“We’ve got to get better,” USA Wrestling’s National Coach said softly during a post-match interview. “We’ve got to get better.”

The U.S. had three straight shots at winning a bronze medal Thursday night at the World Championships, but Americans Doug Schwab, Joe Heskett and Joe Williams each finished in fifth place Thursday night at Heydar Aliyev Sport and Exhibition Complex.

Russia has won four gold medals and a bronze medal through the first five weight classes in freestyle with the other two to be decided tomorrow. The battle is now on for second place and the U.S. still has a shot at a team trophy as it stands with 18 points.

The Americans did qualify all three weight classes that were contested Thursday for the 2008 Olympics with top-eight finishes at the World Championships. The U.S. failed to qualify at 55 kg/121 lbs. and 60 kg/132 lbs. on Wednesday. The final two freestyle weights – 96 kg/211.5 lbs. and 120 kg/264.5 lbs. – will be contested Friday.

“We’re not that far away with a lot of guys, but at the same time close doesn’t win you any medals,” Jackson said. “Everybody in our freestyle program has to get better at every level.”

Schwab (Iowa City, Iowa/Gator WC) didn’t win a medal at 66 kg/145.5 lbs., but he does have something to build on heading toward the Olympic year. Schwab went 3-2 in his first World Championships. He dropped a 4-1, 1-0 decision to Georgia’s Otar Tushishvili in the bronze-medal match. Tushivili lost to American Bill Zadick in the finals of the 2006 World Championships.

“I need more offense and I need to be more intense,” Schwab said. “That’s the way I’ve been coached from Day 1 and that’s the way I was raised. I need to go to the legs more and attempt more shots. I need to get more attacks. I’m disappointed because I know that’s how to win.

“This was a good experience, but I came here for one reason and that was to win. I didn’t feel like I wrestled like I was capable from an offensive point of view. I think I fought and battled, but fighting and battling only goes so far. You want to win and I need more offense to do it. I’ve obviously made a lot of improvement over the last three months, but I still need to improve a lot more.”

Heskett (Columbus, Ohio/Gator WC) nearly upset World champion Mahach Murtazaliev of Russia in the semifinals at 74 kg/163 lbs. before dropping a gritty, three-period match. Heskett shot in deep on a single-leg early in his third-place match with Azerbaijan’s Chamsulvara Chamsulvaraev, but was unable to finish. Heskett looked sharp all day, but his medal hopes ended in a 1-0, 3-1 loss to Chamsulvaraev. Heskett went 4-2 in his first World Championships.

“It’s just disappointing in a lot of ways to come out of here without a medal after wrestling a pretty good tournament,” Heskett said. “It’s painful and it’s something that’s going to motivate me. I know I’ve made a lot of progress in the last three months and I’m going to keep building on that for next year.”

Williams (Belvidere, Ill./Sunkist Kids) turned in a courageous performance in placing fifth at 84 kg/185 lbs. Williams is nowhere near 100 percent physically. He had surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle three months ago and didn’t start wrestling live until a few weeks ago.

Williams was in deep on a number of early shots against 2006 World bronze medalist Reza Yazdani of Iran, but couldn’t quite finish. Nobody was able to score in the first two minutes and the period went to a coin flip. Yazdani won the flip and then quickly dumped Williams to the mat to win the period.

In the second period, Williams was caught on his back 20 seconds into the period after a short scramble off Yazdani’s leg attack. Yazdani locked his arms around Williams’ lower legs and stacked him to his back while the Iranian was on his feet. He then held him there the remainder of the period to win the match.

“Joe battled hard today,” said Mike Duroe, one of the U.S. coaches. “But the bottom line is Joe’s got a lot of work to do. He really only had a very, very short time to prepare for this. He didn’t even start going hard until that last Training Camp.”

The men’s freestyle competition concludes Friday with two more Americans set to compete. Taking the mat will be Daniel Cormier (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC) and Tommy Rowlands (Columbus, Ohio/Sunkist Kids). Cormier competes at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. and Rowlands at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. Cormier is making his fourth straight appearance at the World Championships.

The women’s freestyle competition kicks off at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. Stephanie Murata (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) is scheduled to compete Friday for the U.S. Murata is a past World silver medalist.

WORLD WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 20

66 kg/145.5 lbs.
Gold - Ramazan Shahin (Turkey)
Silver - Geandry Garzon (Cuba)
Bronze - Irbek Farniev (Russia)
Bronze - Otar Tushishvili (Georgia)
5th - Andrey Stadnik (Ukraine)
5th - Doug Schwab (United States)
7th - Sushil Kumar (India)
8th - Batzorig Buyanjav (Mongolia)
9th - Takayuki Suzuki (Japan)
10th - Arslan Khutaliev (Uzbekistan)

74 kg/163 lbs.
Gold - Makhach Murtazaliev (Russia)
Silver - Ibragim Aldatov (Ukraine)
Bronze - Chamsulvara Chamsulvaraev (Azerbaijan)
Bronze - Ivan Fundora (Cuba)
5th - Stefan Gheorghita (Romania)
5th - Joe Heskett (United States)
7th - Gabor Hatos (Hungary)
8th - Gela Saghirashvili (Georgia)
9th – Ali Asghar Bazrighaleh (Iran)
10th - Emzarios Bentinidis (Greece)

84 kg/185 lbs.
Gold - Georgi Ketoev (Russia)
Silver - Yasup Abdusalamov (Tajikistan)
Bronze - Zaurbek Sokhiev (Uzbekistan)
Bronze - Reza Yazdani (Iran)
5th - Serhat Balci (Turkey)
5th - Joe Williams (United States)
7th - David Bichinashvili (Germany)
8th - Travis Cross (Canada)
9th - Lazaros Loizidis (Greece)
10th - Felix Polianidis (Cyprus)

U.S. freestyle performances

66 kg/145.5 lbs. – Doug Schwab (Iowa City, Iowa/Gator WC), 5th
WIN Gentian Balashi (Australia), 4-0, 7-0
WIN Pedro Soto Cordero (Puerto Rico), 1-0, 1-0
LOSS Geandry Garzon (Cuba), 2-0, 4-1
WIN Buyanjav Batzorig (Mongolia), 3-2, 1-0
LOSS Otar Tushishvili (Georgia), 1-4, 0-1

74 kg/163 lbs. – Joe Heskett (Columbus, Ohio/Gator WC), 5th
WIN Zijian Wu (China), 4-3, 1-0
WIN Hiroki Kayamori (Japan), 1-0, 6-0
WIN Asghar Ali Bazrighaleh (Iran), 4-0, 0-4, 2-0
WIN Gabor Hatos (Hungary), 1-0, 0-4, 2-0
LOSS Makhach Murtazaliev (Russia), 3-1, 0-1, 1-3
LOSS Chamsulvara Chamsulvarayev (Azerbaijan), 0-1, 1-3

84 kg/185 lbs. – Joe Williams (Dekalb, Ill./Sunkist Kids), 5th
WIN Thomas Bucheli (Switzerland), 1-0, 3-0
WIN Arpad Ritter (Hungary), 2-0, 0-1, 1-0
WIN Soslan Gattsiev (Belarus), 1-0, 6-0
LOSS Georgy Ketoev (Russia) dec. Williams, 0-4, 0-4
WIN David Bichinashvili (Germany), 1-0, 0-1, 1-0
LOSS Reza Yazdani (Iran) dec. Williams, 0-1, 0-3

For complete coverage, visit the Special Section at TheMat.com
http://www.themat.com/specialevents/2007/worlds/default.php