COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A few members of the King University women's wrestling team took a break from the collegiate season for a weekend to compete at the Dave Schultz Memorial International. Both Haley Augello and Sarah Hildebrandt reached the finals of their respective weight classes at the event.
Augello, wrestling at 53 kilograms, started the day with a win by fall in 3:50 over Canada's Brianne Barry, and followed it with a 9-0 decision over Tetyana Lazareva of Ukraine. The sophomore then defeated Katherine Fulp-Allen 10-1 in the semifinals before falling to Whitney Conder on a technical fall, 11-0 in the finals.
At 55 kilograms, Hildebrandt defeated Areana Villascusa on a fall in 0:58 before defeated Evelina Nikolova of Bulgaria on a fall in 2:32 to reach the finals. However, she dropped a narrow 3-2 decision to Helen Maroulis in the finals, giving her a second place finish.
Julia Salata also turned in a solid performance, taking fourth in the 69 kilogram weight class. The senior defeated Yvonne Galindo 10-0 on tech fall to start the day, and followed it with a 2-2 win by decision over Alana Makhinya of Ukraine. She then fell in the semifinals before winning her consolation semifinal match 9-1 over Tamayra Mensah. However, Salata fell to Argentina's Luz Clara Vazquez 10-0 on a technical fall to take fourth.
Breonnah Neal and Lorrie Ramos also competed for the Tornado. Ramos went 1-2 while Neal dropped both of her matches on the day.
King will try to defend their WCWA national championship on February 13-14 at Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis, Missouri.
