Three Eagles Ranked, Team Receiving Votes Ahead of Third Season
As it has been at some point in every season of program history now, Avila women's wrestling opens the 2023-24 campaign, year three of the program, by receiving votes in the 2023-24 NAIA Women's Wrestling Coaches' Preseason Top 20 Poll, unveiled by the organization in October.
The Eagles earn their place in the national picture thanks to the presence and talents of three wrestlers that begin the season ranked in the national Top 25 of their respective weight classes. Both of Avila's first ever NAIA Championship qualifiers (last year was the first that women's wrestling was recognized as a championship sport by the NAIA) from a season ago, Markayla Lottie and Byanca Cook, return for 2023, along with third-year Eagle Zoey Mzeru, looking to lead the Eagles back to contention in the KCAC and beyond.
One of the founding members of Avila women's wrestling, Zoey Mzeru returns for year three expecting to maintain her status as one of Avila's top lighter weights. The junior from Jefferson City went 9-10 last year, and wrestled at three different weights over the course of the campaign.
Mzeru finished last season winning six of her final seven matches, and her only defeat was to Mia Palumbo, then of Iowa Wesleyan, who enters this season as one of the top-ranked wrestlers in the NAIA, regardless of weight. For Mzeru, meanwhile, she will enter the 2023-24 season ranked tied for 18th in the 109 weight class (tied with OKC's Eliana Martinez), and will look to start her season off strong at the Falcon Invite this weekend.
Fellow third-year Eagle Markayla Lottie has been a trailblazer for her team in her first two seasons in Kansas City. She was one of the program's first two nationally-ranked wrestlers (along with Raziyah Thomas) in the 2021-22 season, and she was one of the program's first two NAIA Championship qualifiers (along with Cook) in the 2022-23 season. The now-junior from Raytown returns for her third season already established as one of the best wrestlers in her weight tier, with sights set on even bigger goals.
Last season Lottie sported an overall record of 18-12, which culminated in three wins at the KCAC Championships, where she defeated nationally-ranked Jenna Gerhardt of Jamestown to become Avila's first conference tournament champion and earn an auto berth to nationals. She dropped both matches, including one to the ever-dangerous Peyton Prussin of Life, wrestling down at 109, but now with two years of top-tier experience underneath her, Lottie enters 2023 ranked 12th in the NAIA at 116, a new personal best.
Even as a freshman last season, Byanca Cook made it clear early on that she would be one of Avila's featured wrestlers when she got all the way to the semifinals in her first collegiate event. She was a staple in the middleweight tier all season long, and earned the 2023 Avila Athletics Freshman Female Athlete of the Year Award, as well as Academic All-American honors from the NWCA.
Cook led the team with a stellar record of 25-13 last season, which culminated in a fourth-place finish at conference and a trip to the NAIA Championships in her first season of collegiate wrestling. Cook will kick off her sophomore season ranked 15th at 136.
Unlike in many other sports, the rankings of the teams in the Top 20 of the coaches' poll are dictated by the rankings of the individual athletes in the Top 25 of the individual rankings. Any school that has even one wrestler appearing in the Top 25 of any of the ten weight classes will automatically be receiving national votes in the team rankings; as such, schools with more ranked wrestlers receive more team ranking points, and the highest-ranked teams always either have the most ranked wrestlers, the highest-ranked wrestlers, or both.
With three national ranked wrestlers, including two in the top 15 of their weights, Avila is firmly in the receiving votes tier of the team rankings to begin the season. Avila has appeared in the national rankings at some point in each of the program's first three years, and has appeared in the preseason poll in the last two. Nine of the KCAC's 11 teams are appearing in the preseason edition of the NAIA rankings; conference at-large members Doane, Hastings and Midland are the teams in the Top 20, with the other six receiving votes.
Now officially under the direction of head coach Zach Revier, who has worked closely with the women's team in each of the first two years of the program, Avila women's wrestling begins its first season as a standalone program. After defeating William Woods in Mabee Fieldhouse to begin the season this weekend, the (RV) Eagles will continue the kickoff to the 2023 campaign this coming Saturday at the Falcon Invite in Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas. As always, details on how to watch and follow along will be provided on our website, avilaathletics.com.
