Kilty places second at Junior World

Kilty

By Hub City Times staff

MARSHFIELD – For the second year in a row, Stratford native Macey Kilty is a silver medalist at the Junior World Championships. According to Team USA Wrestling, Kilty lost her championship match on Aug. 16 in the gold medal finals to Miwa Morikawa of Japan 2-1 in Tallinn, Estonia.

Kilty grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first period when Morikawa could not score on the shot clock. Morikawa tied the match when Kilty stepped out of bounds during second period action. Another miscue cost Kilty the match when Morikawa got behind her, and Macey tried breaking her opponent's grip and drew a penalty with a "caution-and-one,” giving Morikawa a 2-1 advantage.

Kilty failed to score as the match drew to a close, and Morikawa held on for the gold medal. Kilty advanced to the gold medal match with three victories on Aug. 15. Macey bested Nerea Pampin Blanco of Spain 10-0 and Wiktoria Choluj of Poland 12-1 in two technical-fall victories, before pinning Hanna Sadchanka of Belarus in the semifinals. This was Kilty's second-straight year claiming silver at Junior World competition.

Team USA took sixth in team standings with a total of 62 points. Japan was dominant, with a first-place total of 230 points, a total of eight champions, two bronze medalists, and a sweep of all five gold medal matches. Russia finished in second place with 115.

Kilty is now 4-for-4 in four age-group World Championship matches. In addition to two silver medals in the last two Junior World competitions, Kilty won bronze at the 2016 Cadet World event and gold at last year's Cadet Worlds.

 Macey is planning to compete this fall in the U23 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary Oct. 28-Nov. 3.