Four victories in tournament
TIRANA, Albania – Three members of the Northern Michigan Greco-Roman Wrestling team competed overseas at the U23 World Championships in Albania the past few days.
The tournament was highlighted by Paris Olympian Payton Jacobson continuing to make his impression worldwide. Jacobson, competing at 87kg, finished in 5th place in the world in his weight class following a 3-2 record that took him all the way to the bronze medal match.
Jacobson was victorious over Tomislav Brkan (Croatia), 3-1, and Yudai Kobori (Japan), tech. fall, 8-0 to start things off. He then suffered a narrow defeat to Aues Gonibov (Individual Neutral Athlete), 3-1, before bouncing back with an impressive win over Ilya Mialeshchyk (Individual Neutral Athlete), 7-0. His last match was a defeat to Asan Zhanyshov (Kyrgyzstan), tech. fall, 9-0.
At 60kg, Max Black took 16th place. He lost to Nihad Guluzade (Azerbaijan), tech. fall, 9-0, and Guluzade lost before the finals, eliminating Black from the repechage.
Jonathan Gurule also competed at 63kg, falling to Mairbek Salimov (Poland), tech. fall, 9-0. Gurule was also eliminated with Salimov falling before the finals.
