SOU women place fifth at National Duals

Published 5:01 pm Saturday, January 6, 2024

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Friday’s gut-punch of a loss did little to slow down the No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon women’s wrestling team the rest of the way at the NWCA National Dual Meet Championships.

The Raiders won their second and third consecutive consolation duals Saturday at University of Northern Iowa’s UNI-Dome to capture fifth place in the NAIA bracket a year after taking the title. They first took a 22-20 affair from No. 12 Cumberlands (Ky.) on the strength of five consecutive triumphs in the middle weights, then used three wins by fall to upset No. 3 Grand View (Iowa) 24-16 in the fifth-place dual.

SOU went 4-1 at the tournament — its only loss decided by one point on a heavyweight pin against No. 4-ranked Providence (Mont.) in the quarterfinals — and brought its overall record to 5-1.

The Raiders trailed Cumberlands 8-4 when No. 2-ranked Fernanda Lopez started their rally with a 10-8 decision over No. 14 Kaitlin Castro at 123 pounds. The next four Raiders on the mat — No. 1 Carolina Moreno (130), No. 14 Desinee Lopez (136), No. 3 Bella Amaro (143) and No. 1 Caitlyn Davis (155) — outscored their opponents 40-1 combined, putting SOU up 22-10 to clinch the outcome.

Against Grand View, two pins in particular stood out: Marissa Kurtz, wrestling unranked at 116, brought down No. 6 Cailin Campbell a minute into their match. Two matches later, the top-ranked Moreno ended a prestigious showdown with No. 3 Maya Davis in 1:29. Emma Baertlein, ranked No. 4 at 109, had SOU’s other fall over Judy Sandoval. Wins for Amaro by decision over No. 6 Madison Diaz and Davis by technical fall over Leilani Rodriguez wrapped up the victory.

Amaro, Baertlein, Davis and Moreno all went unbeaten at the tournament. Davis and Moreno have yet to lose this season.

SOUTHERN OREGON 22, CUMBERLANDS 20

101 – Angelina Castaneda, UC, tech. fall Karly Scott, 10-0. (0-4)

109 – No. 4 Emma Baertlein, SOU, dec. No. 13 Gracie Elliott, 4-2. (3-5)

116 – Presley Anderson, UC, dec. Marissa Kurtz, 4-3. (4-8)

123 – No. 2 Fernanda Lopez, SOU, dec. No. 14 Kaitlin Castro, 10-8. (7-9)

130 – No. 1 Carolina Moreno, SOU, tech. fall Amy Algaier, 10-0. (11-9)

136 – No. 14 Desinee Lopez, SOU, tech. fall Migdalys Ramos, 11-0. (15-9)

143 – No. 3 Bella Amaro, SOU, dec. Micah Fisher, 8-0. (18-9)

155 – No. 1 Caitlyn Davis, SOU, tech. fall Ariana Pereira, 11-1. (22-10)

170 – No. 8 Saiheron Preciado-Meza, UC, p. No. 20 Desi Matheny, 1:55. (22-15)

191 – No. 13 Naomi Duenas, UC, p. No. 9 Shenita Lawson, 2:44. (22-10)

SOUTHERN OREGON 24, GRAND VIEW 16

101 – No. 13 Jalen Bets, GVU, dec. Lia Ferreira, 7-6. (1-3)

109 – No. 4 Emma Baertlein, SOU, p. Judy Sandoval, 4:06. (6-3)

116 – Marissa Kurtz, SOU, p. No. 6 Cailin Campbell, 1:02. (11-3)

123 – No. 9 Catharine Campbell, GVU, dec. No. 2 Fernanda Lopez, 4-0. (11-6)

130 – No. 1 Carolina Moreno, SOU, p. No. 3 Maya Davis, 1:29. (16-6)

136 – No. 3 Andrea Schlabach, GVU, dec. No. 14 Desinee Lopez, 8-0. (16-9)

143 – No. 3 Bella Amaro, SOU, dec. No. 6 Madison Diaz, 6-2. (19-10)

155 – No. 1 Caitlyn Davis, SOU, tech. fall Leilani Rodriguez, 10-0. (23-10)

170 – No. 1 Abby McIntyre, GVU, dec. No. 9 Shenita Lawson, 7-4. (24-13)

191 – No. 3 Olivia Brown, GVU, dec. No. 20 Desi Matheny, 7-0. (24-16)

Men’s Wrestling

NWCA NATIONAL DUAL MEET CHAMPIONSHIPS: At Cedar Falls, Iowa, in a bracket that featured six of the top-seven teams in the NAIA, No. 18-ranked Southern Oregon captured sixth place at University of Northern Iowa’s UNI-Dome.

