Powerhouse U.S. Women's Team Set (Mostly) for Worlds

2020 Olympic Gold Medalist Tamyra Mensah-Stock is heading back to the World Championships. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com

by Derek Levendusky
@AWWderek

Our women’s team for the 2022 World Championships is set, sans the result at 62 kg. Kayla Miracle and Jennifer Rogers will wrestle their best-of-three at a later date for medical reasons.

We’re sending another powerhouse lineup to Belgrade, Serbia, for the World Championships September 10-18. Last year’s squad came home with seven medals, tying the 2003 women’s team for most all-time by a U.S. women’s program. Granted 76 kg Adeline Gray, 6x world champion, is sitting out this year, but you’d have to think that anyone that makes the U.S. team is a legitimate threat to medal. We are in the golden age of U.S. wrestling as both men’s and women’s programs have become perennial top three threats in the team race. The women have only had Japan in their way.

In all, we’re sending a team with a resume of thirteen world medals and four Olympic medals to Belgrade.

Here’s a quick look at our roster.

50 kg Sarah Hildebrandt (NY Athletic Club)
Sarah Hildebrandt is no stranger to the world stage, winning a bronze medal at the Olympics last year and her second silver medal at the World Championships. She’s still looking for her first gold medal, so maybe this is her time.

53 kg Dom Parrish (Sunkist Kids WC)
Parrish made her first world team, though she has some international experience, including winning a gold at the Pan Am Championships last month. With the partners she’s had at Sunkist Kids WC and her Senior level experience, she’s ready for this.

55 kg Jacarra Winchester (USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC)
The 2019 world champion and 2020 Olympian has been on a mission to return to the world stage since her loss last fall to Jenna Burkert. Burkert went on to earn a bronze in Oslo. There’s no reason to think Winchester isn’t a contender again for a world title, especially at 55 kg. She took 5th at the Olympics at 53 kg.

57 kg Helen Maroulis (Sunkist Kids WC)
I don’t have to sell you on Helen Maroulis, a living legend ever since she beat Yoshida in the finals of the 2016 Olympics. After last year’s performance, she’s now a 3x world champion, 2x Olympic medalist, and 2016 Olympic gold medalist. Not bad. Some would even say it’s above average. Look out world, here she comes again.

59 kg Abby Nette (Army/WCAP)
Member of the 2018 and 2019 U23 world team, Nette made her first Senior world team in Stillwater. After a stellar college career, winning the Miranda Medal in 2020, she’s slowly been climbing the domestic ladder at the Senior level, placing 3rd at Olympic Team Trials last year. Depending on her draw, she’s certainly a podium threat. She’ll have some tough outs at her weight, including Bulgarian world champ Bilyana Dudova who defeated silver medalist Akie Hanai from Japan 6-4 in the finals last year, but this is a long-awaited opportunity for Nette and she’ll be ready to scrap with anyone.

62 kg Kayla Miracle (Sunkist Kids WC)/Jennifer Rogers (Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)
Results yet to be determined as Kayla Miracle had to delay the wrestle-off due to medical reasons. Stay tuned. Assuming the favorite, Kayla Miracle, wins that, we’ll be sending a returning silver medalist back to Worlds. If Rogers pulls the upset, we’ll be sending a very competitive 62 kg to Belgrade. I mean, if she can beat Kayla Miracle, she’s a real threat at the world level.

65 kg Mallory Velte (Beaver Dam RTC/Titan Mercury WC)
Did anyone have a harder path to the world team than Mallory Velte? She’s been on the grind for months, battling rivals Emma Bruntil and Forrest Molinari for the world team spot. She won both best-of-three series 2-1, and the 2018 world bronze medalist never looked better doing it. By all appearances, it looks like her rivals gave her the gift of a brutal journey—symbolized by her bloodied face against Molinari—to the world stage, which optimized her. Molinari-Velte-Bruntil went 1-2-3 at the Yasar Dogu in February. The Dogu is one of the toughest tournaments in the world. Well, Velte just won that round robin over the last few weeks. There’s a lot of reasons to think she’ll do well in Belgrade.

68 kg Tamyra Mensah-Stock (USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC)
The world gasped when Japan’s Rin Mayaji pinned Olympic gold medalist Tamyra Mensah-Stock in 21 seconds last fall in Oslo. Even with that result, Mensah-Stock has to be the favorite heading into Belgrade. Without taking credit from Miyaji, Mensah got “stuck” in the common wrestling use of the word. Is that result replicable? An honest answer is yes, but unlikely. Make no mistake, we’re sending one of the best wrestlers the world has ever seen back to the World Championships this year.

72 kg Amit Elor (NYC RTC/Titan Mercury RTC)
Following in the footsteps of Kylie Welker last year, one of the stars of the youth movement made her first world team as Amit Elor smashed her way to earn the 72 kg spot. No one was close to her domestically. Not at U20s, not at U23s, not at World Team Trials, and not at Final X, where she 10-0’ed Skylar Grote twice in their best-of-three. She also won her first Junior world title last year. Bottom line is, we just haven’t seen her ceiling yet. She’ll face the ultimate test at this weight, as the high schooler will face full grown, well-traveled elite women with resumes that make many of them contenders for the world title.

76 kg Dymond Guilford (USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC)
It’s good to see one of the persevering, beloved personalities like Guilford make her first world team. It’s her time. After winning her second college title in March and a Pan Am gold medal in Mexico last month, she tore through a tough weight class at World Team Trials and Final X to earn a spot on her first world team. She’s not going to Belgrade to get more international experience. She’s going there to win a medal, and a lot of us think she’ll do it.