ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia – Two weeks ago Haley Augello won gold at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Wrestling, making history for the King University women's wrestling program. Early on Saturday morning, Augello made more history as she reached the finals of the 1st Olympic Games World Qualifying Tournament, giving her a spot in the 2016 Olympic Games at 48 kilograms.
At the tournament, Augello needed to place top-two to qualify the U.S. to compete at the Olympic Games and she did that fairly easily. In her first three matches of the day, the Lockport, Ill., native earned three technical fall victories, defeating her opponents by a combined 32-1 margin to reach teh finals and earn her spot in the Olympic Games.
Augello, who is on an Olympic redshirt year from the Tornado, started her day with a 12-1 victory over Viyaleta Chyryk of Belarus before defeating Finland's Sarianne Savola 10-0 in the quarterfinals. She punched her ticket to Rio when she defeated Mariya Livach of Ukraine 10-0 in the semifinals. In the gold medal bout, Augello fell to 2014 World bronze medalist Hyon-Gyong Kim of Democratic People's Republic of Korea 9-2, giving Augello a silver medal.
Augello becomes the first Tornado women's wrestler to become and Olympian and she is believed to be the second Tornado that will compete in the Olympics, joining track athlete Kemar Hyman. He compted in the 2012 Olympic Games in London, competing for the Cayman Islands in the 100 meter dash and was the flag bearer for his country. He attended King from 2007-09 and still holds the school records in the 100 and 200 meter dash.
Along with Augello on Saturday, Helen Maroulis qualified the U.S. for the Olympic Games at 53 kilograms. The U.S. has now qualified to compete at 48 kg, 53 kg, 63 kg and 75 kg at the Olympic Games in women's freestyle wrestling.
Results
48 kg/105.5 lbs. – Haley Augello, Lockport, Ill. (New York AC/OTC), Silver
WIN Viyaleta Chyryk (Belarus), 12-1
WIN Sarianne Savola (Finland), 10-0
WIN Mariya Livach (Ukraine), 10-0
LOSS Hyon-Gyong Kim (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), 9-2
