College Wrestlers Eligible for the Captains Cup Draft

In just a few hours, the six captains will select their teams for the Captains Cup. Just a handful of draft eligible athletes are rostered and compete collegiately—most of them are underclassmen and have been active at USA Wrestling or UWW events this season.

Returning NCWWC and NWCA Multi-Divisional National Dual champions McKendree University has the numbers locked in. At 53 kg is two-time college national finalist Felicity Taylor (NCAA No. 2). Taylor went toe-to-toe with Ronna Heaton at the WRTC Underground 3 this past week, 2-0 at the King Duals and was a Junior National finalist earlier this season. 

2020 NCWWC champion and current NCAA No. 1 Emma Bruntil is draft eligible at 62 kg. Bruntil started this season and her debut back to the mat after surgery as the Tar Heel Wrestling Club’s headline match against Macey Kilty. She lost after a strong fight for six minutes, bringing their saga to 1-1. Bruntil was right back on the mats in State College where she defeated Jennifer Page on a NLWC card. She went 3-0 at the King Duals last weekend where she wrestled top-ranked competition at 143 pounds, a weight class up from her usual college 136. 

Brenda Reyna is eligible at 57 kg and is competing this season after using a redshirt medical year. Her match with Michaela Beck was the closest women’s bout at WRTC Underground 3 as she battled six minutes but came up short 4-2. Reyna is a multiple time college All-American and went 2-1 at the King Duals last weekend. Finally, for the Bearcats at 76 kg, is NCAA No. 5 Joye Levendusky. Levendusky placed second at 2020 Junior Nationals and third at U23s. She was 1-0 in regular matches at the King Duals and then also picked up an exhibition win over Colorado Mesa’s Tristan Kelly. 

Draft eligible athletes for NCAA No. 7 Colorado Mesa include Marissa Gallegos (53 kg), Dalia Garibay (62 kg) and Tristan Kelly (76 kg). Gallegos has shown that she can scrap at the next level. This college season she has wins over Payton Stroud (McKendree) and Alexandra Herle (Emmanuel) at the King Duals and Taqwai Seburn of Limestone. During the first semester Gallegos was a 55 kg finalist at U23s and placed 4^th in the Junior division at 53 kg. During her freshman season Gallegos was third at the 2020 NCWWC and fifth at Missouri Valley. Dalia Garibay placed second at the inaugural NCWWC as a freshman last season and is ranked No. 2 at 136 pounds. 

At 76 kg, 6 of 10 draft eligible wrestlers are on traditional college rosters. Tristan Kelly, a freshman at Colorado Mesa, really burst onto the scene at the 2020 Senior Nationals where she went 1-1 in wins with Dymond Guilford. Then she was a 2020 Junior Nationals champion with a win over 2020 NCWWC finalist Yelena Makoyed, a sophomore at North Central. Makoyed turned that loss into a win the very next day when she defeated Kelly in the quarters of the U23 division. Continuing on with head-to-heads of draft eligible athletes at U23s, Chi Chi Nwankwo (NAIA No. 3) defeated Makoyed (10-5), while on the other side of the bracket Levendusky defeated Kelly (14-4). Then, in the battle for third, Levendusky defeated Nwankwo 3-1. Jordan Nelson (NAIA No. 3) and Jayden Laurent (NCAA No. 1) haven’t had direct competition in this mix of wrestlers yet this season. 

All three draft eligible wrestlers from NCAA No. 3 Emmanuel College have been active this season. NCAA No. 3 Kayla Marano (68 kg) is a 2020 U23 Nationals champion. Marano is also a multiple-time college All-American and age-group World team member. She was 3-0 at the King Duals last weekend. NCAA No. 2 Maria Vidales (50 kg) had an exciting match with Erin Golston at the WRTC Underground 3. She was second in both the 2019 and 2020 U23 Nationals and is a two-time WCWA All-American. NCAA No. 3 Emily Se was third at both the 2020 Junior and U23 divisions this fall, and the 2020 NCWWC.

Emily Shilson (50 kg) puts Augsburg on the map for the draft. The sophomore from Minnesota was back-to-back champion in the Junior and U23 divisions at UWW Nationals this season. She’s ranked No. 1 in the NCAA and is the returning NCWWC and WCWA champion at 109 pounds. 

The three remaining draft eligible college athletes are all ranked No. 1 in their respective weight classes in the NAIA: Wayland’s No. 1 Desiree Zavala (57 kg), Life’s No. 1 Peyton Prussin (53 kg) and Menlo’s No. 1 Gracie Figueroa (57 kg). Zavala is a senior at Wayland Baptist University in Texas and is currently ranked No. 1 in the NAIA at 136 pounds. She most recently went the full six minutes with Ronna Heaton on Flowrestling’s Adeline vs Tamyra card. Earlier this fall she was the U23 champion and wrestled on multiple card-style events between Flowrestling and the NLWC. Menlo’s Gracie Figueroa is a 2020 Junior Nationals champion, 2019 WCWA Champion and 2019 NAIA Invitational finalist. 116-pound No. 1 Peyton Prussin is a sophomore at Life University that is undefeated at this point in the season. Prussin was fifth at the US Open in 2019. 

Watch the draft live on Flowrestling tonight at 6 pm CT.