg semifinal round that saw Jacobson fall to Gholamreza Farokhisenjani of Iran 9-0, Jacobson bounced back in the bronze medal bout, securing a 5-3 victory over Lachin Valiyev of Azerbaijan.
Jacobson and Valiyev were tied 3-3 with just over a minute to go when Jacobson converted the match-winning takedown. “When I picked him up, I was thinking explode as much as I could…it was the best throw I’ve ever had and it felt phenomenal,” Jacobson said. “It’s been a long process to get here, and I had to really push myself to the end.”
“He wants those challenges and he gets excited for them,” said head coach Andy Bisek. ” He was ready for those scenarios.”
It was Jacobson’s fourth win of the tournament, also defeating Rohit Bura of India, Gabriel Lupasco of Moldova, and Zaur Shangereev of UWW in earlier rounds.
More on Jacobson’s tournament, along with a postgame interview from both Jacobson and Bisek, can be found here.
Otto Black also impressed in the 67kg class, collecting two victories during the prelims with a 7-3 win over Adomas Grigaliunas of Lithuania and a second-period pin against Yanis Guendez Nifri of France. Black would then narrowly fall by a 1-1 criteria contest to Mohamed Abdelrehim of Egypt in the quarterfinals. He will continue his competition tomorrow, along with Max Black beginning his tournament.
Kaden Ercanbrack and Kenneth Crosby also competed for Northern Michigan.
