JAMESTOWN, N.D. – Missouri Baptist University's Tiyahna Askew and Shania Gowan wrapped up the 2021 NAIA Women's Wrestling National Invitational on Saturday with seventh-place finishes and NAIA All-American recognition. With the Spartan duo placing in the Top 8, Missouri Baptist finished 19^th out of 31 in the final team standings.
 
Askew and Gowan become the program's third and fourth NAIA All-Americans since the sport gained Invitational status within the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). When the Invitational was last held in 2018-19 (canceled in 2019-20 due to COVID), the Spartans recorded All-American performances from national champion Dymond Guilford and eighth-place finisher Angel Ochoa, who is now an assistant for the men's & women's wrestling program.
 
Tiyahna Askew, a freshman transfer at semester from Emmanuel College (Ga.), made an immediate impact for the Spartans. The Lawrenceville, Ga. native went 4-2 in the 155 bracket, winning her first two bouts via tech fall before losing a tightly-contested match to No. 5-seed Kendra Thompson of Campbellsville in the quarterfinals. As Askew navigated her way through the consolation bracket, she encountered one more setback when facing the No. 1-overall seed at 155 pounds, Cierra Foster of Oklahoma City. Winning 5-4 in the seventh-place match, the freshman capped off her debut with a pin of Dempsi Talington from Eastern Oregon.
 
Gowan, also a top-eight seed entering the championship event, finished with 3 wins and 2 losses at the Harold Newman Arena. Both of Gowan's losses came against top-five seeds including a matchup with the No. 1 overall seed and runner-up at 170 pounds – Alexandra Castillo (Campbellsville).
 
Like Askew and Gowan, No. 8-seed Karoline Ortiz started off the Invitational on a roll advancing to the quarterfinals with 12-2 win over Marlene Avila of Grand View followed by a 4-3 victory over No. 7-seed Riley Dalrymple of Life (Ga.). The sophomore's draw in the quarterfinals was a tough one as she lost 10-0 to the eventual 130-pound champion Bridgette Duty of Cumberlands (Ky.). Ortiz came up short of cracking the Top-8 after being edged out by Waldorf's Diana Dzasezeva, 4-3.
 
Freshman Sydney McGhee was the other to pick up at least one win during the two-day national tournament. McGhee fell in the opening round to No. 8-seed and eventual fifth-place finisher Arianna Marrufo (Midland) before picking up back-to-back victories by superiority. The 116-pound freshman out of Francis Howell High School had No. 5-seed Serenity Durham Goree on the ropes, trailing by just three points at 11-8, but was later pinned.