The U17 Pan Am Games unfolded last weekend in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and two Marylanders brought gold medals home, Gilman’s Emmitt Sherlock and Spalding’s Taina Fernandez.
Sherlock earned his gold in Freestyle at 80Kg after securing a bronze in Greco-Roman. Two technical superiority wins, and a pin sealed the deal for the Greyhound in FS.
In the finals, Sherlock, who is ranked 12th in the nation by Scorebook Live at 175lbs, posted a 10-0 blanking of Luis Figuero Suero of the host country. In the ½ Final, the soon to be senior wasted little time and flattened Guatemala’s John Saenz Corea in 11 seconds. An 11-0 tech over Mexico’s Juan Lopez Ulloa in the ¼ Final got the title run started for Sherlock.
Sherlock’s exploits helped Team USA win team titles in both disciplines. The FS crown came over Canada, 215-141. The GR championship was secured over Peru, 230-123.
Sherlock lost his ¼ Final match with Brazil’s Guilherme Landim Salles, 2-1. Salles went on to win the GR gold. Sherlock bounced back to win his bronze bout, by a 9-0 tech, against Peru’s Maycki Flores Ayala. In FS a technical superiority comes with a ten-point margin, in GR an eight-point edge is required.
“Winning Pan-Ams was a cool moment for my wrestling experience,” Sherlock said. “It was my first time representing the United States and wrestling other countries. It was a good sneak peek for the world championships. Pan-Ams allowed for me to get a feel for wrestling foreigners. The world championships are next for me, and that’s in August. I know that is going to be a step up from the competition this past week, but the goal is to continue my success and bring back a medal for our country.”
Fernandez, who is ranked No. 1 in the nation at 135lbs, dominated the competition with no one scoring a point on her over five matches. The Cavaliers 61KG title came on an 11-0 tech in the finals over Ecuador’s Leiddy Acuna Penaranda. Fernandez also defeated Penaranda in her Group A Pool, 10-0.
The ½ Final resulted in an 11-0 score versus Brazil’s Beatriz Calasans Camargo. There were two other girls in Fernandez’s initial pool and both of them met the same fate, a 10-0 tech – Peru’s Romina Garro Villanera and Mexico’s Zoe Cardenas Hernandez.
Earlier in June, Fernandez captured the 15U Pan Am Games gold in El Salvador putting technical superiority scores on the board in all four of her matches.
In the finals, Fernandez took out Yolayni Rosado Valerio of the Dominican Republic, 12-2. The other foes Fernandez slayed were Sylvia Espinosa Muniz (Mexico), 12-2, and two by 10-0 margins – Angeline Garcia Perez (Guatemala) and Alayrah Torres Velez (Puerto Rico).
Her efforts helped propel the United States to the team title over Mexico, 240-137.
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