Tornado take second at NCWWC National Championships

TIFFIN, Ohio – The King University women's wrestling team completed their regular season this evening at the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship where they would finish second overall in team points. Cheyenne Sisenstein led the way with an incredible 4-0 performance for a first place finish. Aleeah Gould, Ana Luciano, Ashlynn Ortega and Tavi Heidelberg-Tillotson would all take second place finishes.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• At 101 pounds Jaclyn McNichols got off to a strong start with a first period tech fall but then lost a decision to the eventual champion in the semi-finals. She followed up with an extremely close loss in the consolation semi-finals and then moved into fifth with a win by decision.
• Gould tore through the bottom half of the bracket at 109 pounds with two wins by pin and one by technical fall. In the finals she would come up short and end with a second place finish.
• Samantha Larsen began with a 5-4 win by decision but was unable place at 109 pounds.
• Both Melanie Mendoza and Sophia Mirabella found the podium at 116 pounds. Mirabella won a close decision to advance to the semi-finals where she would fall. She picked up another decision en route to a fourth place finish.
• Mendoza began with two first period pins but lost a 3-2 decision to the eventual champion. She would wrestle back for a fifth place finish.
• At 123 pounds Sisenstein continued her season of dominance with an impeccable showing. She began with three wins by pin and without being scored on a single time. This moved her into the finals where she would continue a showing of perfection with a 10-0 technical fall victory for first place.
• Makayla Welch began with a close decision loss at 123 pounds to move into consolations early. She was not phased by this as Welch wins the next by decision and then closes two out in less than one minute by pin to advance to the consolation semi-finals. Here she would have a close, high scoring matchup win by decision and the lose another high scoring decision for fourth.
• Phoenix Dubose makes her way into the semi-finals at 130 pounds with a tech fall and decision wins. In the semi-finals she would lose to the eventual champion but absolutely tore her way back through consolations with two perfect tech falls for third.
• Allison Petix had a strong showing at 130 pounds where she walked into the semi-finals with two flawless tech falls. Here she would come up short but would wrestle back for a fifth place finish.
• Luciano saw the mat for such a small amount of time moving into the finals at 136 pounds. In the first round she wins by tech fall in 14 seconds. She moved on to win the by pin in 19 seconds and then win the semi-finals by pin in one minute. In the finals she had such a close brush with first as she was bested 1-1 by criteria in the finals.
• Ortega also began extremely well at 143 pounds where she was not scored on with two tech falls moving into the semi-finals. Here she would win a decision 6-0 moving into the finals and ultimately take second behind McKendree's Emma Bruntil.
• At 155 pounds Tory Torres won her first round by fall before moving into consolations. Here she would take two wins by fall before finishing fifth.
• Nia Crosdale found herself in the semi-finals after a second period pin at 170 pounds. She was bested here but recovered well with a first period pin to move into the consolation finals for fourth.
• At 190 pounds Heidelberg-Tillotson begins with a first round win by pin and then followed up with two wins by decision to make the finals. Here she would be caught early and fall for another Tornado second place finish.

KING RESULTS
101 pounds – Jaclyn McNichols 3-3, 5th
109 pounds – Aleeah Gould 3-1, 2nd; Samantha Larsen 1-2
116 pounds – Melanie Mendoza 3-2, 5th; Sophia Mirabella 3-2, 4th
123 pounds –  Cheyenne Sisenstein 4-0, 1st; Makayla Welch 4-2, 4th
130 pounds –  Phoenix Dubose 4-1, 3rd; Allison Petix 3-2, 5th
136 pounds – Ana Luciano, 3-1, 2nd
143 pounds – Ashlynn Ortega 3-1, 2nd
155 pounds – Tory Torres 3-2, 5th
170 pounds – Nia Crosdale 3-2, 4th
191 pounds – Tavi Heidelberg-Tillotson 3-1, 2nd