Junior Worlds - USA Women's Preview

Schedule | Women Entries | Foreign Hammers

Last year was a bit of a down year for Team USA, as the women finished in sixth place and had just one medalist. Although that medalist initially made the team, she has been replaced due to an illness. Cadet world champ Ronna Heaton will be taking Becka Leathers' place at 55kg.

Even with Leathers out though, this is still a dangerous team that can put pressure on the rest of the world. Japan is the overwhelming favorite to win their sixth straight team title, but the American girls are coming to crash the party.

Three girls return from last year's squad. Rachel Watters was in the bronze medal match but was quickly pinned by Norway, while WCWA champs Marina Doi and Kayla Miracle both won bronze medals in 2014 but did not place last year.

Doi has wrestled a wealth of foreign opponents as this is her sixth world championship. She is a veteran presence who wrestles a similar style to Olympic Trials finalist Victoria Anthony and should hopefully provide a jolt (and a medal) at the beginning of the lineup. Doi is a rising junior at King University who won her first WCWA title this year and knows how to control the pace of a match, an invaluable skill overseas.

Miracle is a right leg lead who has a good fireman's carry/dump, but her specialty is a misdirection shot. She prefers to go swing single, cut back across when her opponent fights back and finish with a turk in. This allows her to rack up quick exposures and in the best case scenario lock up a near leg cradle.

Watters Goes back-to-back in Fargo


Watters is an Iowa girl heading to Oklahoma City for college. In her two Fargo runs, she has given up only one point. She is well beyond high school competition at this point. Last year in Brazil, Watters was on the wrong end of three arm spins against Japan in the semifinals. If she has cleaned up that part of her game, her leg attack defense is strong enough that she can make a deep run.

As a whole almost all of this team has international experience. Maya Nelson has never made a world team, but won a cadet Pan Am title in 2014 and has wrestled at the senior level. Alexis Porter is back on the team after competing in 2014 in Croatia; she won a junior Pan Am title last year.

Coming up from the cadet team is McKayla Campbell, who actually did not make that team this year. She was in the bronze medal match last year at 43kg in cadet worlds. Reyna pinned Heaton to win Fargo, but this is her first international tournament.

Wrestling occurs Thursday and Friday starting at 3 a.m. central time. Weigh ins are the day before at 10:15 a.m. central time and will be posted on FloArena.

Women’s Freestyle roster
44 kg/97 lbs. – Marina Doi, Kingsburg, Calif. (Titan Mercury WC)
48 kg/105.5 lbs. – McKayla Campbell, Wauseon, Ohio (Ohio National Team)
51 kg/112.25 lbs. – Brenda Reyna, Mount Vernon, Wash. (Vandit Wrestling Academy)
55 kg/121 lbs. – Ronna Heaton, South Dakota (Sunkist Kids)
59 kg/130 lbs. – Kayla Miracle, Campbellsville, Ky. (Sunkist Kids)
63 kg/138.75 lbs. – Maya Nelson, Denver, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
67 kg/147.5 lbs. – Alexis Porter, Ballston Lake, N.Y. (McKendree University)
72 kg/158.5 lbs. – Rachel Watters, Ankeny, Iowa (Gator OKCU RTC)
Assistant Women’s National Coach – Erin Tomeo, Colorado Springs, Colo.
World Team coach – Tricia Saunders, Phoenix, Ariz.
World Team coach – Sam Schmitz, Lebanon, Ill.
World Team coach – Brent Barnes, Lake Stevens, Wash.

Women's team highlight video