NAIA Women’s National Championships Preview

March 12-13, 2021 - Jamestown, ND

Watch LIVE on FloWrestling

Top 5 NAIA Teams
1. Campbellsville
2. Life
3. Wayland Baptist
4. Grand View
5. Cumberlands

After the crushing disappointment of last season, when the NAIA Women’s National Championships were cancelled due to the shutdown, the event is back in Jamestown, North Dakota, where the best of the NAIA women’s programs will square off with national titles on the line. After decisively winning the Mid-South Conference tournament over #2 Life University, Campbellsville will bring their stacked squad to the NAIA to look for another national title. The Kentucky-based program won the team title at WCWA Nationals last season. Menlo ran away with the team title the last time the NAIA Nationals happened in 2019, but with their season cancelled, Campbellsville looks to be the favorite to win it this year.

Wrestlers to watch
After falling twice in the WCWA national finals (2019 & 2020), Campbellsville’s 109-pound McKayla Campbell must be hungry to win it all. 2019 WCWA national champion #3 seed Asia Ray of Wayland Baptist will seek to keep Campbell off the top of the podium along with #2 seed, Jamestown freshman Rayana Sahagun of Jamestown, who has had a stellar freshman campaign. Mid-South Conference Wrestler of the Year Bridgette Duty at 130 pounds is also someone to watch. She’s been a force in college wrestling this season and will seek her first national title at this year’s NAIA. At 136, don’t forget Wayland Baptist’s 136-pound Desiree Zavala, a wrestler ranked #9 at the Senior level. She won a U23 national title in the fall but has yet to win a college title. At 143, pay attention to Midland freshman #1 Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp, a Hawaii native that took 3^rd at U23 in the fall, including a win over 2019 WCWA finalist Felicity Bryant. Wayland Baptist’s Nina Pham will be tough to beat at 101, Life’s Julia Vidallon at 123 was the WCWA National Champion, and Chi Chi Nwankwo seeks her first NAIA title after falling in the finals in 2019.

Weights to watch
116 includes some rising young stars in women’s wrestling. #1 Peyton Prussin of Life University is undefeated on the season and recently dominated the MSC Conference Tournament, including a fall over #3 Stefana Jelacic of Lourdes in the finals. But Texas Wesleyan freshman Camille Fournier is undefeated too, at 19-0. As dominant as Prussin has been, can she run the table and stop Fournier? Someone is going to end the season without a loss. Will it be Prussin or Fournier? Meanwhile, 155 promises to deliver some drama, as 2016 Cadet world teamer Cierra Foster of Oklahoma City, who won a Pan Am gold that year, has #2 Alexis Gomez of Grand View in her way, the 2020 Junior National Champion. At 170, #1 Alexandra Castillo of Campbellsville, the 2020 WCWA champ who also had win over Senior level #4 Precious Bell at Senior Nationals last fall, will face off with #2 Jordan Nelson of Life University, #3 Hunter Robinson of Grand View, and #4 Chamira Cooper of Cumberlands. Castillo beat Nelson 3-2 earlier this season, while Nelson beat Robinson 3-2. Cooper beat Robinson 2-1 earlier in the season, but when they met a second time, it was Robinson 7-6. These women are very close to one another and it will be a fun weight class to watch.

Darkhorses 
Don’t sleep on #8 Theresa Rankin of Lourdes, previously a 2x All-American for McKendree University who always seems to get hot in the postseason. There’s two potential Cinderellas at 130, with #8 Macy Higa of Eastern Oregon, 3^rd at the 2019 WCWA National Championships when the WCWA was still an event that attracted all college programs, and #11 Riley Dalrymple of Life, a young freshman who can win matches. Meanwhile, the #7 at 155, All-American Gladdys Palma of Southern Oregon, is good enough to win the whole thing from the 7-seed. Palma was a 2017 Junior Pan Am bronze medalist and a 2019 Missouri Valley Open finalist.

Team race
 As previously mentioned, Campbellsville seems to be the favorite, but Life and Wayland Baptist are bringing some firepower. There will certainly be some swing matches during the event that could change the outcome of who wins the NAIA title. That being said, KCAC Conference Champion Jamestown hasn’t wrestled a lot this year. When they have, they’ve been very impressive, especially with the addition of some talented freshmen. They scored a whopping eight champs at the conference tournament. How good are they? Certainly good enough to crack the top 3, though their freshmen will have to overperform to do that, especially with Grand View and Cumberlands in the mix.

