Takedown Report

This Week in Women’s Collegiate Wrestling (11/5/2024)

Top 4 Takeaways

1. Open Tournaments create exciting multi-division matchups
The collegiate women’s wrestling season started off with a slew of open tournaments where these athletes got some immediate competition both inside and outside their own conferences. Some tournaments included were the Luther Hill Open, Pointer Open, Maverick Open, Trojan Open, Tiffin Open, and SFU Open on Saturday, followed by the East Stroudsburg Open, Princeton Open, Menlo Open, and McMaster Open on Sunday. With so many tournaments for schools to choose from, we did not see some of the matchups we will see at later tournaments in the season where they almost act as a post-season preview, but there was still some awesome action nonetheless. 
#6 Campbellsville showed out at the Tiffin Open with 4 first-place finishes and 5 finishing in second. The competition included wrestlers from host school Tiffin University, (#7) Indiana Tech, and Adrian College among others.
Fans saw former King wrestler and 2x All-American (#5) Tiffani Baublitz make her East Stroudsburg debut by dominating the competition at her new school’s Open. After two pins in under 2 minutes in her first matchups, she won a close 4-1 decision against Olivia Pizano of Lehigh and a 12-1 tech fall in her semis match against (#6) Skylah Chakouian of Elmira. In the finals, Baublitz put a stamp on the day with a pin just past the 2-minute mark against Emily Sindoni also from Elmira.
Southern Oregon’s top competitors showed their impact at the Menlo Open with returning 3x NAIA champion (#1) Carolina Moreno secured first place at 131 pounds with 3 tech falls. Teammate (#3) Emma Baerlein also won in dominant fashion with 2 pins followed by a 9-4 decision against returning All-American Kayla McKinley-Johnson.
Iowa started their second season off with a bang at the Luther Hill Open with 6 title wins, including 3 weights with Iowa vs Iowa finals. Both Naomi Simon at 180 lbs and Kennedy Blades at 160 pounds made their Iowa wrestling debut at this tournament and both walked away with championship titles. Simon racked up 3 consecutive pins followed by a tech fall in the finals over LIndenwood’s Alana Duggan. Kennedy Blades had a predictably dominant showing as well with a 40-second pin and two tech falls to get her to the finals where she took down teammate Rose Cassipoppi with a 10-0 tech fall victory. 
The Luther Hill Open also saw one of the most exciting matchups between NAIA #1 Kelani Corbett of Missouri Valley vs NCAA #1 Jaycee Foeller of Iowa. Corbett had a narrow lead of 2-1 heading into the second period, but a 4-point move with just under a minute left secured her the 6-3 victory. It is always awesome to see top competition from NAIA and NCAA come together at tournaments to demonstrate the top talent in both conferences at programs across the country. 

2. College stars shine at Senior Worlds
Iowa wrestlers Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker both left Senior World Championships in Albania with some hardware after Bronze medal finishes at 65kg and 72kg respectively. Kilty’s bronze match was an electrifying come-from-behind win where Kilty scored 16 uncontested points after being down 5-0 early for the tech fall win. Welker’s 5-2 bronze win is a bit deceptive … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/women/this-week-in-womens-collegiate-wrestling-1152024-r99697/

November 10, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | news, sports, wrestling