OKLAHOMA CITY – The Wayland Baptist women's wrestling team opened its season here Thursday night as the fifth-ranked Pioneers took on second-ranked Oklahoma City University. The Stars won eight of the 10 matches to prevail, 37-9.
Wayland gave OCU a tougher time in 11 exhibition bouts as the Pioneers won four of those.
First-year head wrestling coach
Aaron Meister came away "pleasantly surprised with the effort" from his team.
"We faced a very good team and they went out there and wrestled very courageously," Meister said of his squad.
Claiming victories for Wayland were
Tarkyia Mensah in the 130-pound weight class and freshman
Rhina Lopez in the 155-pound division. Mensah, the junior from Katy ranked fifth by WCWA in 123s, took a 9-3 decision over OCU's Carla Ponce, while Lopez prevailed by injury default over Stars senior Bemi Strub, who is ranked second.
Meister said Mensah was able to get rid of a few demons against Lopez, a rival who's defeated her couple of times before Mensah came away victorious on Thursday.
"Tarkyia was able to overcome that mental block," he said. "She's stepping up and taking a leadership role on the team."
Two of the top matches pitting ranked opponents were Wayland's
Vanessa Smith, ranked third in 101s, being pinned by top-ranked Emily Webster, and WBU's
Michele Guerrero, ranked seventh in 109s, being pinned by top-ranked Cody Pfau.
Meister said Smith had an early lead against Webster, a three-time undefeated national champion.
"Vanessa got out to a five-point lead but just ran out of gas. People rarely score on her and we're up 5-0. It was tied 9-9 before we got pinned. For Vanessa's first match of the year that's pretty good because it's against the top girl."
Meister said the rest of his team wrestled well, but "we need to get more matches."
In exhibitions, claiming wins for Wayland were freshman
Daysha Woods, by technical fall (10-0) in 101s; freshman
Tamara Tillman, by 4-0 decision in 123s; junior All-American
Valerie Rosales, ranked fourth in 155s, by technical fall (10-0); and freshman
Daysha Woods, by technical fall (10-0) in 101s. Rosales is redshirting this season while Tillman is redshirting this semester.
Three of Wayland's ranked wrestlers – defending national champion and top-ranked (143s)
Tamyra Mensah, who is redshirting; sixth-ranked
Nina Wyre in 170s; and fourth-ranked
Kierra Boyce in 191s – did not wrestle. Boyce is scheduled to wrestle Oct. 22 when Wayland hosts sixth-ranked Simon Fraser (B.C.) at 7 p.m. in the Laney Center.
Wayland also was without sophomore
Mayra Franco, who is injured but is expected to be cleared next month.
While it was Wayland's first competition of the season, it was the eighth dual for OCU, which improved to 7-1. The Stars were coming off a 32-13 loss to top-ranked King University (Tenn.).
"I'm confident in the direction we're heading and think we'll continue to get stronger," Meister said. "It's not how we start, but how we finish."
OKLAHOMA CITY 37, WAYLAND BAPTIST 9
101: Emily Webster, OCU, pinned
Vanessa Smith, WBU, 5:00 (OCU leads 5-0)
109: Cody Pfau, OCU, pinned
Michele Guerrero, WBU, 0:40 (OCU leads 10-0)
116: Shelby Morrison, OCU, tech. fall
Lauryn Bruggink, WBU, 10-0 (OCU leads 14-0)
123: Rachel Archer, OCU, tech. fall
Rizpah Umi, WBU, 10-0 (OCU leads 18-0)
130: Tarkyia Mensah, WBU, dec. Carla Ponce, OCU, 9-3 (OCU leads 19-3)
136: Rachel Young, OCU, tech. fall
Kelsey Baker, WBU, 12-2 (OCU leads 23-4)
143: Kayla Aggio, OCU, pinned
Rachel Bates, WBU, 1:11 (OCU leads 28-4)
155: Rhina Lopez, WBU, inj. def. Bemi Strub, (OCU leads 28-9)
170: Sherese Thomas, OCU, tech. fall
Nahiela Magee, WBU, 10-0 (OCU leads 32-9)
191: Heather O'Connor, OCU, by forfeit (OCU wins 37-9)
EXHIBITIONS155: Heiley Garcia, OCU pinned
Cheyenne Rightmire 0:36
101: Daysha Woods, WBU, tech. fall Harley Ibarra, 10-0
116: Cassidy Jasperson, OCU, pinned Kristin Navarette, 2:23
123: Tamara Tillman, WBU dec. Tanalei Louis, 4-0
130: Margaret Douma, OCU, dec.
Jordan Smith, 10-5
155: Valerie Rosales, WBU tech fall Yvonne Galindo 10-0
170: Kayla Aggio,OCU pinned
Nakaela Lewis 0:40
101: Daysha Woods, WBU, tech. fall Stephanie Martinez, 10-0
116: Esthefania Jimenez, OCU tech. fall Kristin Navarette, 10-0
123: Tanalei Louis, OCU tech. fall
De'Anna Prince, 10-0
155: Heiley Garcia, OCU tech. fall
Valerie Rosales, 10-0