FINAL NAIA (NWCA) RANKINGS

101
1. Nina Pham (Wayland Baptist)
2. Elizabeth Dosado (Cumberlands)
3. Iverly Navarro (Providence)
4. Esthela Trevino (Southern Oregon)
5. Unity Cordova (Life)
6. Esther Walker (Midland)
7. Madison Brown (Texas Wesleyan)
8. Alaura Couch (Grand View)

109
1. McKayla Campbell (Campbellsville)
2. Rayana Sahagun (Jamestown)
3. Ovieonce “Asia” Ray (Wayland Baptist)
4. Tehani Soares (Indiana Tech)
5. Jaine Stephens (Cumberlands)
6. Emma Cochran (Grand View)
7. Katalina Bartelt (Life)
8. Jessica Corredor (Missouri Baptist)

116
1. Peyton Prussin (Life)
2. Camille Fournier (Texas Wesleyan)
3. Stefana Jelacic (Lourdes)
4. Nichole Moore (Baker)
5. Serenity Durham-Goree (Midland)
6. Tara Othman (Southern Oregon)
7. Josie Bartishofski (Jamestown)
8. Charlotte Fowler (Campbellsville)

123
1. Julia Vidallon (Life)
2. Jasmine Hernandez (Lyon)
3. Ashley Whetzal (Lyon)
4. Jasmine Davis (Wayland Baptist)
5. Rebekah Cordova (Wayland Baptist)
6. Jacqueline Ghent (Campbellsville)
7. Arianna Marrufo (Jamestown)
8. Theresa Rankin (Lourdes)

130
1. Bridgette Duty (Cumberlands)
2. Kaitlyn Pizzo (Campbellsville)
3. Mea Mohler (Texas Wesleyan)
4. De’anna Prince (Wayland Baptist)
5. Angie Vitiritti (Campbellsville)
6. Briana Kellin (Life)
7. Macy Higa (Eastern Oregon)
8. Alexandra Baudhuin (Jamestown)

136
1. Desiree Zavala (Wayland Baptist)
2. Jordan Suarez (Wayland Baptist)
3. Randi Robison (Campbellsville)
4. Andrea Schlabach (Grand View)
5. Julissa Taitano (Southern Oregon)
6. Luisita Jara (Jamestown)
7. Angie Prado (Life)
8. Savanna McCutchen (Missouri Valley)

143
1. Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp (Midland)
2. Sydney Freund (Oklahoma City)
3. Emma Walker (Campbellsville)
4. Samantha Snow (Indiana Tech)
5. Erin Redford (Eastern Oregon)
6. Nancy Becerra (Missouri Valley)
7. Ashley Ikner (Cumberlands)
8. Akina Yamada (Waldorf)

155
1. Cierra Foster (Oklahoma City)
2. Alexis Gomez (Grand View)
3. Morgan Mayginnes (Baker)
4. Mahealani Lewis (Midland)
5. Tiyahna Askew (Missouri Baptist)
6. Kendra Thompson (Campbellsville)
7. Gladdys Palma (Southern Oregon)
8. India Page (Brewton-Parker College)

170
1. Alexandra Castillo (Campbellsville)
2. Jordan Nelson (Life)
3. Hunter Robinson (Grand View)
4. Chamira Cooper (Cumberlands)
5. Sierra Talmadge (Jamestown)
6. Mahealani Ramirez (Missouri Valley)
7. Jennifer Curry (Baker)
8. Shania Gowan (Missouri Baptist)

191
1. Nkechinyere “Chi Chi” Nwankwo (Oklahoma City)
2. Elisa Robinson (Baker)
3. Maquoia Bernabe (Cumberlands)
4. Kelani Corbett (Lyon)
5. Catherine Palmieri (Life)
6. Charity Goldsmith-Ding (York)
7. Kelly Lacost (Jamestown)
 8. Martha Vizcarra (Baker)

National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships Preview

NCAA Programs

March 6, 2021 – Tiffin, OH

Watch LIVE on Trackwrestling

Top 5 NCAA Teams (NWCA Rankings)
1. McKendree University
2. King University
3. Emmanuel College
4. Colorado Mesa
5. Augsburg University

NCAA programs will converge on Tiffin, Ohio, next weekend for the second annual National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships. After sweeping every weight class at the Southwest Regional, #1 McKendree will bring their loaded squad with a total of 15—the max allowed to qualify—to the event where they had 5 national champions and 13 All-Americans last season. #2 King University is also bringing an all-star cast after qualifying 15 of their own wrestlers at the Southeast Regional. Meanwhile, the field is loaded with the best of the current 42 NCAA women’s programs that makeup the landscape of NCAA women’s college wrestling.

