South Dakota native and Junior freestyle Fargo champ, Ronna Heaton, took the United States wrestling world by storm this morning when she stormed her way to a Cadet World title. Follow her match by match journey to the gold medal.


R1: Ronna Heaton p. Esra Pul (TUR)
In round 1 Heaton got off to a fast start pinning Esra Pul of Turkey early in the second period. Heaton only led 4-1 at the break, but once again used a go behind right into a turn before adjusting and picking up the fall. Heaton did a great job of scoring off of Pul's shot, and picked a few turns on top before finally ending it. 


QF: Ronna Heaton dec. Anastasia Sizenko (RUS), 10-6 In round 2 Heaton surrended the first takedown, but quickly rallied back to score two of her own before the break. Heaton added the first points in the second with another takedown, but Sizenko rallied to to tie the match at six after a takedown and turn. But Heaton was not to be denied. She scored the winning takedown with 25 seconds remaining in the match, and clinched her spot in the semis with go behind in the final seconds of the match.

SF: Ronna Heaton p. Yevgeniya Pavlova (UKR) In the semis it was all about perseverance for Heaton. Early in the match Pavlova hit a feet to back dump to jump out to 4-0 lead, but as she had done all tournament Heaton continued to battle. She continued to work her way into better position, scored a reversal, and ran Pavlova over to her back with a brutal arm bundle.


GOLD: Ronna Heaton dec. Saki Igarashi (JPN), 4-0 In the finals it was all business for Heaton. Just like she had done in her three previous matches Heaton used her great hips, and quick go behinds to jump out to a 2-0 lead at the break. The second period was much of the same story with Heaton picking up a takedown off of an Igarashi shot to extend her lead to 4-0. Heaton fended off a few last ditch attempts by Igarashi to not only win the first gold of the tournmanent for the United States, but the first medal of any color. 

Our own Willie Saylor was fortunate enough to catch up with Heaton who was all smiles.