TexasWrestling
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| Tamyra Mensah at the 2016 Olympic Test Event in Brazil. Photo: Robbert Wijtman, CSC Photography |
Tamyra Mensah (Katy, Texas/Wayland Baptist/Titan Mercury WC) has been selected as TheMat.com Athlete of the Week on Oct. 25, 2016.
The top-ranked 155-pound wrestler in the WCWA, Mensah cruised to gold at the Blue Chip OCU Women’s Open over the weekend.
The Wayland Baptist star won six matches throughout the two-day event. Three of her wins came by pin while two others by 10-0 technical fall. In the championship bout, Mensah was dominant over 2016 Junior World Team member Rachel Watters of Oklahoma City, taking the bout by a 9-3 tally.
Mensah won the 2014 WCWA Women’s College Nationals and is a three-time WCWA All-American entering her senior year at Wayland Baptist. She did not compete at the college level last year. Instead, Mensah elected to take an Olympic redshirt and focus on making the U.S. Olympic Team.
During the Olympic year, Mensah broke through to win the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at 69 kg/152 lbs. She boasts five international bronze medals on the year from the Olympic Test Event, 1st World Olympic Games Qualifier, 2nd World Olympic Games Qualifier, Canada Cup and Grand Prix of Spain.
Although Mensah won the Olympic Trials, she did not compete at the Olympic Games due to the 69 kg women’s freestyle weight class not being qualified by the U.S.
Mensah won her first U.S. Open title last December and also earned silver medals at the 2014 University World Championships and 2015 U.S. World Team Trials.
Each week USA Wrestling will select an Athlete of the Week based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling, from youth programs through the Senior level.
To nominate a wrestler for USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week please send the athlete’s name, wrestling program and weekly and career accomplishments to Richard Immel at [email protected].
