Springs wrestlers struggle at worlds

Three Colorado Springs residents failed to medal today in the women’s freestyle competition at the World Wrestling Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Jenny Wong, a replacement for the injured Patricia Miranda, lost to Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kohut 1-0, 3-2 at 112.25 pounds. She was eliminated when Kohut lost in the semifinals.

In her first world championships appearance, Marcie Van Dusen (121 pounds) won back-to-back matches against Italy’s Sabrina Esposito and Venezuela’s Marcia Andrade before dropping a 7-0, 2-0 decision to Ukraine’s Tetyana Lazareva. She was knocked out of the tournament when Lazareva fell in the semifinals.

Leigh Jaynes, a member of the World Class Athlete Program at Fort Carson, lost to Japan’s Ayako Shoda 1-1, 1-0 at 130 pounds. She was eliminated when Shoda, the defending world champion, was upset by Ukraine’s Nataliya Synyshyn in the quarterfinals.

“I don’t think we’re taking control enough,” said Terry Steiner, coach of the U.S. national women’s freestyle team. “We’re hoping things happen, but we’re not making things happen. We’re not putting ourselves in scoring situations. We’re leaving matches too technical and too tactical, and they don’t have to be like that.”

Van Dusen has three more chances to qualify her weight class for the 2008 Beijing Games, starting with the Pan American Championships, which are Feb. 29 to March 2 in Colorado Springs. Wong and Jaynes are in non-Olympic weight classes. Colorado Springs wrestler Stephanie Murata qualified the 105.5-pound division Friday with a fifth-place finish.

Two Colorado Springs wrestlers will compete Sunday in women’s freestyle. Two-time world champion Kristie Marano will wrestle at 158.5 pounds and Katie Downing, a bronze medalist at the 2005 world championships, will wrestle at 147.5 pounds.

OTC residents head to judo World Cup

Two Olympic Training Center judo players are part of a seven-person U.S. team that’s competing this weekend at a World Cup in Birmingham, England.

Ryan Reser, a gold medalist at the Pan American Games, is coming off a first-round loss at the World Judo Championships. He’ll face stiff competition at 160.9 pounds from the Netherlands’ Bryan van Dijk, Italy’s Marco Maddaloni and Belgium’s Dirk van Tichelt.

Josh O’Neil placed fifth last month at the International German Championships and first this month at the Fall Classic National Championships. He’ll likely be challenged at 132.3 pounds by Slovenia’s Rok Draksic, England’s Craig Fallon and Spain’s Kenji Uematsu.

Shooting junior nationals conclude at Fort Carson

The men’s and women’s skeet finals of the USA Shooting Junior Olympic National Championships will be held today at Fort Carson.

On Tuesday, Richard Valdez and Miranda Wilder won trap titles. Jared Fodor won the men’s double trap title Wednesday with 179 targets.

Friedman selected to track talent pool

Colorado Springs cyclist Michael Friedman has been named to the USA Cycling track talent pool, meaning he’s a candidate to compete in high-level international events, including the Olympics.

Friedman, sponsored by Slipstream/Chipotle, was a coaches’ selection to the three-person men’s endurance squad, which includes Boulder’s Colby Pearce and Brad Huff of Fair Grove, Mo.

A look at Friedman’s potential schedule:

First World Cup, Sydney, Nov. 30 to Dec. 2

Second World Cup, Beijing, Dec. 7-9

Third World Cup, Los Angeles, Jan. 18-20

Fourth World Cup, Ballerup, Denmark, Feb. 15-17

2008 Elite Track World Championships, Manchester, England, March 27-30

2008 Continental Championships, TBD

2008 Beijing Games, Aug. 15-19

Figure skating TV schedule released

U.S. Figure Skating has announced its broadcast schedule for the 2007-08 season. All events will air on NBC.

A look at the schedule:

2007 Skate America, Oct. 28, 2-4 p.m.

2008 U.S. Championships, Jan. 26, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 5-8 p.m.; Jan. 27, 1-3 p.m.

2008 Skating Spectacular, Feb. 3, TBD