Levi Haines finishes with silver at Senior Worlds: Full Penn State wrestling results from the event

 Penn State wrestling senior Levi Haines will be coming home with a silver medal from the Senior World Wrestling Championships in Croatia. The Nittany Lion made the gold medal match at 79 kilograms but lost on Monday in Croatia to Georgios Kougioumtsidis of Greece in the finals. Kogioumtsidis scored first after Haines failed to record a point when placed on the activity clock. He then added a step-out point to take a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. In the second, the Greek earned a step out point to swell his lead to 3-0, which proved to be the difference, as while Haines did score a late takedown, it wasn’t enough and he fell, 3-2.

A match breakdown from Richard Immel of USA Wrestling describes the bout as follows:

“Haines is put on the shot clock 1:34 into the match, knotted at zeroes. The clock expires and Kougioumtsidis is on the board first, 1-0. A snatch single for Kougioumtsidis drives Haines off the mat for another point. It’s 2-0 Kougioumtsidis at the break. Kougioumtsidis goes on the clock at the 1:39 mark in the second period, still 2-0. A single leg for Kougioumtsidis going off the mat give him a third point and nullifies the shot clock. There is 1:23 left for Haines to mount a comeback. Haines gets around behind as time expires, but it won’t be enough. Kougioumtsidis wins it, 3-2.”

It’s the second time Kougioumtsidis has beaten Haines this year.

Silver is a tremendous outcome, obviously, for Haines at his first World tournament. After starting out 2-0, he beat former champ Akhmed Usmanov with a last-second takedown to win 3-2 in Sunday’s quarterfinals and then dispatched of Mongolia’s Suldkhuu Olonbayar in the semifinals by a 4-1 count.

More Penn State wrestling results from Worlds

Haines may not be the only Nittany Lion leaving Croatia with a medal. NLWC wrestler Kyle Snyder goes for gold in the 97-kilogram bracket on Tuesday afternoon. His opponent is Amirali Azarpira of Iran. He is the club’s last competitior on the men’s freestyle side of things. Earlier in the tournament, freshman PJ Duke went 1-1 and was eliminated from medal contention.

U23 Worlds close out this year’s high-profile international events before the college season starts. Penn State is represented on Team USA for that event by the following wrestlers:

57 kg – Luke Lilledahl (St. Charles, Mo./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)

65 kg – Marcus Blaze (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg WC/Titan Mercury WC)

70 kg – PJ Duke (Slate Hill, N.Y./KD Training Center)

74 kg – Mitchell Mesenbrink (Bellefonte, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)

79 kg – Levi Haines (Arendtsville, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)

86 kg – Rocco Welsh (Fredericktown, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)

92 kg – Josh Barr (Davison, Mich./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)