What We Learned at the 2021 MoVal
Olivia Shore hit a last second ankle pick to win the 101 class. Photo by Heidi Jo Levendusky for AWW
by Derek Levendusky
Twitter: @AWWderek
The MoVal gave us so many moments, performances, and revelations. Here’s the top ten takeaways from the premier event:
1. Women’s college wrestling is here.
In case you missed the stat, there are now 109 women’s college wrestling programs (NAIA, NCAA & NJCAA) compared to 79 Division I men’s programs. The depth and quality of women’s wrestling are palpable. Just a glance through the brackets at the MoVal and you’d see elite women everywhere, not only in college wrestling but even many top 10 women ranked at the Senior level—19 to be exact, with five of those being in the top 5. They were all on the mats in Marshall, Missouri last weekend.
Yes, we are on the cusp of a wave of D1 programs emerging and potentially the top 5 power programs, Iowa already in house, but don’t let that fool you into thinking women’s college wrestling isn’t for real RIGHT NOW. These women are good.
2. King’s new wave of wrestlers are for real.
We all knew King had a great recruiting class, but it was something else to watch them perform—Sage Mortimer hitting a 4 at the final whistle to win it at 116, Cheyenne Bowman nearly taking out national champ Yelena Makoyed in the second round at 170, or Montana Delawder taking 3rd at 130. Add to that the addition of All-American transfer Vayle Baker who took 2nd at 123, and others that you’ll expect to climb the rankings, and you have a rabble of nothing-to-lose, I-don’t-care-who-you-are competitors that will certainly be in the conversation at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships next March.
This isn’t to say there weren’t other programs that had solid performances by freshmen or transfers—Tiffin’s Olivia Shore was electric at 101; Life’s Salyna Shotwell was one second away from a MoVal title as a freshman at 116 and All-American transfer Alma Mendoza had a nice day with a 6th place finish at 143. McKendree had some bright spots with their newbies too, as 191 Jaycee Foeller won the title over 3x King All-American Nia Crosdale, Skye Realin took 7th at 136, and Hannah Hall took 8th at 116 in a loaded class. Texas Wesleyan freshmen Brittyn Corbishley and Ashley Lekas took 3rd and 5th at 170, respectively, while Devin Patton took 5th at 123, and Jasmine Godinez took 8th at 109. North Central freshmen also showed up, as Sydney Petzinger took 6th at 109, Kendra Ryan took 4th at 116, Amani Jones took 3rd at 123, and Sara Sulejmani took 4th at 136.
3. There’s room for a 235 class.
It was good to see a 235 weight class for the bigger women as the MoVal featured a full 8-woman bracket. The event was won by Kelani Corbett of Lyon College, a 2019 Fargo champion just a few years ago. The men have a class for the big boys, so why not the women—at least at individual tournaments and in the postseason?
This discussion has been happening at the high school level as larger girls are looking are looking for opportunities to compete in college, but currently with little to no opportunity. And a sidebar, if you haven’t watched her wrestle, Michigan senior Eliana Bommarito who is ranked #1 in high school at 225 put on a dominant performance last summer at Fargo, and is pound-for-pound one of the best high school wrestlers in the country. It would be great to see her have an opportunity to perform at the next level.
4. Top college wrestlers are still top wrestlers.
Looking up and down the list, you see familiar names that have not been dethroned by the younger crop of wrestlers, as many upperclassmen made a statement at the MoVal that they are still the ones to beat—Peyton Prussin at 109 (also the OW); King’s Cheyenne Sisenstein at 123 along with her teammate Baker who made the finals; McKendree powerhouse Cameron Guerin at 130 and finalist Phoenix Dubose of King; King’s Ana Luciano who won it at 136 and finalist Jordan Suarez of Wayland Baptist University; OKC’s Destiny Lyng, the champ at 130 and runner-up Alexis Gomez of Grand View; McKendree teammates Alara Boyd and Kayla Marano who were 1st and 2nd at 155; and the champ at 170, North Central star Yelena Makoyed the champ along with McKendree finalist Joye Levendusky.
