Eagle Women Place Sixth at KCAC/GPAC Duals

YORK, Neb. – With all the KCAC and GPAC schools that sponsor women's wrestling in one place, Avila women's wrestling won two out of their five duals against their expanded conference foes to finish in sixth place at the KCAC/GPAC Duals this Saturday on the campus of York University.

All the schools are technically under the banner of the KCAC in the largest women's wrestling conference in the NAIA, but this unique event provided the avenue for the full-time members of the KCAC to face off with the full-time members of the GPAC in one direct setting. With the distance between many of these schools there often isn't a simple way for these teams to face each other in single-day dual competition, so all the schools met up in Nebraska to compete in a handful of duals against conference foes.

Avila women's wrestling faced a total of five foes – one from the KCAC and four from the GPAC – over the course of the day on Saturday. All teams were assigned into one of three pools to begin the day and then, after the preliminary results, all teams were then sorted into one of four other pools to determine the final standings.

First off in Pool B, Avila faced off against Friends, the Eagles' only fellow KCAC foe of the day. Avila got off to a great start in the day against the fellow third-year program, winning six of the ten bouts to cruise to a team win to start the day. Asha Pearson started things off with a pinfall at 101 and after a double forfeit at 109, Markayla Lottie followed suit with a pin at 116 to give the Eagles an early 10-0 lead.

Friends got wins at 123 and 136 around a forfeit win for the Eagles at 130 to make things interesting, but victories from Sara Soureshjani and Kirsten Bruegel at 143 and 155 gave the Eagles a comfortable edge, and Shannon Briggs finished things off with a 12-0 tech fall win at 191 to cinch a 27-14 victory for the Eagles to start the day.

Avila's second dual of the day was against Hastings, and it went a bit differently than the first one did. Julia Datus got a forfeit victory at 123 and Briggs earned her second pinfall win at 191, but those were the only two bouts the Eagles won in a 33-12 victory for the Broncos.

That set up a matchup with Dakota Wesleyan to close out Pool B. DWU is a new program that is still working to fill out its ranks, and the Eagles made quick work of the Tigers to earn their second win. Dakota Wesleyan won three matches, but that was nowhere near enough to cancel out four forfeit wins for the Eagles, and pinfall wins from Kalli Schuster (136) and Susana Mondragon (170) in her first extended action of the season led Avila to a 31-13 win and a second-place finish in Pool B.

That was enough to advance the Eagles into the Silver Bracket against GPAC squads Midland and Jamestown. The Eagles faced off against the Warriors first in a hotly-contested battle that came down to the end – literally. With the scores level after ten bouts, the two squads had to dip deep into the tiebreaking procedures to determine a winner, where it was ruled that Midland earned the tiebreaker and, therefore, the dual victory.

Both teams won five of the ten bouts, including one forfeit win and four pin victories per side. Mondragon picked up the forfeit, while Lottie, Briggs, Soureshjani and Jaclyn Riedinger (136) all won by pin to give the Eagles a legit chance against a strong Midland squad.

After that unusual finish, Avila closed out its competition by facing off against Jamestown. The Eagles got two forfeit wins and a crucial pin victory from Erma Williams at 143, but the Jimmies prevailed in the other seven bouts to earn a 32-16 victory. Avila's pair of dual wins was good enough for sixth place in a loaded field that features many very good teams and a large number of some of the best women's wrestling programs in the NAIA.

Up next, the Avila women will stay a bit closer to home when the Eagles travel up to Leavenworth and Saint Mary for the Spire Classic this Friday, January 26. Stay tuned to our website, avilaathletics.com, as well as our social media channels for updates on that event when they become available.