Bernard pins down world championship

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Ali Bernard may need to build a bigger trophy case by the time her wrestling career is all said and done.

Bernard added another title to her resume as she won the World Championship in the 67 kilo weight class at the Junior World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

Bernard went 3-1 in her matches with national champions from all over the world and was the only American to bring home a title in the Junior World Championships.

An exhausted Bernard, who got home around 6 p.m. Tuesday, said the competition was the toughest she's ever faced and was proud to come home a champion.

"It was tough," she said. "It was the toughest competition. I expected tough competition and I just wanted to win."

Bernard won the title match in the round robin tournament in rather convincing fashion, defeating Maya Hristova of Bulgaria by a score of 14-7.

She qualified for the championship by defeating Canada's Achlea McManus 5-3 in the semifinals and Jakhar Geetika of India 5-2 in the quarterfinals. She lost her opening match to an opponent from Poland.

"I lost my first match, but I was pretty happy when I won the championship," she said. "It was awesome. That was my goal when I went over there."

A modest Bernard also is aware of the fan support she has around the New Ulm area and knows that wherever she goes, everyone will be rooting for her.

"Everyone's so proud of me, I guess," she said.

Bernard will now relax for a couple of weeks and be able to catch up on some much needed sleep after being away for three weeks. She doesn't know if she will be involved in any more tournaments or if she will begin work for the upcoming high school wrestling season.

"I'm going to take a couple of weeks off and think about what I'm going to be doing next."