WCWA WOMEN’S COLLEGE WRESTLING King goes for three-peat by Gary Abbott
The King University women’s wrestling team has been on a roll, winning the last two WCWA Women’s College National titles, led by an experienced and talented lineup including a number of top Olympic hopefuls.
Winning No. 3 in a row will not be an
easy task for Jason Moorman’s Tornado team, which has to reload this season. All four of the 2015 WCWA champions will be gone, with three graduated, while two- time WCWA champion Haley Augello (116) is taking an Olympic redshirt. The 2016 WCWA Nationals will be held Feb. 12-13 at Oklahoma City University The King team will need to lean on three runners-up from last year to serve as team leaders, Marina Doi at 101, Hanna Grisewood at 123 and Jessi Kee at 130, all who could be champions this year. Kee is moving up to 135. “Marina is looking really sharp. She didn’t have the summer she wanted, so she is real hungry right now. Jessi is look- ing real good at her new weight. Hanna is a grinder. They are all working so hard and they are doing things right. You have to earn it and they are capable of doing that,” said Moorman.
Another hammer in the lineup is Forrest Molinari at 143, who was fourth last year. Doi and Molinari were members of the 2015 U.S. UWW Junior World Team, and received important internation- al experience this summer. Two-time All- American Breonnah Neal returns at 109 and All-American Jackie Williams is at 191. Coming off a redshirt is talented Samantha Klingel at 116, who was an All- American in 2013. Moorman is impressed by freshmen Hanna Jewell at 130 and Ricki Liang at 116. He is also pleased with the progress from Rachel Hale at 130.
Like many of the coaches in the
WCWA this year, Moorman is having trou- ble predicting the outcome this year. “Everyone is kind of young. It will come down to good coaching and getting the athletes to peak at the right time. There will be a lot of interest at the national tournament. Each team has talented girls at different weight classes. We may not know who will win it until the finals. Hopefully, it is not like that and we have won it by then,” said Moorman.
12 USA Wrestler
WCWA champion Kayla Miracle hopes to lead Campbellsville to its first national team title. Photo courtesy of Campbellsville Athletics.
In the WCWA preseason rankings, it was Campbellsville, a third-year program, which held the No. 1 ranking. Last year, a balanced team attack with clutch wrestling, pulled Lee Miracle’s Tigers into a second place finish at the WCWA Nationals.
The team is led by returning WCWA national champion Kayla Miracle, who moved up to 136 for the nationals to help the team and won the gold medal as a freshman. Miracle has won World medals on the UWW Cadet and Junior levels, and is a challenger on the Senior level already. She missed some of the early events this year with injury, and they cur- rently are considering an Olympic redshirt year.
The team boasts another 2015 WCWA national champion, Tiara Scott at 191, who won her title as a sophomore and was a leader on the team. The team’s depth comes from returning WCWA run- ner-up Hanna Hall at 155, and All- Americans Rosemary Flores at 130, Hannah Gladden at 143, Kait Fitzpatrick at 113, Michelle Organ at 155 and Lyon transfer Jesse Grubbs at 170. The team
also has talented freshmen Koral Sugiyama at 130, Ruby Ariosa at 101 and Lexi Escamilla at 109, all making an impact in the lineup.
“It was great to be ranked No. 1. It’s just an indication of the potential of the team. We have a long way to go to prove it at the end of the season. We didn’t lose anybody from last year’s team. This will be the first year we have any upperclass- men. Last year, we made some moves at nationals to score more points. If I see that opportunity this year, we will do it. This year, we are seeing some parity. There are enough good programs with good coaches that the blue chippers aren’t all going to the same place. There are seven programs that mathematically could win the WCWA,” said Miracle. Oklahoma City, which won four straight
WCWA titles between 2009-2012, has remained a top challenger in the years since, and is hungry to reclaim the top spot under head coach Archie Randall. The Stars are led by 2015 WCWA champion Cody Pfau at 109, a senior who has made three straight U.S. Junior
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