JAMESTOWN, N.D. – Three Midland University women’s wrestlers earned championships at the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Women’s Wrestling Championships on Saturday. As a team, the Warriors earned second-place behind conference champion, University of Jamestown.
In addition to the three individual champions, Midland had three runners-up and three third-place finishers.
Esther Walker on the 101-pound division after going 2-0. In the round-robin format, she opened with a 33-second pin of Ella Whitaker (York) and then won a 12-0 tech fall over Kylie Martin (York).
At 109-pounds, Salem Scobee finished fifth. She dropped both of her bouts, a 14-4 tech fall to Alessia Cokeley (Ottawa) and a 1:34 fall to Claire Payne (York)
Serenity Durham Goree reached the championship match by way of a second-round pin of Emily Ferguson (York). In the final round, she lost a 12-5 decision to rival Josie Bartishofski (Jamestown). This was the third meeting between the two wrestlers with each having a victory over the other coming in.
In the 123-pound division, Midland had a pair of wrestlers in Prethy Enriquez and Avery Thomason. The pair would work their way to an eventual meeting in the third-place match.
Enriquez opened with a tough 6-5 win by decision over Katy Figerou (York). She then was dispatched to the consolation bracket after a 10-0 tech fall loss to Arianna Marrufo (Jamestown) in the semifinal round.
After an opening-round bye, Thomas fell to Samantha Weeks (Jamestown) in the semifinals. She then bested Figuerou (York) by a 14-8 decision.
In the third-place bout, it was Enriquez getting the better of her teammate Thomason, winning the 8-1 decision.
Midland had a pair of grapplers in the 136-pound bracket as well with Tayler Hayase and Ashlee Palimo’o competing in the field of seven wrestlers.
In the top half of the bracket, Hayase opened with a 2:01 pin of Amy Fuller (Hastings) but then fell to eventual champion, Luisita Jara (Jamestown) by fall (2:45).
On the other side, Palimo’o dropped a 10-0 tech fall to Lyric Gonsalves (Ottawa). That set her up for a 4-2 decision over Kami Fiordalis (York) which led to a meeting with Hayase in the consolation semis.
In the battle of Warriors, Hayase came away with the victory, a 10-0 tech fall over Palimo’o. She would follow that up with a 1:01 pin of Remy Vargas (Jamestown) in the third-place bout.
Palimo’o suffered a third loss on the day in the fifth-place bout. She fell to Amy Fuller (Hastings) in 3:55.
At 143-pounds, Midland once again had a pair of wrestlers vying for the crown as Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp and Samantha Segura-Veliz were two of five wrestlers in the field.
Segura-Veliz opened with a 48-second pin of Brittani Burgess (Ottawa) to set up a meeting of Midland wrestlers in the semifinal round. Top-seeded and No.1-ranked Estrella-Beauchamp won a 10-0 tech fall over Segura-Veliz to advance to the title bout.
In the championship, she made quick work of Cameryn Hulbert (York). She pinned her counterpart in 48 seconds. It was her seventh win by fall this season as she remains unbeaten at 10-0.
Segura-Veliz would bounce back with a 1:31 pin of Kimberly Pollak (Hastings) to secure third-place.
At 155-pounds, the Warriors had the top-seed again with Mahealani Lewis. She made her way to the finals with a 1:40 pin of Joycelyn Katcheak (Jamestown) after an opening-round bye. In the title bout against Bella Mitchell (York), she won a 7-7 decision by tiebreaker criteria. Her 4-point takedown in the second period bested Mitchell’s trio of two-point moves.
Jasmine Ballesteros earned a runner-up placing at 170-pounds as she went 1-1 in the round-robin competition. She won an 11-1 tech fall over Mandy Camacho (Jamestown) but fell to Sierra Talmadge (Jamestown) by a 10-0 tech fall.
At 191-pounds, Serena Sanchez also placed second. She pinned Jythssel Mascorro (Ottawa) in 1:57 before losing a 10-0 tech fall to champion Kelly Lacost (Jamestown).
The Warriors will now rest up and train the next two weeks before a return trip to Jamestown for the NAIA Women’s Wrestling National Invitational on March 12-13.
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