10 AA's Lead Menlo Women to NAIA National Title

The NAIA Women’s Wrestling Championships concluded in Jamestown, North Dakota over the weekend crowning Menlo College as the top team led by their sole National Champion and now 5x All-American Tavia Heidelberg-Tillotson at 191 lbs. Even without Heidelberg-Tillotson’s championship finish, the Oaks would have still claimed the top stop with a commanding lead in the team score after the placement matches. Menlo finished with a score of 172 points, followed by Life in second with 138 points and returning champs Southern Oregon with 134.

Here are key takeaways from the weekend’s tournament:

1. Menlo’s All-Americans and Coach of the Year

Before the season began, I had this to say about Menlo’s team that had finished in 4th in 2023: 

“Menlo just missed out on the 3rd place finish at the tournament with a half-point difference between their final score and Grand View’s. However, the team is bringing back several All-Americans from last year. Additionally, Coach Mike Ayala was officially hired as head coach this season after serving as the interim during the 2022-23 season. I think there could be a lot of cohesion and the ability to build on last year’s success given the factors at play.”

Menlo improved on their 8 All-American finishes from last season to have 10 earning the honor this year. They also had several wrestlers earn All-American status for the first time this year including Ajayzee Zaballos who finished 4th, Alexandra Lopez who finished 6th, Stephanie Chavez who finished 7th, and Louisa Schwab who finished 7th.

Having these 10 All-Americans was the key to the Oaks’ team success as placement points built up their resounding lead. With Kayla McKinley-Johnson, Alana Vivas, Shannon Workinger, and Kalilla Shrive all wrestling to 3rd place finishes, they set Menlo apart from the pack. I also had Haley Narahara, returning All-American, as someone to keep an eye on this season after her super close fourth-place finish last season, but injury put a damper on her season. Despite that, she still pulled off the 7th place win to continue her All-American streak and put up that many more points for the team. 

In his first year as Head Coach, Mike Ayala helped lead Menlo to their 2nd National Team title in program history, and his first as head coach. As a result, he was named the NAIA Coach of the Year. This is still such a young team, and while they will not compete next season in the NAIA tournament as they transition to the NCAA, keep an eye on how they may shake up that national scene in 2026 or 27.

2. Life impresses with second-place finish

Life ended up in the second place spot again this season after putting up 138 team points and 8 All-Americans including their lone champion Jamilah McBryde. J. McBryde looked incredible in this tournament, not giving up a single point and winning every match with bonus points. Her performance seriously boosted the team’s score which was neck and neck with Southern Oregon.

Life sent three other wrestlers to the finals, including the other two McBryde sisters, Zaynah and Latifah who each lost by decision, and Sarah Savidge who lost by tech fall to Southern Oregon’s now 3x champ Carolina Moreno.

Rounding out the All-Americans for the Running Eagles were Devyn Gomez in 8th at 101 lbs, Diana Gonzalez in 6th at 109 lbs, Ariana Martinez in 8th at 116 lbs, and Anna Krejsa in 6th at 123 lbs. 

While I am sure the team would have loved to finish at the top of the podium, their talented team wrestled tough against top opponents, scoring lots of bonus on both sides of the brackets, and should bring several All-Americans back next season in addition to their deep roster of wrestlers who did not start this season. 

3. SOU Raiders soar to 3rd place

Southern Oregon walked away from this tournament with a 3rd place finish, just 4 points short of Life in second, along with 7 All-American led by 2 champions.

Carolina Moreno and Caitlyn Davis have been nothing short of perfect this season, and for Moreno, her national tournament was more literally perfect. After going undefeated this season, Moreno flew through the tournament without being scored on by any of her opponents. Her finals match against #2 Sarah Savidge was her 3rd tech of the day. Caitlyn Davis also went undefeated this season and at the tournament, an impressive 13-0 tech fall over #6 Flor Parker Borrero sent her into the finals where she defeated #2 Latifah McBryde 4-2.

The Raiders also had 3rd place finishes from Emma Baertlein and Bella Amaro, a 4th place finish from Shenita Lawson, a 5th place finish from unseeded Lia Ferreira and a 7th place finish from Marissa Kurtz. 

At the beginning of the season, I was unsure how Southern Oregon would fare given that they graduated 5 All-Americans from last season. However, there is clearly no shortage of talent on this young team as they continue their streak of top-3 national finishes.

4. Started from (near) the bottom

Last season, William Penn finished in 33rd place out of all teams at NAIA Nationals with only 1 total team point scored. This season, led by new coaches and transferring All-Americans, the team has transformed into a top team, finishing in 4th with 111.5 team points. In fact, William Penn was the only team to have 3 individual national champs. Returning 2x NAIA champ and U.S. Open champion Adaugo Nwachukwu showed why she is continually ranked as the top pound-for-pound wrestler as she pinned all five of her opponents at this tournament. She even received the award for most pins in the tournament in the least amount of total time. 

Mia Palumbo, another 2x All-American, finally finished in the top spot after coming in as runner-up two years in a row. William Penn also crowned a champ at 170 lbs in Ashley Lekas who had one of the most exciting runs in the tournament. As she notched two tech falls in her first two matches, then a solid 8-0 decision in the semis, her opponent, Abby McIntyre of Grand View was cleaning up on her side of the bracket as well. As I discussed in the preview, this would be a rubber match for the two, with each of them having 1 win against the other during the regular season. In the finals, Lekas got two takedowns in the first and looked dominant doing so. She gave up a takedown to McIntyre with under 20 seconds left in the match. McIntyre worked for a turn that exposed Lekas’ back to the mat, but after an official review, the refs determined time had expired at the time of the exposure. Lekas notched the 4-2 win to capture an individual title for the Statesman.

5. Additional champions and Olympic implications

Just as we saw so many schools qualified competitors, we saw champions from 3 additional schools outside the top 10. At 101 lbs, Stafana Jelacic of Lourdes claimed her first national title and the first national title in program history for the Gray Wolves. The now 3x All-American took out #1 Erin Hikiji in the finals with a 12-3 decision. For Missouri Baptist, Juliana Davis claimed her first national title, and 2nd ever for the Spartans, joining the likes of Dymond Guilford. 

Finally, Cristelle Rodriguez brought home gold for Doane, this being her first title as well after finishing in 3rd last season. Rodriguez was also undefeated this season and represents the program’s first NAIA National Champ.

Similar to NCWWCs, all NAIA national champs qualify to compete at the U.S. Olympic Team trials in April, so look out for some of these competitors to continue to shine in international competition this spring and summer.