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WOMEN’S COLLEGE PREVIEW


Plenty of top wrestlers hitting mats this season


Oklahoma City, King expected to battle for top spot this season By Gary Abbott


The big news going into the 2012-13


WCWA women’s college wrestling sea- son is that four-time defending champion Oklahoma City did not enter the season with the top team ranking, with improving King College (Tenn.) earning the presea- son No. 1 ranking.


The other big news is the growth of the


WCWA to 20 programs going into the year, an impressive increase which shows that women’s college wrestling continues to expand.


King College, under coach Jason Moorman, placed second behind Oklahoma City at the 2011 WCWA Nationals. King will host the WCWA Nationals on January 26, 2013, the sec- ond straight year the event has been held on their campus.


The preseason rankings did not stop Oklahoma City from defeating King in their first head-to-head battle of the new season, when OCU won seven of 10 bouts to throttle King, 26-10, in the finals at the Cliff Keen Oklahoma City Duals on October 20. This is the kind of back and forth battle that will be expected all year between these talented teams. The King College team has two individ- uals with No. 1 preseaon rankings, two with No. 2 rankings and five wrestlers with No. 3 rankings going into the sea- son. It is this depth which gave King the pre-season edge on paper. Leading the Tornado are No. 1 ranked


Krista Revelle (136), a returning WCWA champion and Sara Hildebrandt (123), who was a WCWA runner-up. Two-time Junior World bronze medalist Ali Ragan (143) opened with a No. 2 ranking, as did returning WCWA champion Emily Martin (109).


Past U.S. Open runner-up Amanda Hendey (136) is expected to be eligible


32 USA Wrestler


Simon Fraser’s Victoria Anthony has won a pair of Junior World titles and has also excelled on the Senior level in women’s freestyle. Larry Slater photo.


for King College by January. The King lineup is experienced and balanced, a product of a few good years of recruiting by Moorman. Under coach Archie Randall, Oklahoma City feels very good about its team, with two No. 1 ranked wrestlers, three No. 2 ranked wrestlers and a No. 3 ranked wrestler in the preseason. The No. 1 ranked stars are returning WCWA nation- al champions Emily Webster (101) and Joey Miller (116). Starting off at No. 2 for the Stars were Audrey Morehouse (130), Stephanie Geltmacher (136) and Brittney Roberts (155). Morehouse and Geltmacher were WCWA runners-up last year and Roberts placed third. The OCU athlete ranked No.


3 was Kristi Garr (109), another WCWA runner-up last season. In OCU’s win over King at the Cliff Keen OCU Duals, Roberts had a big win over King’s Julia Salata at 155 pounds. Roberts and Salata have gone back and forth in many past battles, both within the college season and also at major USA Wrestling events. Salata made U.S. FILA Junior and University World Teams this past year. King did not have Ragan in the lineup for this dual, but OCU won all of the key swing matches. “There were quite a few pivotal match- es in the dual itself. At 155, Brittney Roberts defeated Julia Salata, who was like her old nemesis, whom she pretty


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