Takedown Report

College Women’s Wrestling News

Emily Shilson to Transfer to McKendree

Big transfer news today on the women’s collegiate front as four-time undefeated collegiate national champion, Emily Shilson, will be transferring from Augsburg to McKendree. Shilson made her news public via her Instagram account today.

Shilson has won the last three NCWWC national titles at 109 lbs while competing at Augsburg; however, she did not compete for Auggies during the 2022-23 campaign. Early indications are that Shilson will be able to wrestle immediately in 2023 for McKendree. Her only collegiate action this year came at the All-Star Classic when Shilson wrestled unattached and took on Life University’s Peyton Prussin. Although Prussin took an early lead, Shilson rallied back for an 8-4 victory.

Shilson’s addition will provide a boost to the three-time defending NCWWC national champion Bearcats. Recently, at the National Duals, McKendree finished third after losing to King in the semifinals. … rest of story at Intermatwrestle.com/articles/26435

Women’s Weekly: Can McKendree Compete With Iowa?

McKendree will challenge King and North Central at this year’s national championships, but can the Bearcats take down the Hawkeyes next season?

Don’t count out the reigning three-time national collegiate champions just yet. 

McKendree’s rookie head coach Alexio Garcia is designing a team that can compete for a fourth straight title after a rocky start to the season. The team is currently 6-4 after finishing third at the NWCA Multidivisional National Duals, but much has changed in the past two weeks. 

The Bearcats are the only team to hoist a championship trophy over their heads since the inception of the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCAA programs) in 2020. It seemed inevitable that the streak would end after several top wrestlers transferred to different schools once Sam Schmitz — the architect of the program — left for Central Methodist. 

Now, it’s a three-team race between North Central, King, and McKendree. 

It’s not like the cupboard was completely bare when Garcia arrived in Lebanon, Illinois. He inherited four national champions — Pauline Granados, Cam Guerin, Alara Boyd, and Sydnee Kimber — to build around. Two-time All-Americans Lizzette Rodriguez and Payton Stroud were also in the line-up, which gave McKendree a fighting chance.  

However, the Bearcats had holes — and Garcia went on a recruiting frenzy to fill them. 

None was bigger than Emily Shilson. … rest of story at Flowrestling.org/articles/10416604-womens-weekly-can-mckendree-compete-with-iowa

Bakersfield College unveils new women’s wrestling team at spring media day

When Andrea Prise stopped by Marcos Austin’s Bakersfield College wrestling team, she was just hoping to recruit some men interested in expanding their horizons by wrestling steers for her fledgling rodeo club. Instead, her visit led to a conversation with Athletic Director Reggie Bolton about BC’s upcoming addition of women’s wrestling as a varsity sport. “He said, ‘Well, are you interested in coaching?’” Prise recalled. “I was like, ‘Well, heck yeah!’”

And so Prise, already an adjunct in agriculture and the founding coach of the rodeo club, now finds herself at the forefront of another new venture. She was joined by wrestlers Galilea Chavez (East) and Chloe Espericueta (Shafter) in the Gil Bishop Sports Center for BC’s media day Friday, the public debut for the new team, which will be on the mat this spring.

“I was just waiting for something to happen,” Chavez said, “for a women’s team, hoping (for it) to open up, and it happened, which I’m very excited about.” Women have trained with the men’s team before — Espericueta, a sophomore, was listed on the wrestling roster each of the past two years, and Chavez, a freshman, won a round robin at the Meathead Movers Tournament in October — but this is the first time they’ll have the chance to compete on their own terms for any extended stretch.

“I think for any first program, we just want to build a strong foundation,” Prise said. “We want to have our fundamentals solid so that from here we can just keep building and building.”

She added that Austin’s team provides a good foundation in and of itself. “I’m gonna keep saying it all semester: I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, I just want to keep going on his program because it’s been successful,” Prise said.

The team’s inaugural season will also be the first for the California Community College Athletic Association as a whole. For now, BC only has wrestlers for six of the 10 weight classes. But Prise, who has refereed wrestling locally and competed herself in high school, hopes that the program will encourage more women to stay local in the future. Her own sister, she said, had to travel to Oregon just to play the sport. … rest of story at NWCAonline.com/bakersfield-college-unveils-new-womens-wrestling-team-at-spring-media-day

January 31, 2023 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized