Tornado cruise through regionals

FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. – The King University women's wrestling team continued their momentum this season into the regional championship. Here they would have seven individual champions and fourteen women place top 4 in the tournament. King accrued 160.5 team points throughout the day for an easy first place finish and over 30 points ahead of second place Emmanuel College.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• At 101 pounds No. 1 Jaclyn McNichols had an easy day with a first round bye straight into the finals. There she would defeat Emmanuel's Angelina Gomez 4-0 for a first place finish
• No. 2 Aleeah Gould also had a great day at 109 pounds with two 10-0 tech falls moving into the finals. There she would win 6-0 over Presbyterian University's Cassy Lopez
• Also at 109 pounds, Samantha Larsen manages a third place finish after a semi-final loss with a win by pin in the consolation finals
• Both No. 4 Melanie Mendoza and No. 3 Sophia Mirabella placed at 116 pounds. Mirabella lost an extremely close decision in the semi-finals where she would rally to meet Mirabella in the consolation finals. Here Mirabella would win on criteria by a score of 2-2 for third place
• At 123 pounds No. 1 Cheyenne Sisenstein and Makayla Welch both win their semi-finals match, resulting in a Tornado face off in the finals. Here Sisenstein would take the win by 10-0 tech fall.
• No. 3 Allison Petix had a strong showing at 130 pounds where she walked into the finals with two flawless tech falls. The finals was no different story as she wins by pin in the second period
• Also at 130 pounds No.5 Phoenix Dubose falls in the semi-finals, but wrestles all the way back to take third with another Tornado 10-0 tech fall
• Ana Luciano tore through her bracket at 136 pounds. She won the semi-finals by first period pin and the finals by pin in 26 seconds
• No. 2 Ashlynn Ortega also pounded her way through the bracket with two perfect tech falls moving into the finals. Here she would win by decision 4-1
• At 155 pounds No. 3 Tory Torres won by decision 10-2 in the semi-finals but lost 5-0 in the finals for a second place finish
• No. 5 Nia Crosdale had a close brush with the top of the podium at 170 pounds. She lost 8-8 by criteria in the finals to Emmanuel College's heaven Byrd
• Lastly, No. 2 Tavi Heidelberg-Tillotson won the title at 191 pounds with an early first period fall and an 8-0 decision in the finals

KING RESULTS
101 pounds – Jaclyn McNichols 2-0, 1st
109 pounds – Aleeah Gould 3-0, 1st; Samantha Larsen 2-1, 3rd
116 pounds – Sophia Mirabella 3-1, 2nd; Melanie Mendoza 2-2, 4th
123 pounds –  Cheyenne Sisenstein 3-0, 1st; Makayla Welch 2-1, 2nd
130 pounds – Allison Petix 3-0, 1st; Phoenix Dubose 3-1, 3rd
136 pounds – Ana Luciano, 2-0, 1st
143 pounds – Ashlynn Ortega 4-0, 1st
155 pounds – Tory Torres 1-1, 2nd
170 pounds – Nia Crosdale 1-1, 2nd
191 pounds – Tavi Heidelberg-Tillotson 3-0, 1st

UP NEXT

• The Tornado are back in action March 6th at the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling National Championships. Action is set to begin at 9am