Women’s College Notebook: NCAA Regional Recap

#8 Christina Borgmann (Felician) prevailed 4-2 over #9 Jazemene Molina (Western New England) in a top-10 championship matchup at 131 pounds.

Down in West Virginia, Region II was paced by first-year varsity program #7 Lehigh – whose 151.5 team points were nearly 40 points clear of second-place West Liberty (W. Va.).

However, fellow Pennsylvania programs Eastern and East Stroudsburg managed to tie the Mountain Hawks when it came to NCAA qualifiers with five each.

Leading the way for Lehigh was national title favorite #1 Audrey Jimenez – who bonus pointed her way through the field at 110 pounds – capped off by a 14-4 victory over #6 Teegan Sibble (East Stroudsburg).

Abbi Cooper (117), Aubre Krazer (131) and Kryssceah Ravenelle (138) added to Lehigh’s region-leading four individual champions.

As for 180-pound champion #8 Bella Phillips (Gannon), she earned her team’s lone qualifying bid by reaching the finals – where she defeated #10 Azariah Moore (Lock Haven), 10-1.

The first of four schools with the distinction of qualifying all 10 of its wrestlers for NCAAs, #5 Presbyterian (S.C.) did so out of the Southeast-flavored Region III.

Brian Vutianitis’ team led all comers with 181.5 points – advancing nine out of 10 athletes to the finals, where they won four individual titles.

Host #9 Emmanuel (Ga.) was runner-up to Presbyterian in both team score (149.5) and champs (three) – the latter mark tying it with #5 King (Tenn.).

And while they may not have had an athlete stand atop the podium, a special shoutout goes to Mount Olive (S.C.) and Delaware State.

Mount Olive’s five NCAA qualifiers were third behind only Presbyterian and Emmanuel (six). Meanwhile, in its first year of existence, Delaware State qualified a pair of athletes – Icart Galumette (117) and Louise Juitt (145) – in a historic first for the program.

In the 160-pound final, King’s #3 Stella Steigler used a first-period takedown to defeat Presbyterian’s #4 May Cuyler, 3-1, in what was the highest ranked-versus-ranked matchup of the region.

Notably, King’s Eliana Bommarito (#4 at 207) and Kristina Kent (#10 at 103) each forfeited both of their matches – leaving the Tornado without some real firepower going into NCAAs.

Arguably the toughest of these six qualifying tournaments, Region IV was not short on either team or individual firepower.

In the end, #3 North Central (Ill.) just outpaced #4 Grand Valley State (Mich.) by a margin of 9.5 team points (182.5-173). And between the two of them, they swallowed up 18 of 30 available NCAA berths – including a perfect 10 out of 10 by North Central.

#12 Aurora (Ill.), #12 Northern Michigan and #22 Adrian (Mich.) all nabbed multiple qualifiers as well. But only Aurora’s Alexis Janiak (first at 131 pounds) could put a dent in the stranglehold North Central (five champs) and GVSU (four) had atop the podium.

Janiak, a returning national champion, will be among the loaded 131-pound field set to convene in Coralville next weekend.

In a region stacked with premier matchups, none were better than the finals at 110 and 138 – both pitting North Central against Grand Valley State.

At 110 pounds, reigning national champion Sage Mortimer (GVSU) first made news by descending from 117 for the postseason. Then she made waves with a thrilling, high-scoring victory over #2 Kaelani Shufeldt (NC) – a 2024 national runner-up:

And at 138, a pair of former champions butted heads, with two-timer Katie Lange (GVSU) a 5-1 victor over Claire DiCugno (NC) in a hotly contested final.

As anticipated, #1 Iowa emerged from Region V with 10 NCAA qualifiers – eight of them thanks to individual titles.

The Hawkeyes were 50.5 points clear of second-place #11 Wartburg (Iowa), whose seven individual qualifiers were also second-most among the 15 teams competing.

Wartburg’s biggest win came in the 207-pound final where #6 Rewa Chababo knocked off previously undefeated #2 Katja Osteen (Iowa) via 4-1 decision.

Meanwhile, #9 Quincy (five qualifiers) will also send a large contingent to the national tournament – headlined by #3 Xochitl Mota-Pettis at 124 pounds.

Mota-Pettis – a 2023 U.S. Open champion – steamrolled through the field with two pins and an 11-0 tech. fall over #8 Cali Leng (Iowa) in the final.

Seven of Iowa’s eight Region V champions won exclusively via bonus points – including top-ranked superstars Kennedy Blades (160) and Kylie Welker (180).

Several programs can match the 10 NCAA qualifiers earned by #2 McKendree (Ill.) at Region VI last weekend. However, none of them swept all ten regional titles as the Bearcats did.

Quite possibly the national title favorites (yes, ahead of Iowa), McKendree was utterly dominant – leaving #15 Simon Fraser (Canada) nearly 85 points in its wake.

Just two of its matches lasted a full six minutes – and most of them took a lot less time than that.

Perhaps most notably, #3 Destiny Rodriguez pinned #2 Isabella Renfro (Fort Hays State) at 180 pounds in a reversal of their meeting back at the Missouri Valley Open.

And elsewhere, #7 Shelby Moore’s 4-2 decision over #5 Lorianna Piestewa (Colorado Mesa) flipped the script on their most recent scrap at National Duals – won 10-4 by Piestewa.

Though McKendree cleaned up all the golden hardware, others hardly left Region VI empty-handed.

Simon Fraser (six), #8 Colorado Mesa (four) and #12 Fort Hays State (four) each produced multiple NCAA qualifiers amidst a three-way battle for second place – as did Chadron State (three) and #18 William Jewell (two) further down the pecking order.

The 30th and final qualifier from the region came from host Lindenwood (Mo.) and 138-pound runner-up, #5 Jacinda Espinosa.

While this week’s notebook was NCAA-focused – as will be much of our coverage next week, leading up to and through the inaugural NCAA Championships – I want to remind folks out there that the NAIA women’s postseason is starting to take full effect as well.

This is ‘conference weekend’ for the NAIA, a part of its (very different) qualification process for nationals as compared to the NCAA.

When it’s all said and done, all qualifiers for the women’s NAIA Championships – held March 13-14 in Wichita, Kansas – will be announced on Wednesday evening of March 4.

So, please stay tuned in for the days ahead. Because, as folks (hopefully) should know by now, the best teams and individuals in women’s college wrestling aren’t exclusive to the NCAA ranks. And there’s double the fun to be had as a fan of the sport by enjoying all the NAIA has to offer.