At 123, Sisenstein was on a mission, going 5-0, fall, fall, tech, fall. At 130, Guerin had three techs and two falls, pulverizing her way to the title. 155 Boyd was dominant, going fall, tech, tech, tech to the finals before putting away teammate Marano 7-0 in the finals. Marano had a dominant run herself, going fall, tech, fall, 9-0 decision in semi before hitting the brick wall of Boyd’s defense. Makoyed cruised to the finals after a tight opening round match with Bowman, then gaining a 10-0 tech fall as time expired in the finals over Levendusky, a #3 seed who’d outscored her opponents 40-2 en route to the matchup against Makoyed.
5. Texas Wesleyan is making moves in the NAIA.
Did you notice the top NAIA team at the MoVal? Not number #1 ranked Life, #2 ranked Campbellsville, #3 ranked Southern Oregon, or #4 ranked Grand View…it was #5 ranked Texas Wesleyan. That’s a HUGE jump. They didn’t have any champs, but quietly put together an outstanding tournament, with six in the top 5. Camille Fournier took 3rd at 116, the aforementioned freshman Devin Patton 5th at 123, Mea Mohler 4th at 130, Lexi Basham 3rd at 136, and the aforementioned Corbishley 3rd at 170 along with teammate Lekas finishing 5th.
Can they contend for an NAIA team title this March? Stay tuned, but they look strong.
6. The NCAA programs have more firepower than the NAIA.
One of the fun features of the MoVal is the multi-divisional nature of it, as top NCAA and NAIA teams both attend. Certainly there are matchups where the NAIA has an edge on the NCAA. Take 109 for example, where both finalists were NAIA (Prussin vs. Ray), but overall, the NCAA programs showed they currently stake claim to the top women, as five of eleven finals featured all-NCAA matchups (compared to three all-NAIA); the NCAA had eight champs vs. three from the NAIA; and the top three finishers in team race were NCAA programs (King, McKendree, North Central). Meanwhile, the #3, #4, and #5 NCAA teams weren’t there, while all top 5 NAIA teams were in Marshall.
That being said, it wasn’t a bad performance for the NAIA as they claimed every team spot from 4th place to 8th place and had plenty of big individual performances. And as an aside, if you watched the NAIA Nationals last year, it was not only great wrestling, it was much more fun to watch than the NCAA equivalent as the atmosphere and crowds were supercharged and the finals were produced in a very entertaining way. The NCAA had great wrestling, but a dull production, at least last year. The year before, the production of the finals were fantastic in Adrian, but that was pre-Covid.
Maybe an NCAA vs. NAIA all-star dual in the future? That’d be nice.
7. McKendree was missing some big names.
Returning back-to-back champs, the McKendree Bearcats, had a nice performance, though they clearly didn’t have their 2020 roster entered, including national champs Felicity Taylor, Brenda Reyna, Emma Bruntil, and Sydnee Kimber. If you missed it, Bruntil recently announced she’s in the transfer portal. It will be interesting to see who’s in the lineup at National Duals in January or at the NCAA Invite, the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships, in March. Could be an opportunity for King or another top 5 NCAA program to take out the juggernaut on the big stage of postseason. Don’t change that channel!
8. Everyone is excited to wrestle.
2020 was rough. These programs were excited to be back in Marshall!
9. The two-day format was a hit.
It was time. Nice move.
10. Fans want a live stream.
Women’s college fans wanted to see video, not just little red and blue cartoon guys on TrackWrestling. That’s all. It’s such a great tournament. Hopefully they can find a way to do that. Social media was abuzz with comments like, “I want to see it!” and “Is there a live stream?” Not this time.
It will be interesting to see how the Midlands tournament fares as a rival multi-division event. This year will be the first time they have a women’s division. But for now, the MoVal is still queen. What a weekend in Marshall!