Before a ceremony to honor former Pioneer and hopeful Olympian
Tamyra Mensah-Stock, the Wayland Baptist men's and women's wrestling teams hosted Texas Wesleyan on Saturday morning at the Laney Center.
While the WBU men came up just short, falling to the Rams, 27-20, the sixth-ranked Pioneer women doubled up the visitors from Fort Worth and recorded a convincing 26-13 victory.
The women's dual was tied after the first four matches that started with a tough 8-6 loss by Wayland's
Katerina Pena to Wesleyan's Ashley Molina, ranked 20
th at 170, at 191. Pena had a late lead, Wayland coach
Aaron Meister said, "but she got a little too aggressive. (Molina) countered us and we lost a match we could have won."
Wayland came back with an entertaining 21-18 victory by 13
th-ranked
Caryssa Aguirre over No. 17 Madison Brown at 101 and an 11-0 tech fall triumph by top-ranked
Nina Pham at 109.
"Caryssa was really aggressive and dominating on her feet. We made some adjustments and she was able to separate and finish off with a win," Wayland coach
Aaron Meister said. He said Pham was able to work on several new techniques in her easy win.
At 123, Wayland's 17
th-ranked
Jasmine Davis carded an impressive 10-0 tech fall win over 19
th-ranked Alexis Saldivar.
"I was real proud of Jasmine," Meister said. "She's really been working hard and spending time after practice on some things. Today's win should give her a lot more confidence moving forward."
After taking a forfeit at 130, Wayland trailed the Rams, 13-12. But the Pioneers closed out the match with another 10-0 tech fall win by top-ranked
Desiree Zavala over No. 19 Elizabeth Harris at 136 then, after a double-forfeit at 143, a forfeit win for
Vanessa Ceja at 155.
In the men's competition, the Pioneers held a 14-6 lead after
Hunter McCarty took a dual-opening 10-2 major decision at 184,
Brandon Bennett benefited from a forfeit at 285, and
Gabe Gray scored a 10-2 major at 125.
The Rams took the next three matches to go up 18-14, but
Brandon Chapin got a quick pin at 157 to put Wayland back on top, 20-18. The Pioneers gave those six points right back with a 165 forfeit, setting up dual-deciding match at 174 between Wayland's Matthew Alejandro and Wesleyan's 17
th-ranked Drake Mckee. Mckee prevailed, 4-1, giving the Rams the 27-20 win.
"Our guys have definitely had some adversity in the form of being injured and being sick. That's why we were open in two weight classes," Meister said. "Overcoming a 12-point deficit in a dual is a challenge, and to do that you can't get pinned or start matches going down by six. This was a winnable dual. We have to find ways to not get pinned and win close matches. When we do that we'll get better results."
Meister did take some consolation in the fact the Pioneers performed considerably better than earlier this season in Fort Worth when they fell to Texas Wesleyan, 31-9.
Following the dual, the crowd gathered in the Laney Center lobby to announce an endowed scholarship in the name of Mensah-Stock, a 2017 Wayland graduate and four-time collegiate national champion who, after becoming the 2019 World Champion, is looking to qualify for this summer's Olympics.
Meister spearheaded a $25,000 fundraising effort in Mensah-Stock's name. It's the second such scholarship formulated by WBU Wrestling, the first in the name of the WBU wrestling program's first coach,
Johnny Cobb.
WBU Vice-President of Enrollment Management Dr. Claude Lusk spoke at the ceremony, as did Meister, Cobb and Mensah-Stock.
"This is a great way to honor Tamyra and a great way to provide other students with opportunities here at Wayland," Meister said.
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Men
Texas Wesleyan 27, Wayland Baptist 20
184:
Hunter McCarty, WBU, def. Cameron Gregg, TXWES, by MD, 10-2; WBU leads 0-4
197: Zane Miller, TXWES, won by forfeit; TXWES leads 6-4
285:
Brandon Bennett, WBU, won by forfeit; WBU leads 6-10
125:
Gabe Gray, WBU, def. Cortez Castellanos, TXWES, by MD, 10-2; WBU leads 6-14
133: John Geiger, TXWES, def.
Adelfo Valdez, WBU, by dec., 8-7; WBU leads 9-14
141: Adrian Zubia, TXWES, def.
Bryan Pena, WBU, by fall, TXWES leads 15-14
149: Jason Chambers, TXWES, def.
William Pollock, WBU, by dec., 6-2; TXWES leads 18-14
157:
Brandon Chapin, WBU, def. Juan Torres, TXWES, by fall, 0:42; WBU leads 18-20
165: Don Doyle, TXWES, won by forfeit; TXWES leads 24-24
174: Drake Mckee, TXWES, def. Matthew Alejandro, WBU, by dec., 4-1; TXWES wins 27-20
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Women
Wayland Baptist 26, Texas Wesleyan 13
191: Ashley Molina, TXWES, def.
Katerina Pena, WBU, by dec., 8-6; TXWES leads 1-3
101:
Caryssa Aguirre, WBU, def. Madison Brown, TXWES, by dec., 21-18; Dual tied 4-4
109:
Nina Pham, WBU, def. Aylen Vivar, TXWES, by TF, 11-0; WBU leads 8-4
116: Alexandra Magana, TXWES, def.
Angelica Garcia, WBU, by TF, 11-0; Dual tied 8-8
123:
Jasmine Davis, WBU, def. Alexis Saldivar, TXWES, by TF, 10-0; WBU leads 12-8
130: Clarissa Archuleta, TXWES, won by forfeit; TXWES leads 12-13
136:
Desiree Zavala, WBU, def. Elizabeth Harris, TXWES, by TF, 10-0; WBU leads 16-13
143: Double forfeit
155:
Vanessa Ceja, WBU, won by forfeit; WBU leads 21-13
170:
Iman Thomas, WBU, won by forfeit; WBU wins 26-13
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