Three Eagles Featured in Final Women’s Wrestling Rankings

Shannon Briggs and Markayla Lottie have retained their spots while Byanca Cook returns to the national picture in the sixth and final edition of the NAIA Women's Wrestling Coaches' Top 20, the organization unveiled this week. Briggs is also still ranked in the Top 15 in her weight class by media organization The Open Mat. Avila women's wrestling remains in the receiving votes tier of the national poll.

It's been another strong season for junior Markayla Lottie, who is looking to take lessons learned from an extremely challenging last month of competition into this weekend's KCAC Championship, where she will be aiming to defend her title from a year ago.

Despite finishing the regular season on a five-match losing streak (all five of her opponents are in the national rankings), Lottie still boasts the best overall record of any Eagle regular this season at 15-13. The junior from Raytown, Missouri holds on to her No. 20 ranking in the 116-pound weight class. She has now been ranked in every single NAIA poll this season as the regular season comes to a close.

Byanca Cook, like Lottie an NAIA qualifier from a year ago, makes her long anticipated return to the NAIA rankings this week after coming into form down the stretch this season. As she aims to get back on the nationals mat in a couple of weeks, she too has faced an absolute gauntlet of opponents in recent weeks: Cook has won only one match in February, but nearly all her opponents were nationally ranked, and some were the best of any wrestlers in any weight class in the country.

The sophomore from Springdale, Arkansas returns to the national rankings for the first time since the preseason, coming in at #20 in the 130-pound weight class, down from 136 where she began the year.

There's been no late season surge necessary for Shannon Briggs, who finishes her freshman campaign as the highest-ranked Eagle. Like her teammates, she has also faced extremely difficult competition down the stretch: Briggs has lost only four times in 2024 (6-4 overall record this calendar year) and all four of those losses came against athletes that are currently in the NAIA's top ten in their weight class.

The freshman from Englewood, Florida holds firm at 12^th in the 191-pound weight class. She also maintains her No. 13 ranking from media organization The Open Mat, which will reevaluate its rankings next week.

As always, the expanded KCAC is well represented in the lower half of the national rankings. A KCAC school is in possession of the No. 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 spots in the final national Top 20 [Saint Mary, Hastings, Midland, Doane, and Ottawa, in order], and Jamestown, Friends and York join Avila in the receiving votes tier, giving the expanded KCAC a total of nine schools in the national picture.

The final NAIA Women's Wrestling Coaches' Top 20 can be viewed below, and on the NAIA website.

The next chance to catch Lottie, Briggs, Cook and the rest of the Eagles will be at the 2024 KCAC Women's Wrestling Championships at Doane University on Saturday, February 24. Details for how to watch and follow that event have been posted on our website, avilaathletics.com.

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Dropped from Top 20: None

Receiving Votes: Wayland Baptist (Texas) 33; Jamestown (N.D.) 32; Lourdes (Ohio) 30; Siena Heights (Mich.) 22; Waldorf (Iowa) 20; Evergreen State (Wash.) 19; Central Methodist (Mo.) 17; Jarvis Christian (Texas) 16; St. Andrews (N.C.) 16; Avila (Mo.) 14; Friends (Kan.) 9; York (Neb.) 9; Dickinson State (N.D.) 4

Top-Ranked Individuals | Individual Rankings

101 – Erin Hikiji, Providence (Mont.)

109 – Mia Palumbo, William Penn (Iowa)

116 – Avery Ashley, Oklahoma City

123 – Cristelle Rodriguez, Doane (Neb.)

130 – Carolina Moreno, Southern Oregon

136 – Adaugo Nwachukwu, William Penn (Iowa)

143 – Jamilah McBryde, Life (Ga.)

155 – Caitlyn Davis, Southern Oregon

170 – Ashley Lekas, William Penn (Iowa)

191 – Tavia Heidelberg-Tillotson, Menlo (Calif.)