No. 9 Sacred Heart begins wrestling Friday at the national championship meet in Iowa. (Photo courtesy Sacred Heart Athletics)
In its second varsity season, No. 9 Sacred Heart will have nine wrestlers, including three Connecticut natives, competing at the 2023 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) meet beginning Friday at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Bridgeport’s Jacklyn Smith (191), who graduated from Trumbull, qualified for the national championships along with Plymouth’s Cara Broadus (170) and Somers’ Taylor McCormick (109).
Sacred Heart (17-4) won the NCWWC Region 1 championship two weeks ago and head coach Pauline Biega was named the national coach of the year on Thursday.
“I feel extremely honored and grateful,” Biega said. “I have an amazing team that gives me power to keep going to be better and better. This award is the effect of the hard work and commitment from every person on the team. We did it together. This is our award.”
Three All-American wrestlers will be in the lineup for the Pioneers on Friday — Madison Sandquist (155), Temi Sanusi (143) and Smith (191). They will be joined by Payne-Parris (101), McCormick (109), Nohea Moniz (116), Alexandra Fitzgerald (130), Julia Mullane (136) and Broadus (170) in the national championship meet.
Payne-Parris (101), Sandquist (155) and Smith (191) each won Region 1 titles.
Six of Sacred Heart’s wrestlers are ranked in the top 10 of their respective weight classes. Broadus (26-9) is ranked No. 6 with Payne-Parris (28-10), Fitzgerald (33-8), Moniz (26-16), Sandquist (35-8), and Smith (25-11) each ranked eighth in the nation.
A year ago, Sandquist finished third at 142, Sanusi was eighth at 142 and Smith was eighth at 170 as the Pioneers finished 14th in a field of 26 teams. McKendree University (Illinois) won their third consecutive national championship.
Wrestling begins on Friday at 11 a.m. The quarterfinals are at 4 p.m. with the consolation round beginning at 4 p.m., too. On Saturday, wrestling begins at 11 a.m. with the championship semifinals and consolation round wrestling. The matches for third, fifth and seventh place will be held in the afternoon.
The championship finals begin at 7 p.m.
You can watch the tournament on FloWrestling (subscription) or follow the tournament on TrackWrestling.com.
43 collegiate teams with women’s wrestling
On the eve of the 2023 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) meet in Iowa this weekend, the executive committee of the tournament said that more than 40 collegiate programs meet their divisional rules which will allow the NCAA to consider sponsoring a national championship in women’s wrestling.
The NCWWC is a coalition of national wrestling organizations on behalf of the NCAA programs and will be held until women’s wrestling achieves official championship status within the NCAA, the NCWWC said in a press release last year.
“With the help of our coalition partners, Wrestle Like a Girl, USA Wrestling, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and the National Wrestling Coaches Association we are proud to share that 43 teams have reported meeting their divisional Bylaw goals,” said Lisa Goddard McGuirk, chair of the NCWWC Executive Committee. “We also want to express our appreciation of support from the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics, the NCAA staff and institutional members of that committee for their support of the sport.”
Does this mean that there will be a NCAA tournament in women’s wrestling? Not yet. At the moment, there are simply enough teams at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels for the NCAA to consider hosting a women’s wrestling championship.
Sacred Heart and Presbyterian College in South Carolina are currently the only NCAA Division I programs. Iowa will be the first Power 5 school to add women’s wrestling next winter.
“USA Wrestling is overjoyed with our great sport reaching this important milestone,” said Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling. “It has been the combined efforts of many that has helped push NCAA women’s wrestling to these incredible new heights. Much work remains as we collectively continue the sport’s advancement by providing more quality collegiate wrestling opportunities for women all across the nation.”
2022 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship
At Adrian, Michigan
Team results: 1. McKendree University (Illinois) 188, 2. King University 166, 3. Simon Fraser University (British Columbia)145½ .4. North Central College (Illinois) 128, 5. Colorado Mesa University 89, 6. Augsburg University 82, 7. Tiffin University (Ohio) 75½, 8. Adrian College 42½, 9. Emmanuel College and Gannon University 38½, 10. Lindenwood University 38
2022 championship results
101: Olivia Shore (Tiffin) tech fall Angelina Gomez (Emmanuel College) 11-0 in 4:40
109: Emily Shilson (Augsburg University) tech fall Sydney Petzinger (North Central College) 11-2, 2:42
116: Karla Godinez-Gonzalez (Simon Fraser) dec. Felicity Taylor (McKendree) 3-1
123: Alexandra Hedrick (Simon Fraser) pin Cheyenne Sisenstein (King) 5:49
130: Cameron Guerin (McKendree) tech fall Niya Teresita Gaines (North Central College) 10-0
136: Zoe Nowicki (Adrian College) dec. Blanche `Nina` Kemu Makem (Augsburg University) 4-0
143: Ashlynn Ortega (King) dec. Alara Boyd (McKendree) 3-0
155: Alyvia Fiske (Simon Fraser) dec. Kayla Marano (McKendree) 3-2
170: Yelena Makoyed (North Central College) tech fall Joye Levendusky (McKendree) 11-0 in 3:34
191: Sydnee Kimber (McKendree) pin Jaycee Foeller (McKendree) 1:18
Outstanding wrestler: Cameron Guerin (130), McKendree
2022 NCWWC national tournament (brackets and results) via TrackWrestling
