LAS VEGAS — Campbellsville's Kayla Miracle and Koral Sugiyama finished second and third, respectively, to earn spots on the in the U.S. Senior Women's Freestyle National Team this past weekend at the South Point Convention Center. The two are the first Campbellsville University wrestlers, male or female, to accomplish this prestigious status in the sports storied history at the university.
 
Miracle, a 2017 U.S. Open Champion at 58 kg, is a two-time Junior World medalist, three-time WCWA national champion and three time Gold medalist at University Nationals. She now adds a Senior National Team selection to the long list of achievements.
 
Miracle ran into the most decorated women's freestyler in the country – Helen Maroulis. Maroulis, a 2016 Rio Olympic champion, became the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic wrestling gold medal by defeating Japan's Saori Yoshida, winner of three gold medals and 13 world championships, idol of a nation, and the worlds most decorated female wrestler ever. On her way to a victory at her new weight class, 58 kg/128 lbs. She defeated Miracle in both of the championship matches by technical fall. In the first match, Miracle tied the score at two and was actually winning by criteria, but could not hold off Maroulis who won 15-2 in 5:45. In the second round of the best-of-three series, Meroulis shutout Miracle in the second round, 10-0 in 2:42.
 
Miracle worked her way to the finals bye earning a first round bye as the number one seed and defeated New York Athletic Club's Lauren Louive, by second period fall, in the semifinal.
 
Maroulis has now made seven Senior World Teams, plus an Olympic team. She boasts an Olympic title, a World title, a World silver medal and a World bronze medal.
 
"I am extremely proud of Kayla's efforts. It takes a special kind of mentality to want to face the very best," said coach Lee Miracle. "Kayla could have went up or down a weight class and had a much easier road to making a senior world team. She will take away several lessons from this tournament that will make her better in the end. There are a lot of positives to build on for the future. Helen is an incredible competitor and we have nothing but respect for her. Just being able to score on her is a small celebration in and of itself. When Kayla took her down it was the first time I remember seeing Helen get scored on by an American in over four years."
 
Sugiyama's road onto the National Team was a little more difficult. She defeated Arian Carpio from Sunkist Kids, 6-4, in the first round before falling in the consolation bracket to Francesca Girogio from Simon Fraiser, 6-0.
 
Sugiyama then rattled off a pair of wins to finish third. She defeated Chloe Spencer from Chicago's Wrestling Club, 12-2, and Carpio in the third-place match, 8-1. She then had to wrestle a "true third" match against King's Nicole Joseph to solidify her standing. She defeated Joseph 10-0 to do so.
 
"I am so happy for Koral. This is a young lady who works extremely hard for everything," said Miracle. "She puts in extra time after practice. Adds extra workouts to her schedule and just wants to be the best that she can be. She has developed so much in the past two years. She is very deserving of this incredible accomplishment. I am looking forward to seeing her continue her improvement. She is just now really starting to develop some confidence and mental toughness. This has made all of the difference and I see her doing even bigger things in the future."
 
Miracle will hit the road once again in just a few days, after earning a bid to the Pan American Championships in Brazil on May 5-7.
 
Miracle and Sugiyama's Full Results
Koral Sugiyama
Def. A. Carpio (SKWC), 6-4
Lost to F. Giorgio (SF), 6-0
Def. C. Spencer (CWC), 12-2
Def. A. Carpio (SKWC), 8-1
Def. N. Joseph (King), 10-0
 
Kayla Miracle
Bye
Def. L. Louive (NYAC), Fall
Lost to Helen Maroulis (SKWC), 2-0
 
Sunkist Kids recorded 72 team points to finish second in the team standings behind Titan Mercury's 106 points. Titan Mercury had four first-place finishes, three runners-up, two in third place and one in fourth. Miracle's Sunkist Kids team had a pair of champions and runners-up, one in third and three in fourth place.