NAIA Women's Championships: Five Storylines From Day 1

Southern Oregon’s returning national champion Carolina Moreno. Photo by AWW

JAMESTOWN, ND - History was made today as the NAIA hosted their first-ever women’s national championship at the Harold Newman Arena. Here’s the top 5 storylines heading into Day 2.

1. Southern Oregon leads the team race.
There will be a new winner this year. Since the NAIA National Invite started in 2019, there have only been two winners, Menlo (2019) and Campbellsville (2021 & 2022). Neither of those teams will be the winner this year which means someone will win it for the first time.

After Day 1, SOU leads the team race by 5.5 points over 2nd place Life, 101.5-96. Menlo is in 3rd with 86 points. Heading into Day 2, SOU has seven remaining wrestlers, all in the semis on the Championship side. Life has eight wrestlers left, four on the Championship side, four in the Consis.

SOU’s wrestlers in semis are 101 Esthela Trevino, 123 Carolina Moreno, 136 Bella Amaro, 143 Emily Se, 170 Joye Levendusky, and 191 Grace Kristoff. Kristoff came in as the #10 seed and beat the #7 seed Catherine Palmieri and the #2 seed Jessica Kirby.

Life’s wrestlers in the semis are: 109 Peyton Prussin, 130 Sarah Savidge, 143 Jamilah McBryde, and 155 Latifah McBryde. Their All-American wrestlers alive in the Consis are: 101 Devyn Gomez, 109 Kory Phillips, 136 Riley Dalrymple, and 170 Jessie Lee.

2. Freshman fire.
Let’s start with Life’s two freshman hammers, #2 seeded 130 Sarah Savidge and #1 seeded 155 Latifah McBryde. Savidge has not been scored on, scoring two tech falls and a pin, and McBryde has outscored opponents 25-2. To reach the finals, Savidge has the tall task of getting through 2021 national champion Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp and then would potentially face returning national champion Lexie Basham in the finals. McBryde has dominated this field all season, and there’s no reason to think she can’t keep doing so. We’ll see if the winner of the Davis-Albrecht on the bottom side can dial up a plan to be competitive with her.

There are five other freshmen in the semis:

101 Erin Hikiji from Providence
116 Juliana Diaz from Missouri Baptist
123 Haley Narahara of Menlo
123 Catharine Campbell of Grand View
136 Bella Amaro of Southern Oregon
155 Caitlyn Davis of Central Methodist

Stay tuned tomorrow to see if we’ll have any freshman finalists or national champions.

3. The stars are shining.
Established college wrestlers are doing their thing, shining on the big stage.

Life’s returning 2x national champion Peyton Prussin advanced to the semis, but not without a gritty quarterfinal win over another scrappy freshman from Iowa Wesleyan, Faith Cole, 9-4. At the same weight, returning national finalist Mia Palumbo of Iowa Wesleyan also advanced to the semi.

At 123, returning national champion and #1 seed Carolina Moreno (Southern Oregon) overcame an early deficit to put a flurry of points together and win her semi 20-10 over Hastings’ Larissa Kaz.

At 130, Texas Wesleyan returning national champion Lexie Basham has shut out her opponents en route to the semi. Meanwhile, 136-pound hammer Adaugo Nwachukwu is making it look easy, dominating her way to the semi where she’ll face Brewton-Parker’s Leidaly Rivera.

Grand View’s #1 seeded 143-pound Alexis Gomez is wrestling like she’s on a mission, also shutting out her opponents all the way to the semi, where she’ll face Life’s Jamilah McBryde in the morning.

At 170, U.S. world teamer Dymond Guilford of Cumberlands cruised to her semi, while #2 seeded Joye Levendusky at the same weight has not been scored on, accomplishing the rare feat of becoming a 5x All-American by making the semi.

Missouri Valley returning national champion and #1 seed Kelani Corbett at 191 is also holding serve, making the semi.

4. The depth and parity in the NAIA is evident.
Some of the groups are so deep that the difference between the top and bottom seeds is minimal, evidenced by the many upsets today. And some of the upsets were lopsided. Here’s a few:

109: #11 seeded Kory Phillips upset #6 seed Macie Stewart (SOU) by fall.
116: Unseeded Kylie Robledo (Baker) upset #6 seed Cailin Campbell by fall.
116: #10 seed Josie Bartishofski (Jamestown) upset #7 seed Ajayzee Zaballos (Menlo) 7-2.
130: #10 seed Louisa Schwab (Menlo) upset returning national finalist Angela Vitiritti (Campbellsville) 9-0.
136: #7 seed Mea Mohler (Texas Wesleyan) upset #2 seeded 2021 national finalist Erin Redford (Eastern Oregon) 13-3.
143: #10 seed Desiree Jones (Menlo) upset #7 seed Kaydince Turner (Hastings) 9-7.
170: #10 seed Bo Geibe (Siena Heights) upset #7 seed Katelyn Lewis of Brewton-Parker by fall.
191: #10 seed Grace Kristoff (Southern Oregon) upset #7 seed Catherine Palmieri (Life) by fall and #2 seed Jessica Kirby (Cumberlands) by fall.
191: #11 seed Joanna Hendricks (Waldorf) upset #6 seed Riley Dempewolf (Indiana Tech) by fall.

5. History was made.
It’s official. The NAIA made history today as it hosted it’s first-ever sanctioned women’s wrestling championship. It’s a great day for women’s wrestling.

Action continues tomorrow morning on FloWrestling at 10am CST.