Wrestlers split duals with Oklahoma City

Wayland Baptist men's and women's wrestling teams made their home debuts Thursday afternoon in the Laney Center in duals against Oklahoma City University. All four teams are either ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA Top 20 Coaches' Polls, and the quality wrestling on the mats proved the teams' talent.
 
The schools split similar outcomes with the seventh-ranked WBU women prevailing over the No. 13 Stars, 27-14, while the No. 11 OCU men survived the Pioneers, ranked the equivalent of 25^th, 29-15.
 
WBU acting head coach Mich Napier was happy with the results, especially on the women's side.
 
"We have a lot of people who are not where they need to be (health-wise), so we had a lot of people wrestle up a weight class. I'm appreciative of those ladies who stepped up and did that," Napier said.

Among the highlights for WBU's women were a fall for Angelica Garcia at 130 pounds and tech falls shutouts for top-ranked Nina Pham at 109, third-ranked Asia Ray at 116 and 21^st-ranked Carla Leon at 123. Vanessa Ceja won by decision at 191, and third-ranked De'Anna Prince scored a forfeit victory at 136.
 
"Asia and Carla wrestled up, as did Angelica and she got a pin, so that was a big one for us," Napier said. Recent NAIA Wrestler of the Week Jordan Suarez, ranked fifth at 136, wrestled at 143 and "lost a close match (6-2) to a tough, tough opponent (fourth-ranked Destiny Lyng), and Liana Souza wrestled up to 155 and lost a hard match. Liana wrestled three matches, which helped OCU which helps the conference" in the national picture.
 
In the men's dual, Napier said the Pioneers couldn't pick up, or avoid allowing OCU, bonus points.
 
"The way to win a dual is through bonus points. The matches we won we didn't win by enough, and the matches we lost we lost by too many. Giving up little mistakes like that helped OCU to land on top. They're a tough team, but we were in a place where we could have beaten them."
 
Wayland won the first three matches thanks to 10^th-ranked Johnathan Ortegon at 125, fifth-ranked Alex Pena at 133 and Moses Torres at 141, all by decision. But the Stars took the next five matches before Joshua Wilson ended the run with a forfeit win for WBU at 197.
 
Napier spotlighted a pair of freshmen in Torres, a sophomore academically, and Trayveon Van-Dyck.
 
"Mo was one of the few who got bonus points. If more people had matches like him and listened to the corner and trusted the process, we could have landed on top," the coach said. Meanwhile, "Trayveon didn't have the best high school career but he only gave up a major against a top-ranked opponent."
 
Wayland was set to travel to Fort Worth next week for a competition at Texas Wesleyan, but that was cancelled. Next for the Pioneers is the Desert Duals in Las Vegas on Dec. 19.
 
Women
No. 7 Wayland Baptist 27, No. 13 Oklahoma City 14
170: Angelina Adams (OCU) over Olivia Ricci (WBU) (Dec 8-2)
191: Vanessa Ceja (WBU) over Ryann Rumsey (OCU) (Dec 7-3)
101: Kaycie Tanimoto (OCU) over Malarie Dominguez (WBU) (Dec 9-0)
109: Nina Pham (WBU) over Nadia Alejandres (OCU) (TF 10-0)
116: Asia Ray (WBU) over Carly Courcier (OCU) (TF 10-0)
123: Carla Leon (WBU) over Michaela Childs (OCU) (TF 10-0)
130: Angelica Garcia (WBU) over Kyla Leonard (OCU) (Fall 5:16)
136: De`anna Prince (WBU) over (OCU) (For.)
143: Destiny Lyng (OCU) over Jordan Suarez (WBU) (Dec 6-2)
155: Adriana Orozco (OCU) over Liana Souza (WBU) (TF 11-0)
Exhibitions
170: Irene Sanchez Figuera (OCU) over Olivia Ricci (WBU) (TF 12-2)
101: Kaycie Tanimoto (OCU) over Felicity Ortega (WBU) (Dec 6-4)
109: Mia Arceneaux (WBU) over Brooklyn Diaz` Mesics (OCU) (Fall 2:37)
123: Michaela Childs (OCU) over Erron Grimes (WBU) (Fall 2:33)
143: Mattison Parker (OCU) over Liana Souza (WBU) (TF 14-0)
155: Ashlee Vaughan (OCU) over Liana Souza (WBU) (Dec 11-6)
155: Gabriella Escamilla (OCU) over Vanessa Ceja (WBU) (Dec 10-6)
 
Men
No. 11 Oklahoma City 29, (RV) Wayland Baptist 15
125: Johnathon Ortegon (WBU) over Cooper Mahaffey (OCU) (Dec 10-3)
133: Alex Pena (WBU) over Casey Goss (OCU) (Dec 9-7)
141: Moses Torres (WBU) over Logan Chappell (OCU) (Dec 9-2)
149: Keegan Luton (OCU) over Nick Immel (WBU) (MD 19-5)
157: Jon McGowan (OCU) over Cody (Seth) Dixon (WBU) (Fall 0:28)
165: Drake Vannoy (OCU) over Malakai Owens (WBU) (Fall 3:39)
174: Kolbe Madron (OCU) over Trayveon Van-Dyck (WBU) (MD 11-2)
184: Chase Vincent (OCU) over Hunter McCarty (WBU) (Dec 5-3)
197: Joshua Wilson (WBU) over (OCU) (For.)
285: Jack Kitchingham (OCU) over William Bennet (WBU) (Fall 3:38)
Exhibitions
157: Connor Holman (OCU) over Zach Pena (WBU) (Fall 1:33)
157: Dezmen Loving (OCU) over Ever Atilano (WBU) (MD 15-5)
285: Grant Baber (OCU) over Octavio Barraza (WBU) (Dec 10-8)
285: Octavio Barraza (WBU) over Hunter Norris (OCU) (Dec 9-7)