Takedown Report

TOM’s 2019 Women’s Collegiate Recruiting Class Rankings

It’s recruiting rankings season and what better way to start off TOM’s recruiting rankings by posting the Women’s Collegiate Recruiting rankings, the first of their kind. The high school Class of 2018 took the WCWA and women’s college wrestling by storm producing three true freshman national champions at the WCWA nationals, along with three more finalists. Will the Class of 2019, be able to live up to the lofty expectations laid out by their predecessors? Only time will tell, but this year’s recruiting class has some women that have earned world medals and countless national honors and seem bound for success at the next level. Here are the top ten recruiting classes by TOM for the Class of 2019. 

The numbers next to each wrestlers name refer to their ranking within the Top 100 wrestlers in the Class of 2019.For full/current recruiting lists for each school check out TOM’s Women’s Collegiate Commitment Page. 
10) Emmanuel
Top Recruits: #56 Niya Gaines – Bear Creek, CA (130 lbs); #90 Cristina Santoyo – Monroe, CA (191 lbs); #92 Bianca Rosales – Timber Creek, TX (191 lbs)
One of the title favorites coming into the 2019 WCWA National Championship was Emmanuel. The fourth-year program was able to finish in the top four nationally and crowned an individual national champion for the second consecutive season. Four national finalists are among the returners for Lions in 2019-20. While the recruiting Class of 2019 doesn’t appear to have any superstars that are going to impact the Emmanuel lineup immediately, there are some very intriguing prospects for Hall of Famer Kristie Davis and Link Davis to work with. Gaines is a two-time California state placer who was third last July in Fargo at the Junior tournament. Santoyo is a two-time California runner-up, who was also third in Fargo last year. Rosales won a Texas state title this year, after coming up short in the finals as a Junior. 
9) North Central
Top Recruits: #24 Yelena Makoyed – Bella Vista, CA (170 lbs); NR Asia Nguyen-Smith – West Chicago, IL (123 lbs); NR Malea Palahniuk – Thurston, OR (143 lbs)
Though they have yet to wrestle a single match, North Central ends up in the top ten with their first recruiting class. Recent signee Yelena Makoyed, a top-25 recruit, is the superstar of the group. She is a two-time California state finalist and won the championship during her senior season. Just to make it to the state finals, Yelena needed to knock off a multiple-time California state champion and All-American Jerzie Estrada. Makoyed dominated the field at the West Coast Tournament of Champions and was third at Folkstyle Nationals in 2018. Nguyen-Smith almost made the top 100 based off of a strong showing at the National Duals last season. Asia recently took home a title at the state freestyle meet. Palahniuk was a multiple-time Oregon state champion, although she was not able to add another in 2019. All in all, North Central should have a strong nucleus to build off of in their initial season and will most likely ascend up the women’s collegiate rankings sooner rather than later.
8) Southern Oregon
Top Recruits: #74 Kyleigh Lopez – North Medford, Oregon (116 lbs); #80 Marissa Kurtz – Sweet Home, OR (116 lbs); #87 Nora Ochoa – Reed, NV (116 lbs)
Southern Oregon is a team that you may not have expected to see in the rankings, but the numbers speak for themselves with three top-100 recruits on board, two of which are in-state products. Lopez was a four-time Oregon state champion, though this was the first year girls wrestling was officially recognized by the OSAA. Kurtz is a three-time state champion. Neither Lopez nor Kurtz has the national level credentials that other top recruits may possess, so they are not quite as widely known commodities. Last summer in Junior Freestyle at Fargo, Ochoa turned in a respectable performance, winning four matches, yet missing out on the podium. During the high school season, Nora earned a title at the West Coast Tournament of Champions in a field that was littered with talented competition from California.  Rest of the list and story at
https://news.theopenmat.com/womens-wrestling/toms-2019-women-collegiate-recruiting-class-rankings/72984

May 7, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized