Advanced search
Women's Wrestling

Results -- #7 Women’s Wrestling Closes Regular Season Sunday at Limestone Open

The Blue Hose look to polish off their regular season slate back in their most comfortable environment,

Posted

GAFFNEY, S.C. – Venturing back to Limestone – a venue which already saw a 41-10 victory in their favor over two months ago in dual play – the seventh-ranked Presbyterian College women’s wrestling team is set to return to Gaffney at the close of the upcoming weekend for a Saints-hosted tournament this time around, opening the brackets at 10:00 a.m. this Sunday.

The final date on PC’s calendar until the Southeast Regional Championships and National Championships in Bristol and Coralville respectively, the Blue Hose look to polish off their regular season slate back in their most comfortable environment, the tournament format to which they’ve claimed seven 1st-place achievements and a total of 28 top-four finishes over the course of the campaign.

A large reason for Presbyterian’s staying power inside the NWCA’s top ten has been their proficiency within the bracket system, most recently sending five wrestlers to a top-four standing or better (including two 1st-place trophies and two other 2nd-place nods) at the Robert Horton Open in Georgia nearly two weeks ago. Since that point, PC has posted consecutive dual wins over Emmanuel and Brewton-Parker behind a combined 53-point scoring spree.

Nine of the 11 victories from the Blue Hose in those two duals came via pin, allowing a sometimes-sparse lineup (due to injuries) to overcome the smaller numbers game by making the most of their W’s. Altogether, PC has conjured up 56 wins by fall and 142 overall, ensuring this season to be the most productive yet in the program’s brief history.

Casting time back to November 20 – PC’s Limestone contest that ended in a 31-point drilling – such a difference was obtained thanks to a seven-match win streak from the Blue Hose that handed them a 35-0 advantage. By virtue of the W (the first of what would become seven dual wins this year), Presbyterian moved to 5-0 all-time against the Saints beside their highest margin of victory in the series to date.

A win count across the roster that has reached menacing levels during some of PC’s biggest battles, the Blue Hose have witnessed a combined record of 64-10 between their three nationally-ranked grapplers – Samantha Miller (101), Ainslie Lane (116), and Paige Wehrmeister (136/143). Five different wrestlers donning the blue and white have reached 20 wins or more this year, four of them doing so on a win percentage exceeding 70%.

Over the past three events on the schedule, Miller and Wehrmeister have added up for a perfect march of 10-0, not to be outdone by a 5-1 mark from Catherine “CG” Bertrand and a 4-1 trek by senior Cassandra Lopez over that same period.

GAFFNEY, S.C. – Ending the regular season with perhaps their greatest tournament performance of the 2022-23 campaign – quite the defiant statement considering a handful of other showings that produced similar panache – the seventh-ranked Presbyterian College women’s wrestling team was virtually untouchable throughout Sunday afternoon’s Limestone Open, witnessing a quartet of grapplers race through their weight class without a single defeat, stacking up their trophy case even further for a grand total of 11 first-place prizes on the year.

Samantha Miller (101), Cassandra Lopez (109), Sierra Marie Miller (130), and Paige Wehrmeister (136) collectively won 14 matches at the tail end of the weekend next to zero losses, allowing the Blue Hose to assemble their 33rd top-four placement of the season when including a 4th-place nod from Isabella Badon in the 155-lb. group.

Even with star contributors Ainslie Lane and Catherine “CG” Bertrand absent from Sunday’s billing, Presbyterian ransacked the competition in Gaffney – the same site where they easily defeated the hosting school (Limestone) in dual play back before Thanksgiving – for one of the most imposing efforts displayed by any school in the NWCA’s Region 2.

NOTABLES

- Submitting yet another championship to her outstanding first go-around with the program (her fifth 1st-place crown since November), Wehrmeister again proved that a third-place national ranking in her class has been no fluke, mowing down her four opponents all by technical fall for a jaw-dropping combined difference of 40-0. One of the finest newbies in America, the Missourian has compiled 20 wins by TF alone, improving to a ridiculous 29-3 on the year while ramping up her winning streak to 10 matches.

