Jump to content



  • Photo: Dalton Clark/IT Sports Information

    Photo: Dalton Clark/IT Sports Information

    This Week in Women's Collegiate Wrestling (2/18/2025)

    It was a bit of a light week as far as action goes, with most NCAA teams preparing for regionals next weekend and many NAIA teams doing the same for their conference tournaments coming the following weekend. However, there were still a few notable highlights to wrap up the regular season.

    Baker hosts Inaugural Jimmy May Open

    Previously known as the Baker Open, the Wildcats hosted the first-ever Jimmy May Open tournament to close out their regular season. Jimmy May is a long-time coach and was integral in the formation of the men’s program at Baker, which started in 2009. May still serves as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s teams at Baker. 

    Baker closed things out with 7 placers, including two runner-up finishes from Kylee Slyter at 110 lbs and Jaclyn Daley at 207 lbs.

    Missouri Valley also attended and had four placers, including a championship finish from late-season transfer Xochitl Mota-Pettis at 131 lbs. Mota-Pettis finished first after four technical falls in a row, which put her in the finals. There, she got her first pin on the day against #6 Devin Patton of William Penn.

    Speaking of the Statesmen, they also had an excellent day, with 8 wrestlers in the finals, including 3 different teammate matchups in the finals at 103, 124, and 138 lbs where the teammates chose to both forfeit. #1 Christianah Ogunsanya was the lone outright champ for the team, winning 5-straight 10-0 tech falls during the tournament including in the finals against #2 Camille Fournier of Texas Wesleyan. Lily Zapata, Olivia Atkins, Joanna Vanderwood, Catherine Steinkamp, Esther Kolawole, and Kendall Bostelman were the other wrestlers who made it to the finals for this team.

    Indiana Tech finds a way in Kentucky

    The #7 Indiana Tech Warriors finished out their regular season with a road trip to take on #5 Cumberlands and #9 Campbellsville over the weekend. While forfeits from both teams helped get the Warriors the points they needed to pull off both wins, there were still several impressive wins across the three teams.

    Against Cumberlands, there was a top 10 matchup at 103 lbs, with #10 Angelina Castenda (UC) earning the close 4-3 upset victory over #8 Makayla Young (IT). 

    When Tech headed to Campbellsville, #13 Andrea Hernandez for the Warriors got the upset win over #11 Olivia Messerly by fall in just 51 seconds despite being down points early.

    While not an upset, #8 Liliana Vergara of Campbellsville got a big pin against #15 Grace Doering for Tech, giving her team the lead heading into the finals. That final match of the night pitted #4 Riley Dempewolf of Indiana Tech against #9 Brianna Staebler of Campbellsville. And while things were close with neither wrestler getting points on the board in the first, Dempewolf started to separate in the second, stringing together 6 points to Staebler’s one to put it away for the Warriors.

    Regionals are just around the corner

    NCAA Regionals take place on February 22 & 23 across 8 locations, after expanding this off-season from 6 sites to accommodate the growing number of programs. 

    • Region I – Murray Athletic Center (Center Dome), Elmira College, Elmira, NY, Sunday, February 23 
    • Region II – Koehler Fieldhouse, East Stroudsburg University, East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Sunday, February 23
    • Region III – Shaw Athletic Center, Emmanuel University, Franklin Springs, Georgia, Saturday, February 22
    • Region IV – Heminger Center, Tiffin University, Tiffin, Ohio, Saturday, February 22
    • Region V – Merillat Sport and Fitness Center, Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan, Saturday, February 22
    • Region VI – Hyland Arena, Lindenwood University, St. Charles, Missouri, Sunday, February 23
    • Region VII – Cowles Fieldhouse, Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa, Saturday, February 22
    • Region VIII – Kitty Magee Arena, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas, Saturday, February 22

    As a reminder, teams can send up to 15 wrestlers to regionals, with a maximum of 2 per each weight class. At regionals, the top 4 finishers at each weight will qualify for Nationals. This means that compared to the 240 qualifiers last year, this Nationals will feature 320 athletes. You can find out which teams will be in each region here.

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...