JAMESTOWN, N.D. – It's been a whole year since COVID-19 shut down the 2020 NAIA Women's Wrestling National Invitational before matches even began, but 12th-ranked Missouri Baptist University is ready for another trip to North Dakota. This year, the Spartans are sending eight qualifiers to the National Invitational looking to improve on the program's 10th-place finish at the 2018-19 inaugural championship event.
You can follow today and tomorrow's action via FloWrestling and its pay-per-view option and/or @MBU_Wrestling on Twitter for live updates.
Here's a closer look at the Spartans taking the national stage:
At 3-4 on the year, freshman Sydney McGhee will navigate her way through the 116-pound bracket, squaring off with No. 8-seed Arianna Marrufo of Jamestown.
Karoline Ortiz and Lindsay Mills will take the mat at 130 pounds. Ortiz, who is 6-2 in NAIA competitions this season and turned in two All-American performances at the UWW Junior and U23 Nationals in November, meets Marlene Avila of Grand View in her first match on Friday. Freshman Lindsay Mills draws Jordynn Robson of Southern Oregon to kick off her NAIA Invitational debut.
One of MBU's two Top-8 seeds, transfer Tiyahna Askew (4-1) earned the No. 4 overall seed in the 155 bracket and will face Warner Pacific University's Jodie Hartlein in the opening round. Joining Askew at 155 pounds is sophomore Maddie Oellermann (1-2), who will look to play the underdog role wrestling No. 2 overall seed Morgan Mayginnes of Baker.
The Spartans' second Top-8 qualifier is No. 8 seed Shania Gowan at 170 pounds. With a smaller field in the 170-pound weight class, Gowan (5-3) earned a first-round bye and will meet Missouri Valley's Danielle Saldivar in the Round of 16 matches. Also competing at 170 pounds is freshman Jordan Roberts (2-4), who will look for the first-round upset of No. 3 seed Hunter Robinson of upstart program Grand View University. Roberts met Robinson in the first round of the GVU Open and was pinned in the first round (0:54).
Rounding out the Spartans' competitors for this weekend's big event is freshman Daniella Seely at 191 pounds. With a first-round bye, Seely will meet the winner of Brianna Staebler (Campbellsville) and No. 8 Martha Vizcarra (Baker).
The Spartans will be without one of their top wrestlers in freshman Jessica Corredor, who went 7-2 in matches at the Ottawa E-Z Flex Invitational and Grand View Open, couldn't rid the injury bug before the start of Friday and Saturday's competition. Corredor was ranked No. 8 in the final NAIA Women's Wrestling Poll released on Feb. 25.
