JAMESTOWN, N.D. – The top of the podium is quickly becoming a familiar spot for Missouri Baptist University sophomore Dymond Guilford. Competing in the inaugural NAIA's Women's Wrestling National Invitational as the No. 1 seed at 170 pounds, Guilford added another gold medal and first-place finish to her long list of accomplishments this year.
 
As was the case at the WCWA National Championships in February, Guilford was up against the best of the best in the 170-pound weight class, but made the road to gold look seamless. In the championship final, Guilford defeated a familiar opponent in Precious Bell, also of Lancaster, Calif. Behind 1-0, Guilford flipped the script, got Bell on her back and powered her way to a pin at the 2:36 mark in the first period.
 
With a first-place win, the 5-foot-5 sophomore becomes the first NAIA Women's Wrestling All-American for the Spartans. The top 4 finishers at each weight class are All-Americans, while the next four finishers (places 5, 6, 7 & 8) are Honorable Mention All-Americans.
 
Prior to finals, Guilford had not yielded a single point to her opponents. In her semifinal win, Guilford used an electrifying second period including a 4-point takedown, spin behind takedown and a gut wrench turn to defeat 2018 Final X runner-up and multi-time age-group World Team member Rachel Watters of Oklahoma City by technical fall (VSU, 10-0, 4:36). She led just 1-0 after an evenly-matched first period.
 
Following a 10-0 loss by tech fall in the Round of 16 to begin the Invitational, Brighton Hutton navigated her way through the consolation brackets with two straight, closely-contested wins by fall. Tied with Eastern Oregon University's Dempsi Talkington and Ottawa University's Randie Scoon, Hutton secured the pins in each match and came up one victory shy of reaching All-American status.
 
Joining Guilford as an All-American was Angel Ochoa at 191 pounds. Following a quarterfinal loss to No. 1 seed and eventual runner-up Chi Chi Nwankwo (Oklahoma City), Ochoa won by fall (VFA, 8-0, 0:46) over Madisen Bozovich from Eastern Oregon to guarantee her a spot as a top-8 finisher. In the 7^th-place match, Ochoa lost by tech fall, but still was named an NAIA Women's Wrestling Honorable Mention All-American with her eighth-place finish.
 
At the 123-pound weight class, freshman Brigitte Mihalca was upset in the Round of 16, but rebounded nicely in her first consolation match with an 8-0 start before pinning Jasmine Davis of Wayland Baptist. Mihalca went 1-2 on the day.
 
Nadia Escamilla's Round of 32 draw pitted her against No. 2-seeded Cara Romeike of University of Jamestown in which she lost by tech fall (VSU, 10-0, 1:02). Like teammate Brigitte Mihalca, Escamilla avenged her opening-round loss with a pin of EOU Krystal Fabricante in the consolation round. Escamilla was 1-2 overall in her NAIA Invitational debut.
 
Other Spartans that made their first NAIA Women's Wrestling National Invitational appearances were Fatima Avalos, Yuli Medrano and Selina Medrano-Perez.
 
Menlo College, which led the 20-team field with five individual champions, won the historic first NAIA Women's Wrestling Invitational title with 230.5 points. The second-place team (Oklahoma City) finished with 154.5 points. The Spartans finished 10^th place as a team with 43 points at the inaugural event.