- Lopez and both Millers increased their season win count to 75 between them with 25 W’s each following Gaffney’s phenomenal performance, accomplishing seven of their 10 victories by pin on Sunday. Every one of Lopez and Sierra Marie Miller’s triumphs occurred by fall, giving the two of them 29 pins collectively approaching the postseason as the top-two leaders in that category for interim coach Brian Vutianitis’ club.

- One of PC’s most consistent competitors as a junior, Samantha Miller’s 4-0 march in Limestone featured a pair of pins, a third victory by tech, and another championship by decision over the University of the Cumberlands’ Elizabeth Desado. Sunday’s ascent to the top denoted Miller’s second straight 1st-place award and third of the campaign, finishing either gold or silver five separate times.

- A bang up job in terms of preparing for Bristol’s Southeast Regional Tournament 12 days from now, the Blue Hose’s unimpeded excellence extended to those beyond the four top-prize placers, namely 155-pounder Isabella Badon who took 4th. The senior’s two W’s came by technical falls that totaled a 22-point margin, showcasing Presbyterian’s immense levels of depth even when slightly short-handed.

- Not a tournament has passed without a plethora of PC highlights throughout the program’s fourth season, hitting the most crucial stage of the calendar with a tidal wave of momentum thanks to their sensational success rate in multi-team fare. With the regular season now gone, the Blue Hose have collected 158 individual wins, a mainstay of the NWCA’s top ten from the very first step of the season to the present date.

 

RESULTS

 

101 – Samantha Miller (4-0), 1st Place

Samantha Miller (PC) def. Elora Waterman (Unattached) by Fall, 2:04

Samantha Miller (PC) def. Haley Zinninger (Emmanuel) by Fall, 0:52

Samantha Miller (PC) def. Alex Uribe (Cumberlands) by TF, 10-0

Samantha Miller (PC) def. Elizabeth Desado (Cumberlands) by Dec., 9-2

109 – Cassandra Lopez (3-0), 1st Place

Cassandra Lopez (PC) def. Ivana Munoz (Montreat) by Fall, 0:44

Cassandra Lopez (PC) def. Sarine Mardirosian (Unattached) by Fall, 1:49

Cassandra Lopez (PC) def. Dinayah Vazquez (Emmanuel) by Fall, 1:32

123 – Olivia Waller (0-2)

Dorothy Gerrell (Emmanuel) def. Olivia Waller (PC) by TF, 12-0

Claira Mae Hannon (Unattached) def. Olivia Waller (PC) by FF

130 – Sierra Marie Miller (3-0), 1st Place

Sierra Marie Miller (PC) def. Evelyne Vazquez (Emmanuel) by Fall, 1:21

Sierra Marie Miller (PC) def. Dafne Aguilar Martinez (Emory & Henry) by Fall, 1:41

Sierra Marie Miller (PC) def. Katrina Kling (Unattached) by Fall, 1:04

136 – Paige Wehrmeister (4-0), 1st Place

Paige Wehrmeister (PC) def. Brenda Farr (Limestone) by TF, 10-0

Paige Wehrmeister (PC) def. Lauren Ellis (Emmanuel) by TF, 10-0

Paige Wehrmeister (PC) def. Chloe Lawler (Mount Olive) by TF, 10-0

Paige Wehrmeister (PC) def. Leidaly Rivera (Unattached) by TF, 10-0

155 – Isabella Badon (2-2), 4th Place

Isabella Badon (PC) def. Savannah Pitts (Unattached) by TF, 11-0

Kayla Mesar (Unattached) def. Isabella Badon (PC) by Fall, 2:36

Isabella Badon (PC) def. Jordan Wilson (Ferrum) by TF, 11-0

Amalani Latu (Limestone) def. Isabella Badon (PC) by Dec., 3-3

UP NEXT

- The aforementioned SE Regionals from the Volunteer State will be the penultimate event for coach Vutianitis and co., competing in a bracket of equal stature to the Midlands Championships in Chicago or National Duals in Louisville, each of which ended with major positives for PC.

- After posting 78 team points with only six individuals competing at Limestone, Presbyterian closes out their slate with the National Championships in Iowa two weeks after wrapping things up in Bristol.