Statesmen Close Regular Season with Two Heart Victories
Forest City–The William Penn women’s wrestling team hit the mat one final time before competing for league glory as it faced off in a pair of Heart of America Athletic Conference dual meets Friday.
WPU (3-6, 3-3 Heart) defeated Waldorf 21-16 and then dropped Missouri Valley 30-9.
In an unorthodox start, the Waldorf dual started at 155 pounds and Salima Omari (Fr., Iowa City, Iowa) got her team off to a strong start by pinning Berenice Espino.
The meet then resumed at 101 pounds and continued upwards from there. After no matches at 101 or 109 pounds and a Statesmen loss at 116, Mami Selemani (So., Iowa City, Iowa, Business Management) gathered some points with a forfeit at 123.
The visitors came up short in three consecutive bouts to fall behind 16-11, but Andrea Smith (Fr., Rochester, N.Y.) and Phoebe Burt (Fr., Coralville, Iowa) each collected forfeits at 170 and 191 pounds, respectively, to pull the navy and gold ahead at the end of the matchup.
Just three weights were contested against Missouri Valley, and after double forfeits at 101 and 109, 116-pounder Catherine Steinkamp (Fr., Quincy, Ill., Biology) won by fall over Lilliana Campbell. That started a string of six-straight matches in which William Penn scored points.
The next five weights all went in favor of the Statesmen via forfeit, including Selemani at 123, Lydia Nelson (Fr., Kirksville, Mo.) at 130, Gwendolyn Grimes (Fr., Katy, Texas) at 136, Ashleigh Denny (Fr., El Paso, Texas, Undecided) at 143, and Omari at 155.
It was more than enough to secure the sweep for the night.
Next Up: William Penn travels to Baldwin City, Kan. next Saturday to compete in the Heart Championship.
WPU 21, Waldorf 16
155–Salima Omari won by fall over Berenice Espino (5-0)
101–No match
109–No match
116–Destiny Dominguez won by decision over Catherine Steinkamp, 6-2 (6-3)
123–Mami Selemani won by forfeit (11-3)
130–Jenny Castaneda won by technical fall over Lydia Nelson, 11-0 (11-7)
136–Diana Dzasezeva won by technical fall over Gwendolyn Grimes, 10-0 (11-11)
143–Ku’uipo Chan won by fall over Ashleigh Denny (11-16)
170–Andrea Smith won by forfeit (16-16)
191–Phoebe Burt won by forfeit (21-16)
WPU 30, Missouri Valley 9
101–No match
109–No match
116–Catherine Steinkamp won by fall over Lilliana Campbell (5-0)
123–Mami Selemani won by forfeit (10-0)
130–Lydia Nelson won by forfeit (15-0)
136–Gwendolyn Grimes won by forfeit (20-0)
143–Ashleigh Denny won by forfeit (25-0)
155–Salima Omari won by forfeit (30-0)
170–Danielle Saldivar won by fall over Andrea Smith (30-5)
191–Lani Bushe won by technical fall over Samantha Ruano (30-9)
