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World teams. She is the lone OCU wrestler with a No. 1 ranking in the pre- season, and has become a true leader on the squad.
OCU has numerous top challengers who could push through to the WCWA finals. Returning All-Americans Shelby Morrison at 116, Carla Ponce at 130, Heiley Garcia at 143 and Yvonne Galindo at 155 should rack up big points in the major tournaments. Incoming freshmen Marizza Birrueta at 116 and Becka Leathers at 130 were on the 2015 UWW Junior World Team, with Leathers winning a bronze medal. Another freshman with high expectations is Monica Mason at 191. Veterans Rachel Archer at 123 and Rachel Young at 136 are also wrestling well in the early season. “You always look to have balance among the teams. Right now, it could be anybody’s tournament. Anybody could win the National Duals. Anybody could win the nationals. It is how wrestling should be. There are as many as six or more teams that could win it. It will be an interesting year and a great national tour- nament. We don’t have a 101 pounder yet, until second semester. We are beat- ing some teams with just nine wrestlers. It will be a real battle at the end of the year,” said Randall. Simon Fraser, the WCWA champions in 2013, is located in Canada, but has a strong lineup mixed with both Canadian and American wrestlers. Mike Jones’ Clan have four 2015 All-Americans who received No. 2 preseason rankings in their weight clases, Darby Huckle at 101, Abby Lloyd at 109, Jennifer Anderson at 123 and Payten Smith at 191. Two other returning All-Americans are also expected to do well, Francesca Giorgio at 130 and Monica Podgoski at 155. Mallory Velte, who missed the col- lege 2015 season with injury, placed fifth for the USA at the UWW Junior Worlds and should be a title contender at 136 this year. The team features a pair of past Junior National champion freshmen from California, Dominique Parrish at 123 and Kendall Reusing at 170, plus an impres- sive Canadian freshman in Nicole Depa at 130. Some of the wrestlers may wres- tle up a weight during the season, but Jones expects them to be down to weight and ready when nationals are held. “We are young. We have two seniors and the rest are underclassmen. Some of them can be very good. We look forward to seeing how much they will improve. They have us ranked about fifth or sixth, and that is fair. We want to beat people, for sure. We won’t be in the race for first
or second, but for third through sixth, we will challenge,” said Jones
Jones, whose teams have placed in the top four at all of the WCWA Nationals that they have entered, agrees that the WCWA Nationals continues to grow and improve. “What’s exciting about it is that it used to be Oklahoma City, King and us and everybody else was hoping to be the fourth team. Now with Lindenwood, Campbellsville, McKendree and the Cumberlands coming on, it will be very competitive. Some of the other teams are individually good. That will make a big dif- ference. Every year, we add three or four new teams. It’s not growing as fast as I’d like it to, but it is steady. And I am happy about that,” said Jones. This year, there are other legitimate contenders beyond OCU, Simon Fraser, King and Campbellsville. The lineups for Lindenwood, the University of the Cumberlands and McKendree are also well stocked, all who could put together a strong run at the national tournament. Toccara Montgomery’s Lindenwood Lions are a consistently tough team, which has its share of All-Americans eligi- ble to return including WCWA champion Victoria Francis at 170 and WCWA run- ner-up Diaysha Moore at 116. Other returning All-Americans include Monica Ramirez at 136, Liza Gonzalez at 155 and Gabriela Guzman at 191. One of the teams which have started strong this season is the University of the Cumberlands, coached by Donnie
Stephens. Returning All-Americans include Sarah Allen at 101, Kristin Yamasaki at 136 and Clarc Walker at 170. Two standout freshmen who could make an impact are Maya Nelson at 130 and Jessika Rottier at 155. A team which brings back a ton of tal- ent is McKendree, under coach Sam Schmitz. Starting the season with No. 2 rankings are returning All-Americans Alexis Porter at 143 and Ashley Miles at 170. Also claiming All-American honors were Cassy Herkelman at 143, Taylor Rezuris at 101and Jasmine Bailey at 136. The WCWA has continued to grow, with 27 teams on the women’s college scene. The new teams on the circuit this year are Adrian College, an NCAA Div. III school in Michigan, Ferrum College, an NCAA Div. III school in Virginia, Emmanuel College, an NCAA Div. II school in Georgia and Southern Oregon University, an NAIA school in Oregon. With the growth of women’s college wrestling, earning WCWA All-American honors becomes even more difficult with additional teams and larger brackets at the national tournament. Women’s college national tournaments have been held since 2004 and only five teams have won national team titles: Oklahoma City University (4), University of the Cumberlands (3), Missouri Valley College (2), King University (2) and Simon Fraser University (1). Will one of these standard bearers rule the kingdom in 2016, or will a new pro- gram become national champions?
2015 Junior World bronze medalist Becka Leathers of Oklahoma City is among the talented freshmen in the WCWA. UWW photo by Martin Gabor.
13 USA Wrestler
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