FORT WORTH – Wayland Baptist's men's and women's wrestling teams dropped duals against Texas Wesleyan on Wednesday evening at the Sid Richardson Center, the Pioneer men falling 24-18 and the women, 35-7.
The men's match pitted two teams receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches' Top 20 Poll, Texas Wesleyan the equivalent of No. 28 and Wayland the equivalent of No. 33.
The Pioneers prevailed in the first three matches: an 18-3 technical fall for ninth-ranked
Johnathon Ortegon at 125 pounds, a 2-1 sudden victory for 18
th-ranked
Alex Pena at 133, and a pin for
Moses Torres at 141. But the Rams took the next four bouts before David Willoughby won by 21-9 major decision at 184 to tight the score.
The Rams finished strong, however, picking up the final two wins to claim the dual. The evening's final match at 285 was a close 7-6 decision with WBU freshman
Rommel Azurin coming up just short.
"The men had a close dual. One or two key changes in matches and we could have flipped the results," Wayland acting head coach
Mich Napier said. "David (Willoughby) had a good debut back."
In the women's dual featuring a pair of top 10 teams, the fifth-ranked Lady Rams prevailed over the Pioneers, who are tied for No. 8 in the NAIA, 35-7.
Earning wins for WBU were
Asia Ray, ranked No. 2 at 109 who dominated No. 4 Jasmine Godinez by 12-2 tech fall; and
Liana Souza, who at 143 claimed a tight 9-8 decision over No. 12 Maryellen Lafferty.
Wayland was slowed by three forfeit losses.
"The women's dual was going to be hard to overcome the forfeits, but we wrestled tough," Napier said.
Next for the WBU men (3-3) is the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships back at TXWES Feb. 18 and 19, while the WBU women (1-1) will wrestle in the SAC Championships Feb. 26 at Oklahoma City University.
Men
Texas Wesleyan 24, Wayland Baptist 18
125:
Johnathon Ortegon (#9) (WBT) over Jeremy McPherson (TWU) (TF 18-3 4:50)
133:
Alex Pena (#18) (WBT) over Jordan Martinez (#12) (TWU) (SV-1 2-1)
141:
Moses Torres (WBT) over Bobby Robinson (TWU) (Fall 4:36)
149: Brady Earhart (TWU) over
Gavin Armijo (WBT) (TF 18-0 3:37)
157: Andres Ugalde (TWU) over Malakai Owens (WBT) (Dec 7-4)
165: Austin Loza (#16) (TWU) over Cody (Seth) Dixon (WBT) (Dec 7-5)
174: Dracius McKee (#15) (TWU) over Tommy StJohn (WBT) (MD 12-3)
184: David Willoughby (WBT) over Zeno Marcheselli (TWU) (MD 21-9)
197: Brahn Howard (TWU) over Joshua Wilson (WBT) (Fall 6:43)
285: Deandre Rucker (#18) (TWU) over
Rommel Azurin (WBT) (Dec 7-6)
Gavin Holland (TWU) over
Brandon Chapin (WBT) (MD 15-5)
Women
Texas Wesleyan 35, Wayland Baptist 7
101: Madison Brown (#4) (TWU) over
Malarie Dominguez (#14) (WBU) (TF 12-2 4:44)
109: Ovieonce Ray (#2) (WBU) over Jasmine Godinez (#4) (TWU) (TF 12-1 2:53)
116: Camille Fournier (#4) (TWU) over Joniesha Kennedy (WBU) (TF 10-0 2:23)
123: Devin Patton (#6) (TWU) over (WBU) (For.)
130: Lexi Basham (#3) (TWU) over
Aspen DeHerrera (WBU) (TF 10-0 2:04)
136: Mea Mohler (#3) (TWU) over De`anna Prince (#6) (WBU) (Fall 2:08)
143:
Liana Souza (WBU) over Maryellen Lafferty (#12) (TWU) (Dec 9-8)
155: leilani Hernandez (#5) (TWU) over (WBU) (For.)
170: Aalyah Villarreal (#16) (TWU) over
Olivia Ricci (#18) (WBU) (Dec 6-0)
191: Brittyn Corbishley (TWU) over (WBU) (For.)
