#WomensWednesday: Highlights from college women’s wrestling results so far this season

Photo of the Baker University women's wrestling team, after their first dual meet victories, courtesy of Baker University website.


Last week, we reviewed the performances of college women wrestlers at three USA Wrestling national events this fall. This week, we look at the competition that has already taken place this season on the college women’s wrestling scene.


Many schools, especially those with NCAA affiliation, have either not set a schedule or have set up dual meets and tournaments starting in January. However, there have been a number of NAIA schools, plus a few others, which have actually been able compete this year to date. We look at some of those highlights.

Baker wins its first two dual meets in program history on its home mats


NAIA Baker University hosted the first women’s wrestling dual meets in program history on November 13, and won both of their matches, stopping Waldorf, 43-5 and Central Methodist, 40-5. The event was a triangular, and Central Methodist defeated Waldorf, 22-10 in the other dual meet.


"Through the last couple of years as we have built this thing, we knew that this program could wrestle at a high level," head coach Cody Garcia said. "By being ambassadors for the sport, we were able to create experiences like that, where this team was able to come together and be the first team in Baker history to wrestle a dual. Today was exciting, encouraging and humbling and I was happy to just be along for the ride."


In the Baker victory over Waldorf, bonus point wins went to Nichole Moore (tech. fall at 130), Jaimes Clark (pin at 136), Morgan Mayginnes (tech. fall at 155), in addition to their victories via forfeit.


In Baker’s dual win over Central Methodist, Moore added a pin, Abbie Jones (143) also scored a pin, Jennifer Curry (170) won by technical fall and Abigail Halstead (116) won by decision.


In Central Methodist’s win over Waldorf, wins from Autumn Barela (136) and Eve Slago (130) helped seal the victory.

Adrian College hosts the Adrian Open, including a women’s division


Adrian College, an NCAA Div. III institution, made history in 2020 by hosting the first NCAA-only women’s wrestling national championships, the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCWWC). Adrian is scheduled to host the event again in 2021. Women’s wrestling is an NCAA Emerging Sport, and the NCWWC will be the national tournament until the sport achieves official championships status.


Adrian helped kick off the new college wrestling season with the Adrian Open, which featured both men’s and women’s divisions.


Four schools participated in the women’s division, and placed in the following order:

1) NCAA Div. III Adrian College, 161 points

2) NAIA Indiana Tech, 75 points

3) NCAA Div. III UW-Stevens Point, 41 points

4) NCAA Div. III Trine University, 2.5 points


Host Adrian, as well as Indiana Tech had four individual champions each, with UW-Stevens Point gaining the other individual title. Below are the top three in each weight at the tournament:


101 – 1. Modestie Hitchcock of Adrian; 2. Jaden Johnson of Indiana Tech; 3. Taylor Witka of Adrian

109 – 1. Tehani Soares of Indiana Tech; 2. Emily Mendez of Adrian; 3. Korigan Wilkey of Indiana Tech

116 – 1. Alice Todryk of UWW-Stevens Point; 2. Angela LoRusso of Adrian; 3. Jaryn Strong of Adrian

123 – 1. Korissa Vanover of Indiana Tech; 2. Morgan Bethea of UWW-Stevens Point

130 – 1. Sydney Lewis of Indiana Tech; 2. Laila Oribello of Adrian; 3. Addison Young of UWW-Stevens Point

136 – 1. Elisa Cox of Adrian; 2. Shawna Oesterling of Adrian; 3. Alexandra Mireles of Indiana Tech

143 – 1. Zoe Nowicki of Adrian; 2. Samantha Snow of Indiana Tech; 3. Megan Vondrasek of Adrian

155 – 1. Taylor Cutler of Adrian; 2. Maggie Elliott of Adrian; 3. Aspen Dodge of Adrian

191 – 1. Perla Ramirez of Indiana Tech; 2. Catherine McNulty of Indiana Tech


"Given all the circumstances it was very rewarding to get the ladies some actual competition," Adrian head coach Cliff Cushard said. "We never expected that we would be hosting the first NCAA women's competition of the year but that's exactly what it turned out to be. We saw some really good stuff on the mats today - by all the teams. Women's wrestling is growing so quickly and the caliber of the competition is improving along with that growth."

Patriot Duals are hosted by the Cumberlands, with Life winning both of their duals


One of the traditional early season events in women’s college wrestling, the Patriot Duals at the University of the Cumberlands, were held. NAIA No. 5 Life University had a pair of big victories, beating No. 16 Indiana Tech, 39-5, and then No. 7 University of the Cumberlands, 39-6.


Against Indiana Tech, Life secured three pins, four technical falls, a decision, and a forfeit. Pins were by Riley Dalrymple, Hailey Finn and Catherine Palmieri. Against the University of the Cumberlands, Dalrymple and Julia Vidalion secured falls for the Eagles, with four additional technical falls.


In the other dual meet, the University of the Cumberlands edged Indiana Tech, 25-23. Bonus points were key, with the Patriots getting pins from Elizabeth Dosado, Andrea Schlabach, Emily Alderman and Kailee Godinez.

Patriot Duals individual tournament featured five weight classes won by Life


In addition to the dual meets, the University of the Cumberlands hosted an individual open tournament alongside the Patriot Duals. Life captured five of the weight classes, the Cumberlands won four and Indiana Tech had one champion. The top three medalists follow:


101 – 1. Elizabeth Dosado, Cumberlands, 2. Jaden Johnson, Indiana Tech

109 – 1. (tie) Katalina Bartelt and Korry Phillips, Life; 3. Riley Horvath, Indiana Tech

116 – 1. Korrigan Wilkey, Indiana Tech; 2. Kaelynn Dougherty, Cumberlands

123 – 1. Dorinda Andrews, Cumberlands, 2. Korissa Vanover, Indiana Tech

130 – 1. Brianna Kellin, Life, 2. Riley Dalrymple, Life; 3. Ashley Tobe, Cumberlands

136 – 1. Bridgette Duty, Cumberlands; 2. Andrea Schlabach, Cumberlands; 3. Ellyana Kuzma, Indiana Tech

143 – 1. Kailee Godinez, Cumberlands; 2. Ashley Ikner, Cumberlands; 3. Haley Finn, Life

155 – 1. Destinee Rivera, Life; 2. Anna Naylor, Unattached; 3. Zoe Wight, Unattached

170 – 1. Jordan Nelson, Life; 2. Catherine McNulty, Indiana Tech

191 -1. Catherine Palmieri, Life; 2. Jasmine Jacuay, Indiana Tech; 3. Katie Moore, Life

Wayland Baptist gets home state bragging rights with dual meet win over Texas Wesleyan


A pair of Texas-based women’s wrestling programs met in the early season with NAIA No. 1 Wayland Baptist securing a 48-9 victory over Texas Wesleyan on Nov. 7. Pins by Asia Ray (116) and Desiree Zavala (143), plus technical falls from Nina Pham (109) and Jordan Suarez (136) were keys to the victory.

Indian Hills CC wrestles Missouri Valley College in first dual of program history


Indian Hills Community College, a new women’s program located in Iowa, had its first college dual meet action in a road loss at Missouri Valley College, falling to one of the nation’s longest-running women’s programs by a 29-18 margin. Indian Hills wrestlers who scored victories in the dual meet including Alondra Rosado Martinez (136) and Gina-Marie Santiago Ayala (155).


Missouri Valley won six of the eight matches contested, with pins from Lillian Campbell (109), Addie Mejia (123) and Mahealani Ramirez (191), plus three technical fall victories.