National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships Recap

Tiffin, Ohio – The National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships were contested yesterday on the campus of Tiffin University. There were 22 NCAA programs and 147 wrestlers. McKendree won the team title for a second consecutive season, racking up 209 points and a 37.5-point gap. King was second with 171.5 points, and Emmanuel was third with 133.5 (full results). 

Six of McKendree’s eight finalists won individual titles, and the Bearcats finished with 14 All-Americans. For Felicity Taylor, the third time was the charm. The junior from Iowa placed second at the WCWA National Championships in 2019 and NCWWCs in 2020. This year she faced Tiffin’s Sugey Ceja, now a three-time national finalist, and had to give everything to win it. Down 6-2, Taylor secured a takedown and rolled through a string of laces turned tech-fall with less than a minute on the clock. 

Emma Bruntil and Sydnee Kimber won back-to-back titles. Kimber had four wins by fall, and Bruntil had two falls and two techs. Bruntil, down 1-0, created her angle to an attack and laced her way to a tech. At 130 pounds, freshman Cam Guerin won a 9-6 battle over two-time national finalist Amanda Martinez (North Central). Brenda Reyna (136) and Alara Boyd (155) both came in seeded No. 2 and revenged losses from January in their championship wins over No.1 seeds Ana Luciano and Kayla Marano. Boyd was second in 2020.

The only break in McKendree’s run from 130-191 was at 170 pounds, but even that weight was a solid second place finish by Joye Levendusky. Taylor, Guerin and Bruntil all wrestled at the Captains’ Cup last month. Sam Schmitz, head coach of the Bearcats since 2013, was awarded Coach of the Year.

The women’s wrestling program at King University is consistently one of the strongest. The team placed 13 All-Americans, and even with five finalists compared to McKendree’s eight, they were right in the mix. Cheyenne Sisenstein had no issues in this year’s championships. She breezed her way to the title at 123 pounds with three falls and a tech in the finals. Sisenstein was second in 2020 and a WCWA All-American as a freshman in 2019.

Ana Luciano, a 2020 U23 finalist, had a breakthrough year and has been turning heads at 136-pounds all season. Yesterday she put together a second-place performance with two falls and a tech. The finals match with Brenda Reyna was a 1-1 decision, and, maybe surprising for the low score, it was action-packed. Gould (109), Ortega (143) and Heidelberg-Tollson (191) placed second in their respective weight classes. Phoenix Dubose outperformed her No. 6 ranking with a third-place finish, taking out No. 4 Emily Se in the quarters and again for third. 

McKendree and Emmanuel had wrestlers in the final at 101 pounds for the second year in a row. This year Emmanuel’s Angelina Gomez bested the returning champ, Pauline Granados, 3-3, and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Gomez, the first NCWWC champion for Emmanuel, shut out the No. 1 seed Jaclyn McNichols—revenging a 3-1 loss from earlier this season—in the semis, 6-0. She was second at the WCWA National Championships in 2019.  

Augsburg University placed fifth overall and had five All-Americans. Emily Shilson, the sophomore star from Minnesota, tech-falled her way through the tournament and remains undefeated collegiately. She is the reigning NCWWC champion at 109 pounds and was awarded Outstanding Wrestler in 2020 and 2021. Autumn Flanigan, Marlynne Deede and Kya Rybachek all made it to the semifinals. Flanigan (136) had an upset win over 2020 finalist Dalia Garibay (Colorado Mesa) and Rybachek (143) over All-American Zoe Nowicki (Adrian). Deede placed third. 

The Auggies were down three qualifiers, including the No. 3 pre-seed Gabby Skidmore, who won the northwest regional with a 2-1 win over two-time NCWWC finalist Amanda Martinez. Savanah Vold and Hannah Michael were also absent, and 2020 All-American Vayle Rae Baker didn’t compete in the regional qualifier.

Marissa Gallegos, a two-time All-American at Colorado Mesa, placed second. On her way to the finals she hit three big arm throws in the semis and and one in the quarters. Freshman Tristan Kelly (170) battled back to place third after dropping a match to Levendusky in the semis. The Mavericks placed fourth overall and had eight All-Americans. 

North Central’s Yelena Makoyed made the 170-pound bracket look easy. She is the Cardinals first individual champion in program history. Amanda Martinez (130) took out the No. 2 seed, Allison Petix (King), with a 6-0 decision in the semis and then tested Cam Guerin with everything she had for six minutes. At the 2:12 mark, Martinez showcased some textbook chain-wrestling and picked up four points from a double. Martinez kept the match close but lost 9-6. Asia Nguyen-Smith placed third. The Cardinals placed six All-Americans and finished just eight points behind the Auggies.

Tiffin’s Sugey Ceja (116) was a weight class up this season and looked strong. She landed tech falls in her opening two matches and then took out King’s standout freshman Sophia Mirabella in the semis. In the finals, Felicity Taylor put the first points on the board, but Ceja fired right back with her own takedown into a lace and then a gut. Ceja led 6-2 going into the second period, but Taylor’s attack to a lace was too much for her to stop. Tiffin, the championship host, finished with six All-Americans.

Presbyterian’s Jaslynn Gallegos earned her second NCWWC All-American honors with a third-place finish and revenge match win over King’s Sophia Mirabella. Mirabella edged her out 6-5 in the semis and Gallegos had to put together four wins to wrestle back for third. Sam Miller, a freshman and 2020 Tricia Saunders Award Winner, came in unseeded and upset the 101-pound bracket taking out No. 2 Lizette Rodriquez (McKendree) in the quarters. Miller placed seventh overall.

First year programs Iowa Wesleyan and New Jersey City had their first All-Americans. For Iowa Wesleyan, Alaina Sunlin was fifth and Daisy Scholz was sixth. NJCU’s Naomi Henry and Sandra Guerrero—both New Jersey natives—placed eight.

When the NCWWC was announced last year, qualifying procedures for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials had already been set and the 2020 event was not considered a qualifier. But, with the delay of the trials, the procedures were amended to include individual champions from the NCWWC, which is consistent with the WCWA National Championships and NAIA National Invitational. If the champions were already qualified, the next place-winner earned a bid to the trials. Those athletes are also listed below the individual champions. 

Individual Champions | Brackets
101: Angelina Gomez (Emmanuel)
109: Emily Shilson (Augsburg)
116: Felicity Taylor (McKendree)
123: Cheyenne Sisenstein (King)
130: Cameron Guerin (McKendree)
136: Brenda Reyna (McKendree)
143: Emma Bruntil (McKendree)
155: Alara Boyd (McKendree)
170: Yelena Makoyed (North Central)
191: Sydnee Kimber (McKendree)

U.S. Olympic Team Trials Qualifiers
101: Angelina Gomez (Emmanuel)
109: 2nd place Aleeah Gould (King)
116: Felicity Taylor (McKendree)
123: Cheyenne Sisenstein (King)
130: 2nd place Amanda Martinez (North Central)
136: Brenda Reyna (McKendree)
143: 3rd place Felicity Bryant (Emmanuel)
155: Alara Boyd (McKendree)
170: 2nd place Joye Levendusky (McKendree)
191: Sydnee Kimber (McKendree)

 Final Team Standings
1. Mckendree 209
2. King 171.5
3. Emmanuel 133.5
4. Colorado Mesa 97
5. Augsburg 88.5
6. North Central 80.5
7. Tiffin 65.5
8. Presbyterian 52.5
9. Adrian 43
10. Gannon 34