Miracle wins bronze at World Championships
By Jan Garrison
Photo Credit T.R. Foley for USA Wrestling
Kayla Miracle (red) defeated Kriszta Tunde of Romania to win the bronze medal. Photo by T.R. Foley for USA Wrestling
Kayla Miracle '14 (Campbellsville, Ky.) won a bronze medal in women's freestyle wrestling at the FILA Junior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, on Thursday. Miracle was wrestling at the 59 kg/130 pound weight class.
It is Miracle's first junior world medal after a successful career at the cadet level, where she was a silver medalist at the World Championships.
Miracle opened up her offense in her bronze-medal bout against Kriszta Tunde of Romania, scoring on a variety of takedown attacks. Tunde had to stop the action a number of times for an injury to her arm. Miracle kept on the pressure, and on her final leg attack, she secured the fall at 4:30.
"I kept pushing the pace, pushing the pace… We kept working on it in practice. Finally, she broke. And when she broke, I went for it. I was just thinking about my game. Whether she continued or not, I was ready," said Miracle.
Miracle opened with pins over Bayhan Derya of Turkey in 1:46 and Madina Bagbergenova of Kazakhstan in 2:14. In the quarterfinals, Miracle lost to Luisa Niemesch of Germany, 4-3. Miracle won her wrestle-back match, pinning Patrizia Liuzzi of Italy in 5:44.
As a wrestler at Culver, Miracle became the first girl to qualify for the Indiana state meet her sophomore year. She finished her four-year career with a mark of 150-14. She wrestled at 103 pounds her first two years, moved up to 120 pounds her junior year, and finished at 126 pounds her senior year. She was named the ASICS Girls High School Wrestler of the Year and named to the ASICS All-American First Team.
Miracle will continue her career at Campbellsville University, where her father Lee is the women's wrestling coach.
Match information provided by USA Wrestling
Posted in Alumni Culver Academies Parents Sports
Jan Garrison joined the Communications Department in December 2000. He serves as the editor for the Culver news blog, contributes to the Culver Alumni Magazine, and shoots photos. He and his wife Crissie have three children: Cameron '10, Morgan '11, and Keely '15.
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