Five Statesmen Place at Midland Open

Fremont, Neb.–In its final regular-season tournament of the year, the William Penn women’s wrestling team secured a handful of high finishers at the Midland Open Saturday.

WPU, which had seven grapplers manage at least one victory, was paced by two silvers and three bronzes.

Brittany Cotter (Fr., Katy, Texas, Nursing) won two matches (one by fall) at 116 pounds prior to losing by a 13-2 technical fall to Katherine Heath of Baker in the finals. Toyia Griffin (Fr., Nashua, Iowa, Nursing) was also victorious in her two bouts at 155 pounds (both by fall) to advance to the championship round. Unfortunately, she was defeated in a 10-0 technical fall by Kaylynn Albrecht of Baker.

Despite not getting to the finals, 116-pounder Catherine Steinkamp (Fr., Quincy, Ill., Biology) and 123-pounder Mami Selemani (So., Iowa City, Iowa, Business Management) actually finished with better records than Cotter and Griffin as both tallied 4-1 marks. Both wrestlers won three times by technical fall.

Ashleigh Denny (Fr., El Paso, Texas, Undecided) went 3-2 to take third as well in a round-robin style of competition at 143 pounds, winning twice by technical fall and once by fall.

191-pounder Samantha Ruano (Fr., Romeoville, Ill., Business Management) split her four matches, including pinning one opponent and defeating another by technical fall.

Lydia Nelson (Fr., Kirksville, Mo.) also notched a victory at 130 pounds to cap WPU’s success.

Next Up: WPU travels to Forest City next Thursday to face Waldorf and Missouri Valley in a pair of Heart of America Athletic Conference dual meets starting at 5