Moreno, Hingano, Baertlein and Howard each advance to semifinals for Southern Oregon

PARK CITY, Kan. — Halfway through the NAIA Women’s Wrestling Championships, Southern Oregon stands in sixth place and four Raiders are two wins away from individual titles at Park City Arena.

Top-seeded Carolina Moreno (131 pounds), No. 2 seed Kat Hingano (207), No. 4 seed Emma Baertlein (110) and No. 5 seed Jasmine Howard (117) each advanced to semifinals Friday and surrendered just two points between them. They’re all guaranteed top-six places, and unseeded Lillian Gradillas-Flores (180) gave SOU a fifth All-American but winning three consecutive consolation matches to lock up a top-eight spot.

Saturday’s finals are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. PDT.

The Raiders are sitting on 69 points and just 3 ½ points removed from the top-four trophy circle. They nearly had a fifth semifinalist in Quilaztli Miguel-Lapham, the No. 3 seed at 160, but she suffered an injury in her quarterfinal match and was lost for the tournament.

Moreno, the senior from Somerton, Ariz., kept her record perfect and bid for a fourth championship alive with back-to-back technical fall shutouts. Hingano advanced with a tech shutout and a pin, and Howard wrestled three times without giving up a point — winning by fall, by technical fall, and by 7-0 upset of Grand View’s No. 4-seeded Cailin Campbell in the quarterfinals.

Baertlein had a tight quarterfinal against another Grand View representative, No. 5 seed Lita Cruz, and hung on for a 5-2 win. The senior is an All-American for the third year in a row.

Malia Welch (124) contributed three technical falls in the consolation rounds before going out. Bailey Dennis (180) opened with two wins to reach the quarters before dropping two in a row.