A promising season for the Wayland Baptist women's wrestling team gets under way Saturday when the Pioneers host Texas Wesleyan in a dual set to start at 9 a.m. in the Laney Center. The WBU men, who opened their season last week in Nebraska, also host the Rams on Saturday morning.
"We feel like we have a national championship team;" Wayland coach
Aaron Meister said of his women's team. "We have a really strong team. We're excited."
Saturday's dual, currently the only home event scheduled for WBU wrestling this fall, will be live streamed for free at
www.wbuathletics.com/watch.
While preseason NAIA team rankings haven't yet been announced, Meister expects Wayland, which was No. 8 when last year prematurely ended in mid-March due to COVID-19, will be among the top five schools.
"I would say easily in the top five," he said.
A recent ruling by the NAIA that the 2020-21 season, because of the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, won't count against a student-athlete's eligibility or terms is uplifting for Meister and his student-athletes.
"We can roll out all the guns this year and not have any worries if COVID acts up and they can still come back next year and wrestle again," Meister said. "That relieves a lot of stress."
That's especially true for all seniors, including
Desiree Zavala and
Nina Pham, who will lead the Pioneers in 2020-21 after forging undefeated records of 24-0 and 15-0, respectively, before last season was cut short by COVID-19. Zavala wrestles at 130 and Pham at 101.
"They're among the best in the country," Meister said.
Another team leader, senior
Asia Ray, also at 101, is coming off a redshirt season on the heels of winning a national championship at the NAIA National Invitational in March 2019.
Another 101 standout is junior
Caryssa Aguirre, whom the coach said "has really developed after getting a lot of mat time last year."
"(At) lightweight we're really outstanding," Meister said.
Also back is redshirt senior
Rebekah Cordova at 123. "She's been putting in the work and will provide a lot of experience and stability," Meister said.
Other lettermen include junior
Jasmine Davis and senior Deanna Prince, both of whom recently placed at Senior Nationals with Prince qualifying for World Team Trials.
Sophomore
Kaylynn Albrecht, an all-American who was ranked second last year, is back at 155 while senior
Katerina Pena returns at 191.
Besides all of those talented veterans, the Pioneers also have numerous good-looking newcomers, including Valeria Davila of Hockley, Mia Arceneaux, a state runner-up last year at Rockwall High School, and Jordan Suarez, a state champion at Morton Ranch High School, which also produced both Olympian
Tamyra Mensah-Stock and
Tarkyia Mensah for WBU.
"Jordan was the most outstanding wrestler at the state tournament last year," Meister said. "We have high expectations for all of them."
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