The Raiders — who executed the biggest upset of the tournament Friday by defeating No. 5 Doane (Neb.) — followed up on Day 2 by taking down No. 11 Indiana Tech, 24-16, to advance to the fifth-place dual. There, they lost 21-13 to No. 6 Campbellsville (Ky.) and went to 6-3 overall on the season.

The finish was their best at the National Duals since taking second in 2014-15.

They took over early against Indiana Tech, going up 15-3 after Simon Graeber (133 pounds) won by fall, Evan Potter (141) won by forfeit and Travis Thorpe (149) took a 9-4 decision. They sealed the win later when, up 14-10, Alex Hernandez held off Landon Buchanan 2-0 in a top-25 matchup at 174 and Adrian Chavez-Morales pinned No. 15-ranked Leonardo Galasso at 184.

Graeber, ranked No. 9 at 133, continued his good work with a technical fall against Campbellsville, and the top-ranked Potter completed his unbeaten run through the tourney while wrestling up a weight to top No. 23 Nick Moore 3-2 at 149. Andrew Herrera, ranked No. 15 at 197, added a win by decision over No. 17 Grayson Stevens, and heavyweight Sebastian Echeverria upset No. 14 Jaden Sooner by 6-3 decision.

SOUTHERN OREGON 24, INDIANA TECH 16

125 – No. 18 Allen Calderon, IT, dec. Vonn Fenn, 7-2. (0-3)

133 – No. 9 Simon Graeber, SOU, p. Steven Garty, 2:03. (6-3)

141 – No. 1 Evan Potter, SOU, wins by forfeit. (12-3)

149 – Travis Thorpe, SOU, dec. Mike Loney, 9-4. (15-3)

157 – No. 8 Nate Wheeler, IT, dec. Aaron Gandara, 4-1 (SV). (15-6)

165 – No. 12 Jonathan Kervin, IT, major dec. No. 25 Dylan Straley, 10-2. (15-10)

174 – No. 5 Alex Hernandez, SOU, dec. No. 21 Landon Buchanan, 2-0. (18-10)

184 – Adrian Chavez-Morales, SOU, p. No. 15 Leonardo Galasso, 4:48. (24-10)

197 – No. 4 Nathan Critchfield, IT, dec. No. 15 Andrew Herrera, 6-4. (24-13)

285 – No. 17 Braydon Erb, IT, dec. Sebastian Echeverria, 12-5. (24-16)

CAMPBELLSVILLE 21, SOUTHERN OREGON 13

125 – No. 8 Izaeah Beavers, CU, dec. Vonn Fenn, 11-9. (0-3)

*1 point deducted for SOU due to unsportsmanlike conduct.

133 – No. 9 Simon Graeber, SOU, tech. fall Caleb Thomas, 17-2. (4-3)

141 – No. 13 Nicholas Yancey, CU, dec. Anthony Perez, 8-5. (4-6)

149 – No. 1 Evan Potter, SOU, dec. No. 23 Nick Moore, 3-2. (7-6)

157 – No. 16 Jake Hurst, CU, dec. Travis Thorpe, 4-3. (7-9)

165 – No. 2 Shadrick Slone, CU, tech. fall Aaron Gandara, 15-0. (7-14)

174 – Gabe Martinez, CU, major dec. No. 5 Alex Hernandez, 13-4. (7-18)

184 – No. 14 Chandler Woenker, CU, dec. Adrian Chavez-Morales, 10-3. (7-21)

197 – No. 15 Andrew Herrera, SOU, dec. No. 17 Grayson Stevens, 3-2. (10-21)

285 – Sebastian Echeverria, SOU, dec. No. 14 Jaden Sooner, 6-3. (13-21)

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