OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Some members of the King University women's wrestling team returned to the mat on Saturday at the ASICS University National Championships. Samantha Klingel and Lorrie Ramos led the Tornado with second place finishes while Marina Doi finished third.
Klingel started her day at 55 kilograms with a win over Abby Sallee on a fall in 1:59 to advance to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, she defeated Alyssa Gonzalez 9-5 before taking a 10-0 technical fall win over Cassidy Jasperson to reach the finals. However, she fell to Tarkyia Mensah in the finals on a 10-0 technical fall.
At 75 kilograms, Lorrie Ramos won her first bout of the day on a fall in 0:57 to reach the finals. However, she dropped a 9-0 decision to Victoria Francis in the championship match. Marina Doi won her first two matches of the day on decisions, 4-0 and 3-0 over Tyler Resuriz and Andrey Diaz-Garcia. However, she fell to eventual runner-up Erin Golston on a technical fall 10-0, dropping her to the consolation bracket. She continued with a consolation semifinal win over Sarah Allen 6-0 and topped Allene Somera 7-1, giving her a third place finish.
Forrest Molinari narrowly missed the podium, taking fourth at 63 kilograms. She started her day with a technical fall win over Magaret Douma before falling to Mallory Velte. In the consolation bracket, Molinari earned an 11-0 technical fall win over Destiny Robinson-Crawl, and a win by fall in 1:25 over Shelby Hall to reach the consolation semifinals. Molinari defeated Rachel Young 10-0 on a technical fall to setup a rematch with Velte in the third place bout. However, Velte was again victorious, giving Molinari a fourth place finish.
Breonnah Neal, Rachel Hale, Brenda Perez and Evonne Evien also competed for the Tornado. Neal went 2-2 at 53 kilograms, falling to the third and fourth place finishers while Hale went 1-2 at 60 kilograms, falling to the eventual champion and fourth place finisher. After dropping her first match of the day, Perez rolled off three straight wins at 69 kilograms before falling to the fourth place finisher. Evien dropped both of her matches at 75 kilograms.
King will be in action again at Body Bar Nationals on May 16.
