MONTERREY, MEXICO • Illinois saw two of its own capture gold at this past weekend’s Pan-American Championships. For one, it was domination and the reward of hearing the National Anthem in her honor for the first time since 2021. For the other, it was a complete domination and desecration of his bracket.
Kennedy Blades came into the 68kg bracket as the number one seed, as she should have, and even though she is still working through the new weight, she has shown very few weaknesses in her wrestling, and she looks as strong and as powerful as ever.
Of course, even to the 2024 World silver medalist, she knows she can still do more to improve her wrestling and be even more dominant.
Throughout her four matches, Blades outscored her opponents 41-8, and her first opponent, Nathali Griman, who gave her the greatest opposition, would also be her final opponent in the gold medal match.
After a two-round pool, Blades would face off against Chile’s Virginia Jimenez in the semifinal cross-bracket and defeated her by technical superiority in 1:05. And then, in the finals, Blades would once again wrestle Venezuela’s Nathali Griman, but this time, Blades made it clear that she was the more dominant wrestler. In their opening bout, it was Blades with a 6-2 decision; in the gold medal match, it was all Blades with a 14-5 decision.
However, in that final match, the bout started off with Griman trying to bully her way past Blades with an immediate upper body tie and a push out. In response, Blades blasted through two double legs and then went up 6-1 in the next twenty seconds.
From there, Blades executed another double, adding four more points, and the only danger Blades felt after that was a hip toss from a right-hand underhook for four points by Griman on the edge of the mat with about thirty seconds remaining in the first period.
After that, however, Blades settled in and stayed out of Griman’s ties and controlled her pace and scored two more takedowns, with the last almost resulting in a suplex, for a 14-5 decision and Pan-Am Gold.
“The tournament was great, and it was super exciting,” Blades commented. “I just can’t wait to get home, rest, and get ready for Final X. It is the first time I know I’m going to make a World Team. I super confident. I super excited. I’m training hard. So, these tournaments in between are allowing me to fix any little tweaks I need to.
“In the finals, it was intense. I got thrown and I’m glad I was able to redeem myself. But I am happy I was able to come out on top. I adjusted and she adjusted, too, and I learned a lot. In the end, I came out on top and that is all that matters.”
Regarding Austin Gomez’s 70kg gold medal run, there was neither a moment of danger nor was there a moment of hesitation. He simply dominated.
Out of the three matches wrestled by the 2024 Olympian, Gomez blanked the field with a 33-0-point differential, collected three technical superiorities, and spent a total of 2:08 on the mat which is less than one period.
In his gold medal match, Gomez would face the United States’ Ian Parker, a former teammate at Iowa State, and that match would be a statement match to all the Americas stating the Gomez is the man to beat between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
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Here is a look at Kennedy Blades’ 68kg gold medal performance:
RD.01 • defeated Nathali Griman, Venezuela • Dec, 6-2
RD.02 • defeated Grabriela Pedro, Brazil • TS, 11-1
SEMI-F • defeated Virginia Jimenez, Chile • TS, 10-0 (1:05)
FINAL • defeated Nathali Griman, Venezuela • Dec, 14-5
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Here is a look at Austin Gomez’s 70kg gold medal performance:
QTR-F • defeated Jorge Gatica Hinricksen, Chile • TS, 12-0 (00:26)
SEMI-F • defeated Sixto Auccapina Pedragas, Peru • TS, 10-0 (00:27)
FINAL • defeated Ian Parker, United States • TS, 11-0 (1:15)
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• TC LIFONTI / LEAD WRITER FOR ILLINOIS MATMEN / tclifonti.com
