Mensah Captures Gold, Ragan Wins Bronze On Day 1 Of Yarygin

Mensah Captures Gold, Ragan Wins Bronze On Day 1 Of Yarygin

The 2017 installment of Ivan Yarygin Memorial kicked off early Friday morning in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Tamyra Mensah and Alli Ragan will be returning from Siberia with some hardware, Mensah captured a gold medal while Ragan earned a bronze medal.

Jan 27, 2017 by Michael Malinconico
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Tamyra Mensah and Alli Ragan will be returning from Siberia with some hardware after Mensah captured a gold medal and Ragan earned bronze at the 2017 Ivan Yarygin Memorial on Friday morning in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

Mensah put together an impressive run in Krasnoyarsk, winning 3-1 against Azerbaijan's Elis Manolova in the qualification round. Mensah would go on to tech her next opponent, Tsetsegbayar Byambadorj of Mongolia. In the semifinals Mensah won a 9-8 shootout with Russia's Khanum Velieva. Mensah saved her best performance for last, winning 8-4 against three-time world medalist Nasanbumaa Ochirbat from Mongolia and scoring from all three positions to do it. How impressive was Mensah's run in Siberia? Just ask USA Wrestling's national developmental coach, Brent Metcalf.

Ragan fell 6-2 early in the tournament to Yulia Prontsehvich from Russia in the round of 16. Prontsehvich would go on to make the finals, giving Ragan a berth in the repechage where she would win 5-0 against Valeria Suvorova from Russia. Ragan didn't need to go the full six minutes to win her bronze medal match, recording a fall after being up 8-1.

Mensah's gold medal match: