DES MOINES, Iowa – The Wayland Baptist women's wrestling team didn't have the best day Sunday, but they still took home some hardware in what is shaping up to be the best season in the program's four-year history. The No. 4 Pioneers fell to No. 1 King College (Tenn.), 36-7, in the semifinals Sunday morning, before falling to No. 3 Oklahoma City, 36-8, in the third-place dual later that afternoon.
"All three of them (King, Simon Fraser and Oklahoma City) are just excellent teams that have been at it a long time," head coach
Johnny Cobb said of the top-three finishing schools. "Only the top-12 teams are invited, so for us to be invited to compete and then come in fourth is pretty good."
The Pioneers finished sixth last year in their first trip to the NWCA National Duals, but after earning a first-round bye this season, WBU defeated No. 5 Lindenwood on Saturday, guaranteeing the Pioneers to finish no lower than fourth.
In the semifinals,
Vanessa Smith got the Pioneers started off in a big way by picking up a technical fall, a four-point win, over King's Ashley Iliff, the sixth-ranked women's wrestler in that weight class.
King responded, however, and used four technical falls and a pin over the next five matches to take a commanding 21-4 lead.
Tamyra Mensah broke the Tornado's streak with a 10-4 decision over Amanda Hendey. Mensah's win would be the last for the Pioneers, as King went on to win, 36-7.
The loss put Wayland in the third-place bout against No. 3 Oklahoma City, a team the Pioneers have faced twice already this season.
Smith once again led the Pioneers off, but this time she faced back-to-back defending national champion Emily Webster. Webster has gone undefeated over the past two seasons and had yet to surrender a point in her 2013-14 senior campaign, until she met Smith, WBU's standout freshman.
"Vanessa was really outstanding today, facing the defending national champion who's gone undefeated over the past two years," Cobb said of Smith. "It was a really impressive performance. She was up late in the match, but she lost the take down in a controversial situation and came within an eyelash of winning."
After a hard-fought battle, Smith surrendered to Webster, 14-12, giving the Stars a 3-0 advantage.
OCU took the next four matches as well before
Samantha Villegas stopped the bleeding and garnered a 12-2 technical fall over Beatrize Martinez in the 136s.
Mensah followed up her teammate with a dominating performance of her own, defeating two-time national runner-up Stephanie Geltmacher, 10-0.
The Stars took the three remaining matches, however, going on to win, 36-8.
Despite the two losses on Sunday from his women's team and an early exit from his men's team on Saturday, Cobb was very pleased with what he saw from his athletes.
"On the women's side I think we really closed the gap (on King, Simon Fraser and OCU)," he said. "The scores from today don't quite indicate how well we actually did in some of those matches. We had some good performances but just got caught and got pinned.
"We'll work really hard and finish up the girl's season and we're looking forward to the challenge when we go to the WCWA National Tournament in St. Louis on Jan. 31.
"I don't think the team score was indicative as to how the men did either. We had a lot of our wrestlers out which makes it very difficult when you're competing at this level, but the kids really fought hard and there was no quit in them and that's all you can ask for."
The Pioneer women will next compete in the WCWA National Tournament on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in St. Louis, while the men will face off against Northwest Technical College at Tascosa High School in Amarillo on Saturday before hosting New Mexico Highlands on Feb. 4.
Before the dual against NW Tech, the Pioneers will make a special presentation to the Wounded Warrior Project in which three wounded warriors will be present. In its third annual Wounded Warrior Run, Wayland raised more than $2,500, which tripled last year's donation.
King College 36, Wayland Baptist 7
101 –
Vanessa Smith technical fall, 11-1, over Ashley Iliff, 0-4
109 – Samantha Klingel technical fall, 10-0, over Michelle Guerrero, 4-4
116 – Haley Augello technical fall, 10-0, over
Lauryn Bruggink, 8-4
123 – Sarah Hildebrandt technical fall, 10-0, over
Dineesha Jones, 12-4
130 – Megan Black pin, 2:37, over Tarkya Mensah, 17-4
136 –Alli Ragan technical fall, 10-0, over
Samantha Villegas, 21-4
143 –
Tamyra Mensah decision, 10-4, over Amanda Hendey, 21-7
155 – Julia Salata technical fall, 10-0 over Valarie Rosales, 25-7
170 – Lorrie-Ann Ramos technical fall, 11-0, over
Brenda Mendoza, 29-7
191 – Malexis McAdoo pin, 2:03, over Kiera Boyce, 36-7
Oklahoma City 36, Wayland Baptist 8
101 – Emily Webster decision, 14-12, over
Vanessa Smith, 3-0
109 – Kristi Garr technical fall, 10-0, over Michelle Guerrero, 7-0
116 – Cody Pfau pin, 0:46, over
Lauryn Bruggink, 12-0
123 – Brieana Delgado pin, 2:09, over
Dineesha Jones, 17-0
130 – Rachel McFarland pin, 4:07, over
Tarkyia Mensah, 22-0
136 –
Samantha Villegas technical fall, 12-2, over Beatrize Martinez, 25-4
143 –
Tamyra Mensah technical fall, 10-0, over Stephanie Geltmacher, 25-8
155 – Demi Strub pin, 2:18, over Valarie Rosales, 27-8
170 – Sherese Thomas decision, 8-0, over
Brenda Mendoza, 30-8
191 – Heather O'Conner pin, 1:51, over Kiera Boyce, 36-8