Besides national titles and All-American honors, one more prize is on the line. The highest placing wrestler (that isn’t already qualified) will earn a spot at the Olympic Team Trials next month.

Wrestlers to watch
Augsburg 109-pound sophomore Emily Shilson hasn’t lost in college, and there’s no reason to think she’ll fall at Nationals this year. Perhaps the best pound-for-pound wrestler in women’s college wrestling, Shilson was recently ranked #4 in FloWrestling’s Senior Women’s Freestyle Rankings. She’ll seek her second national title in Tiffin as a sophomore. McKendree’s Felicity Taylor at 116 is a 2-time national runner-up, while King’s Cheyenne Sisenstein at 123 is a returning finalist and is also seeking her first national title. Also keep your eye on McKendree teammates Cameron Guerin at 130 and Emma Bruntil at 136. After going 126-0 in high school, the Washington native Guerin trained for a year at the Olympic Training Center in USA Wrestling’s Elite Athlete Program. Then in the offseason Guerin transferred to the national champion McKendree program, where she went undefeated, and relatively unchallenged, this season. Meanwhile, Emma Bruntil, the 2019 Senior Nationals Champion, moved up to 143 this year and has been dominant. She has the always-tough Ashlynn Ortega from King University at her weight, though Bruntil had a 5-0 win over her earlier this season at the Tornado Duals. At 191, McKendree’s Sydnee Kimber will defend her national title and seek to go back-to-back.

Weights to watch
101 pounds will be an exciting class to watch, as King’s Jackie McNichols had a magical season, including taking down the #1, #2 & #3 at the Tornado Duals. Can she ride her momentum to the top of the podium? It won’t be easy. McKendree returning champ Pauline Granados is the 3-seed after falling 4-3 to freshman teammate Lizette Rodriguez 4-3 in the regional. 136 is also a class to watch as King’s #1 ranked Ana Luciano looks to win her first title. On paper, she’s the favorite, defeating #2 seed Brenda Reyna of McKendree 12-2 at the Tornado Duals in January, though Reyna had just returned to the mat from an injury and looked much better at the Captain’s Cup, where she went 3-0. #3 seed at 136, Colorado Mesa’s Dalia Garibay, handed Emma Bruntil her only college loss last season, but fell to Reyna 11-0 in the regional last weekend. Garibay could face Reyna again in the semi. At 155, the finals could feature a rematch of two wrestlers that are ranked in the top 10 at the Senior level, with Senior #7 Kayla Marano of Emmanuel vs. Senior #8 Alara Boyd of McKendree. When they met in Bristol, Tennessee in January, it was Marano 6-3. One more weight to watch is 170, where you have a triangle of rivalries between three women that seem to be inches away from each other. #3 seed Tristan Kelly of Colorado Mesa beat #1 seed Yelena Makoyed of North Central two out of three times at Junior/U23 Nationals last November. Meanwhile #2 seed Joye Levendusky has beaten Kelly three times in a row, though the finals of the regional two weekends ago was only 2-1. If the bracket goes chalk, it’ll be Levendusky-Kelly in the semi, the winner possibly facing Makoyed in the finals.

Darkhorses 
Will there be a Cinderella? What underdog might make a deep run at this event, possibly even making the finals? Keep an eye on King freshman, 116-pounder Sophia Mirabella, the #6 seed. Why? Because she’s done it before. She had a breakout tournament in the fall at Junior/U23 Nationals, making double All-American, and has proved that wasn’t a fluke this college season, with wins over #2 seed at 123 Marissa Gallegos and 2020 WCWA Champion Julia Vidallon. Someone else to watch is the #6 seed at 101 Brooke Thurber of UW-Stevens Point. She only lost 4-3 at U23 Nationals to #1 seed Jackie McNichols last November. She also took 3^rd at this event last season. One more to pay attention to is Augsburg #6 seed Autumn Flanigan at 136. Only a freshman, and without much of a chance to climb the college rankings due so few matches, she may outperform her seed. As a high school student, Flanigan had a win over McKendree star Felicity Taylor 7-5 in 2019 at Women’s Junior Nationals.

