Guilford & Nette Make First-Ever Senior World Teams

76 kg Dymond Guilford battles Yelena Makoyed at Final X 2022. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com

59 kg Abby Nette beats out Lexie Basham for the world team spot. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com

by Derek Levendusky
Twitter: @AWWderek

STILLWATER, OKLAHOMA - She danced in Coralville, she danced in Stillwater, and she’s danced her way to Belgrade, where she’ll have the opportunity to represent her country at the 2022 Senior World Championships. 76 kg Dymond Guilford couldn’t conceal her joy as she made her first-ever world team with a 2-0 series win over her new rival Yelena Makoyed. She took advantage in a big way of the absence of 6x world champ Adeline Gray, who is off the mat awaiting the birth of her first child.

Both matches against Makoyed had similar scripts, with Guilford avoiding ties, circling hard to the left and hitting a misdirection single/knee pull to the right. She had Makoyed’s leg elevated all day and finished with high-efficiency, winning the first two matches 10-5 and 12-2 in the three match series. Makoyed showed flashes of her high-powered offense, but there wasn’t enough of it and Guilford’s stingy defense stifled numerous attacks.

“I’m just so happy that I can give back to my community and everybody who has supported me,” said a delighted Guilford after the last match. “…people from Kentucky, Missouri, Colorado. They’ve invested a lot in me and all I want to do is give back to them.”

59 kg Abby Nette also made her first-ever world team. The 2020 Miranda Medal winner and 2x WCWA champ came out of college with a lot of Senior Level promise, and though it’s taken a few years, she finally reached the top of the domestic ladder with a 2-0 series win over NAIA college talent Lexie Basham. Nette proved too much for her younger opponent, with crafty counters and slick go-behinds to put points up on the board, though Basham was a worthy opponent in both matches. Match scores were 12-4 and 8-5.

“It was tough [transitioning to Senior Level],” Nette said two weekends ago in Iowa. “You come from college where you feel like the top dog, and then you come to Seniors and you get knocked down a little bit. I had two hard years of facing reality and now I’ve learned to deal with reality and now I’m back and it feels great.”

In other action, Jacarra Winchester recaptured the world team spot at 55 kg with a 2-1 series win over Jenna Burkert after Burkert had to medically forfeit the final two matches due to a neck injury. The injury happened while Burkert finished a shot in the second match, landing squarely on her head. Her frightened countenance immediately revealed something bad had happened, while she frantically pointed to her neck. After action stopped for a few minutes, it became obvious the series would not continue. Winchester returns to the World Championships for the first time since won a world title in 2019. She did compete at the Olympics in 2021. At 65 kg, Mallory Velte won a dramatic series 2-1, unseating 2021 world medalist Forrest Molinari; and 68 kg Tamyra Mensah-Stock won her series 2-0 against Sienna Ramirez with two straight tech falls, though the Southern Oregon national champ did take the Olympic gold medalist down once.