Wrestling Teams Set to Host Conner/Oppenheim Doane Open

Doane Men's and Women's Wrestling will host the annual Conner/Oppenheim Doane Open on Saturday, December 2, inside Fuhrer Field House on the Doane campus. The event has more than 800 wrestlers registered to compete from 34 teams.

Every weight class will provide intrigue with numerous ranked wrestlers scattered through the weight classes in each tournament. Final brackets will be assigned after weigh-ins on Saturday morning.

Assuming all athletes currently entered make weight and compete, here is a look at some of the key wrestlers to watch in each weight class that are nationally ranked. 

Women's Tournament

101 - Doane's Karina Vang is the returning champion and the highest-ranked wrestler at No. 3 in the NAIA. She earned NAIA All-American honors with a sixth place finish in 2023. Missouri Valley's Sage Beltran is ranked No. 12 in the NAIA and Mia Siqueiros of Iowa Western is ranked No. 8 in the NJCAA.

109 - NAIA No. 1 Mia Palumbo of William Penn headlines the division. A transfer from Iowa Wesleyan, she was the NAIA runner-up in 2023. Hailey Holland of Missouri Valley is ranked No. 8, Alexsys Jacquez of Saint Mary (Kan.) is No. 15, and Kylee Slyter of Baker is ranked No. 18 to round out the NAIA Top 20 competitors. They will be joined by Javanica Mickens of Indian Hills CC, who is ranked No. 5 at 116 as she drops down a weight class.

116 - Camille Fournier of Texas Wesleyan is the top-ranked wrestler in the NAIA. She finished as the runner-up at the NAIA Championships in 2023. Katherine Heath of Baker is ranked No. 9 in the NAIA. A battle of No. 1 ranked wrestlers could be in store within the bracket as NJCAA No. 1 Shammilka Miranda Diaz of Indian Hills is set to compete. Mya Turnmire of William Penn is wrestling up two weight classes and is currently ranked No. 10 at 101 while Catherine Steinkamp of William Penn is ranked No. 16 at 123, wrestling down a weight class.

123 - Quite possibly the deepest weight class is led by NAIA No. 1 Cristelle Rodriguez of Doane. She was an All-American at 130 last year, taking third place. Maya Davis of Grand View was the third place finisher at 123 in the NAIA meet and enters the tournament ranked No. 2. Catharine Campbell, also of Grand View, is ranked No. 8 in the NAIA and placed sixth at nationals in 2023. Larissa Kaz of Hastings is ranked No. 9 this year and placed eighth at nationals in March. Joining the fold are Carolina Rios of Texas Wesleyan (No. 17), Celeste Tellez of York (No. 18), and Tyelor Rozell of Friends (No. 20) as ranked NAIA competitors. Out of the NJCAA rankings, Angelica Vicente of Indian Hills is No. 2, Chanelle Alburg of Carl Albert is No. 3, and Danica Linn of Iowa Western is No. 7.

130 - Joanna Vanderwood of William Penn is ranked No. 10 to top the weight class. She is a transfer from Iowa Wesleyan and qualified for nationals last year. Alisha Van Scoy of Saint Mary (Kan.) is ranked No. 17. Talia Lee of Southeast CC is the top NJCAA wrestler in the mix, ranked No. 4. Wrestling down a weight class is Belle Hernandez of Baker, ranked No. 15 at 136.

136 - Kaydince Turner of Hastings is ranked No. 10 this year after qualifying for nationals last year at 143. She is joined by Mattison Parker of Texas Wesleyan (No. 12), Bridgette Sotomayor of Doane (No. 18), and Abbie Jones of Baker (No. 19). Baker was a national qualifier last year as is unattached wrestler Ashley Palimo'o. Malia Kehne of Carl Albert is ranked No. 5 and Ruth Jimenez of Indian Hills is No. 6 out of the NJCAA. Devin Patton of William Penn is wrestling up a weight class and is ranked No. 13 at 130 while Ariana Mercado of Saint Mary (Kan.) is wrestling down a weight class and is No. 19 at 143.

143 - A pair of All-Americans highlight the bracket with NAIA No. 4 Isabelle Hawley of William Penn and No. 5 Mea Mohler of Texas Wesleyan. Hawley took sixth in the tournament last year wrestling for Iowa Wesleyan while Mohler was the runner-up at 136. Tabitha Wood was a national qualifier at 136 last year and is ranked No. 11 as she wrestles up a weight class this year. Nadia Abdijanovic of William Penn is ranked No. 14. Four wrestlers from the NJCAA are ranked. Eve Herlyn of Southeast CC (No. 7) and Sarah Lewis of Indian Hills (No. 8) are joined by Essence Charles of Iowa Western (No. 6/130) and Jayla Spring of Indian Hills (No. 8/136).