Team race
 Unless a lot of things go wrong for McKendree, you’d think they would repeat as NCWWC Champs, though don’t count King out. But when it comes to the team race, it’s those two programs and everybody else. The best of the rest? Who will be fighting for the bronze spot? Emmanuel is the easiest pick, though pay attention to #4 Colorado Mesa and even #5 Augsburg, a squad that might be better than their ranking. #6 North Central also has some firepower.

NCAA FINAL RANKINGS (NWCA) & NCWWC PRE-SEEDS

101 pre-seeds
1. Jaclyn McNichols (King)
2. Lizette Rodriguez (McKendree)
3. Pauline Granados (McKendree)
4. Angelina Gomez (Emmanuel)
5. Jennesis Martinez (Colorado Mesa)
6. Brooke Thurber (UW-Stevens Point)
7. Shanna Morris (Tiffin)
8. Trinity Oredina (Tiffin)

109 pre-seeds
1. Emily Shilson (Augsburg)
2. Aleeah Gould (King)
3. Natalie Reyna (McKendree)
4. Cassy Lopez (Presbyterian)
5. Emily Mendez (Adrian)
6. Valerilla Mamleeva (Lindenwood)
7. Carly Valleroy (McKendree)
8. Johnae Drumright (New Jersey City)

116 pre-seeds
1. Felicity Taylor (McKendree)
2. Sugey Ceja (Tiffin)
3. Jaslyn Gallegos (Presbyterian)
4. Melanie Mendoza (King)
5. Kasey Baynon (Emmanuel)
6. Sophia Mirabella (King)
7. Alina Kinsey (Schreiner)
8. Anja Tschohl (Colorado Mesa)

123 pre-seeds
1. Cheyenne Sisenstein (King)
2. Marissa Gallegos (Colorado Mesa)
3. Asia Nguyen-Smith (North Central)
4. Payton Stroud (McKendree)
5. Makayla Welch (King)
6. Gabriela Ramos-Diaz (Limestone)
7. Trinity Berry (Tiffin)
8. Stephanie Mondragon (Tiffin)

130 pre-seeds
1. Cameron Guerin (McKendree)
2. Allison Petix (King)
3. Gabby Skidmore (Augsburg)
4. Amanda Martinez (North Central)
5. Emily Se (Emmanuel)
6. Phoenix Dubose (King)
7. Lana Perez (Gannon)
8. Eunique Davis (Tiffin)

136 pre-seeds
1. Ana Luciano (King)
2. Brenda Reyna (McKendree)
3. Dalia Garibay (Colorado Mesa)
4. Julia Padilla (Emmanuel)
5. Michelle Camacho (McKendree)
6. Autumn Flanigan (Augsburg)
7. Savannah Vold (Augsburg)
8. Abigail Denney (North Central)

143 pre-seeds
1. Emma Bruntil (McKendree)
2. Ashlynn Ortega (King)
3. Felicity Bryant (Emmanuel)
4. Morgan Norris (Prebyterian)
5. Zoe Nowicki (Adrian)
6. Kya Rybacheck (Augsburg)
7. Kaylee Lacy (Colorado Mesa)
8. Jordan Johnston (Schreiner)

155 pre-seeds
1. Kayla Marano (Emmanuel)
2. Alara Boyd (McKendree)
3. Marlynne Deede (Augsburg)
4. Viktorya Torres (King)
5. Zoe Gress (Colorado Mesa)
6. Marta Ojeda (Tiffin)
7. Taylor Hites (Tiffin)
8. Malea Palahniuk (North Central)

170 pre-seeds
1. Yelena Makoyed (North Central)
2. Joye Levendusky (McKendree)
3. Tristan Kelly (Colorado Mesa)
4. Nia Crosdale (King)
5. Caylee Collins (Colorado Mesa)
6. Heaven Byrd (Emmanuel)
7. Faith Tuttle (Augsburg)
8. Jasmine Hale (Adrian)

191 pre-seeds
1. Sydnee Kimber (McKendree)
2. Tavi Heidelberg-Tollson (King)
3. Cristina Santoyo (Emmanuel)
4. Jessie Lee (Tiffin)
5. Grace Kristoff (McKendree)
6. Isabeau Shalack (Colorado Mesa)
7. Amara Devericks (Gannon)
8. Melissa Jacobs (Augsburg)

Derek Levendusky is a freelance writer for American Women’s Wrestling and FloWrestling. You can find him on Twitter @awwnewsfeed and @AWWderek.