OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Beginning the quest for their third straight Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) national championship, the King University women's wrestling team got off to a great start on Friday. Through the quarterfinals, the Tornado are atop the team standings with 136.5 point and have had nine wrestlers reach Saturday's semifinals.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- At 101 pounds, King has two of the four semifinalists, senior No. 1 Ashley Iliff and sophomore No. 2 Marina Doi. Iliff pinned Rebecca Forsyth of Ferrum College in 2:35 and earned another pin in the quarterfinals, this time defeating Wayland Baptist University's Evelynn Simmons in 4:06.
- Doi pinned eighth-ranked Maia Phanthadara of The University of the Cumberlands in 2:44 before taking back-to-back technical fall victories. In the quarterfinals she defeated ninth-ranked Christina Bautista of Missouri Valley College 10-0.
- King also has two wrestlers in the semifinals at 109 pounds, No. 4 Daisy Santos and No. 2 Breonnah Neal. Santos won all three of her matches by pin. Her first victory came over Rose Heurtelou of Waldorf College in 2:08 before she topped Samantha Diaz of Missouri Baptist University in 2:19. Santos reached the semifinals with a 3:26 pin over fifth-ranked Arelys Valles of Cumberlands.
- Neal earned her first two wins by technical fall, defeating Yolonda Lawes of Southwest Oregon Community College 10-0 and Cumberlands' Makayla Bourbon 12-2. She reached the semifinals with a 9-4 decision over seventh-ranked Tayler Resuriz.
- At 116 pounds, Hanna Grisewood and Samantha Klingel are both in the semifinals, each winning three matches on the day. Grisewood is ranked second sat 123 pounds and started her day with a 10-0 technical fall victory over Oklahoma City University's Ashlyn White. She followed that with a 6-0 decision over eighth-ranked Jennifer Juarez of Life University and reach the semifinals by pinning No. 7 Dejan Treder of Jamestown University in 2:37.
- Ranked second, Klingel started her day with a pin over No. 10 Alanda Nguyen of Life in 2:40. She then earned an 11-0 technical fall victory over Campbellsville University's Erica Sotelo before topping fifth-ranked Shelby Morrison of Oklahoma City 8-0 to reach the semifinals.
- Freshman, and top-ranked at 136, Hannah Jewell reached the semifinals with three wins, two by pin. She pinned Joy Muniz of Jamestown in 45 seconds and Bailey McLaughlin in 1:13 before earning a 12-2 technical fall victory over sixth-ranked Jasmine Bailey to reach the semifinals.
- Second-ranked Forrest Molinari won all three of her matches at 155 pounds, advancing to the semifinals. She opened with a pin over Gaby Hunter of Midland Lutheran College in 26 seconds. She followed with a 10-0 technical fall win over No. 10 Yvonne Galindo of Oklahoma City before pinning Alana Quackenbush of Wayland Baptist in 38 seconds.
- Jacqueline Williams is the ninth Tornado to reach the semifinals, winning both of her matches at 191 pounds. She is ranked third and defeated No. 10 Monica Gonzalez of Menlo College on an 11-1 technical fall before pinning Jamestown's Renee Samano in 4:36.
- Fifth-ranked Regina Doi pinned No. 10 Kayla Walker of McKendree University to start her tournament at 101 pounds. However, she fell to No. 4 Sarah Allen of Cumberlands, dropping her to the consolation bracket.
- At 136 pounds, third-ranked Jessi Kee earned back-to-back pins over Cheynelle Kawaihae of Menlo in 38 seconds and McKendree's Dian Nevarez in 1:34 to reach the quarterfinals. However, she fell to fourth-ranked Fran Giorgio of Simon Fraser University on a 7-0 decision, dropping her to the consolation bracket.
- Vanessa Gomez at 109 pounds and Ricki Liang at 116 pounds both went 2-2 on the day.
UP NEXT
- The WCWA National Championships conclude on Saturday with the semifinals started in a 10:00 a.m. (CT). The medal rounds are slated to start at 1:00 p.m. (CT) and the finals will take place at 7:00 p.m. (CT)
KING RESULTS BY WEIGHT CLASS
101 – No. 1 Ashley Iliff 3-0; No. 2 Marina Doi 3-0; No. 5 Regina Doi 2-1
109 – No. 4 Daisy Santos 3-0; No. 2 Breonah Neal 3-0; Vanessa Gomez 2-2
116 – No 2 (123) Hanna Grisewood 3-0; No. 2 Samantha Klingel 3-0; No. 10 Ricki Liang 1-2
136 – No. 1 Hannah Jewell 3-0; No. 3 Jessi Kee 2-1
155 – No. 2 (143) Forrest Molinari 3-0
191 – No. 3 Jacqueline Williams 2-0; Denise Perez 0-2
