OKSALOOSA, Iowa- Missouri Baptist University women's wrestling will send four wrestlers to the NAIA National Championships in Wichita, Kansas, after they each placed high enough to earn an automatic allocation. Zoe Fries and Maggie Ortmann shared the team-high placement with a pair of third-place finishes.
At 138, Fries was seeded third in her first conference tournament, and she dominated in her opening match, as she went up 8-0 before grabbing the fall. Fries followed up with another controlled bout, where she also went up 8-0 ahead of the fall to send herself to the semifinals.
Fries dropped her semifinal bout to No. 5 Serenity De La Garza of Missouri Valley College. Fries quickly bounced back with a sub-minute technical fall to head into the third-place bout.
Fries avenged her losses to Teani Medeiros-Maiela, who had beaten Fries twice. The freshman found the quick fits period pin to earn an automatic qualification for the national tournament.
Ortmann also finished 3rd, despite a tough one-point first-round loss. Ortmann's first consolation match pitted her against No. 19 Naida Abdijanovic of William Penn (Iowa), where the freshman from Washington, Mo. scored early and held on to the lead despite her opponent's best efforts, winning 8-5. Ortmann's second consolation match was a come-from-behind victory as her opponent found three points early, but Ortmann returned the favor and scored eight unswerved points ahead of the fall at the end of the first period.
Ortmann's consolation semifinal match pitted her against Eve Herlyn of Central Methodist (Mo.), the wrestler she had lost to in her first match of the day; the winner would earn an automatic bid to the national championships. Ortmann found the first period fall to redeem herself and earn an automatic slot to Wichita in her first postseason.
Ortmann's third-place bout featured her facing another familiar opponent, No. 8 Madison Diaz of Grand View (Iowa). After trailing 8-0 at the break, Ortmann found the fall to close out with an Ironman backside finish at 145.
Kenlee Fish finished fourth at 180. After losing a tight 8-6 match to No. 7 Autumn Perez of Missouri Valley, Fish found her fire. The freshman went on a backside tear that included two falls and a decision. Two of those wins were top-15 wins over No. 10 Abby Piper of William Woods (Mo.) and No. 14 Diana Pomares of William Penn. Fish's run was stopped in the third-pace bout when she wrestled Perez another time and dropped the match to finish fourth at 180.
At 110 De'yton Young finished sixth and collected a pin over No. 5 Eliana Martinez of Grand View, which also solidified a trip to the national tournament.
The Spartans will send four, and possibly more, grapplers to the NAIA National Championships in Wichita, Kan., on March 13-14 for a chance at a national championship.