155 - Another deep bracket, Mahealani Ramirez of Grand View and a national qualifier in 2023 is ranked No. 8 with Leilani Hernandez of Texas Wesleyan ranked No. 9. Also scheduled to compete are national qualifiers from 2023 Bailee Hawks of Friends (No. 17), Lisa Hoeflich of Hastings (No. 19) and Niah Smith of Waldorf (No. 20). Ferny Hernandez of Iowa Western is the top ranked wrestler in the NJCAA and will be joined by No. 5 Kylie Hulse of Carl Albert and No. 7 Genesis Gilmore of Indian Hills. Siah Turrentine of Iowa Western will wrestle up a weight class and is ranked No. 5 at 143.

170 - Kaley Rice of Texas Wesleyan is the highest ranked NAIA wrestler in the bracket at No. 12. Amelia Frounfelter of Saint Mary (Kan.) is No. 14, Kalli Sutton of Doane is No. 17, Tiyanna Leal of York is No. 18, and Taylor Rickley of Hastings is No. 20. Rickley was a national qualifier last year. The sixth No. 1 ranked wrestler in the tournament is Yaracely Saenz of Indian Hills from the NJCAA. Grace Thompson of Carl Albert is ranked No. 4 and Toyia Griffin of Ellsworth CC is No. 7 in the NJCAA.

191 - Joanna Hendricks of Waldorf is the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the NAIA in the division. She is one of three wrestlers who qualified in the weight class for NAIA nationals last year. Gracie Goldsmith-Ding of York (No. 11) and Lessly Sandoval of Saint Mary (No. 14) also qualified for nationals. Elisa Robinson of Baker (No. 7) and Marissa Patterson of Hastings (No. 20) join the division as NAIA ranked wrestlers. Indian Hills has two ranked wrestlers in the NJCAA that will compete, Tiffany White (No. 2) and Norma Alejandro (No. 3).

Four wrestlers are returning that won bracket championships in the inaugural women's tournament: Vang (101), Heath (116), Rodriguez (123), and Hawks (155). All four will compete in the weight class they won in December 2022.

Men's Tournament

125 - Three wrestlers that could be on a collision course to meet at some point in the tournament are NAIA No. 12 Brody Gee of Saint Mary (Kan.), No. 13 Hunter Bennett of Doane, and No. 16 Landon Smith of Embry-Riddle (Ariz.). Bennett has the most matches, going 1-2 against Gee last year and 2-2 against Smith over the last two years including a split this season. Smith holds a win over Gee in the NAIA Championships last year. They will be joined by NAIA No. 21 Jose Gonzalez of Dickinson State and NJCAA No. 8 Gabe Grice of Iowa Western as ranked wrestlers.

133 - Four NAIA national qualifiers in the division from last year are scheduled to compete. Kolby Encinas of Oklahoma Wesleyan is ranked No. 6. Dillon Witt of Missouri Baptist is ranked No. 12 while Freddie Barajas of Saint Mary (Kan.) and Devin Avedissian of Doane are dropping back down to the weight class. Barajas is currently No. 15 at 141 and Avedissian is No. 24 at 141. Also ranked in the division are Roman De La Cruz of Saint Mary (Kan.) at No. 10 and Paul Ruff of Iowa Western is ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA.

141 - Kyler Larkin of Valiant (Ariz.) is the lone returning bracket champion. He will be joined by several ranked wrestlers. Creighton Baughman of Concordia and Jackson Wenberg of Graceland are ranked No. 10 and 11, respectively. Hartwell Taylor of Saint Mary (Kan.) is ranked No. 13 with Edrich Nortje of Dickinson State is No. 16. Ezavian Ortega of Friends is No. 20 and Donte Lopez of Oklahoma Wesleyan is No. 22. Baugman, Wenberg, and Lopez all qualified for nationals last year. Malachi Bordovsky of Iowa Western is ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA.

149 - Two ranked wrestlers highlight the bracket, led by returning NAIA national qualifier and Noo. 8 Dallas Koelzer of Baker. Austin Almaguer of Saint Mary (Kan.) is ranked No. 20. 

157 - Two Doane wrestlers enter the meet with national rankings. Benjamin Miller is ranked No. 20 while Benjamin Dobler drops a weight class to compete this week. Dobler is currently No. 17 at 165. The big name scheduled to compete is the reigning Big 12 champion from Iowa State, Paniro Johnson.

165 - NAIA national qualifiers Braeden Baller of Texas Wesleyan (No. 8) and Joey Hancock of Baker (No. 13) bring in the top marks from the association. Additionally, Cole Price of Iowa Western is ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA and Noah Smith of Carl Albert is No. 8.

174 - Daniil Gorshkov of Embry-Riddle is the highest-ranked competitor at No. 18 in the NAIA. Lane Miller of Dakota Wesleyan comes in ranked No. 20 and Joseph Teguia of Graceland is ranked No. 25. Elise Brown Ton of Nebraska will be one of the top seeds in the bracket and holds four Top 3 finishes in open meets during his time with the Huskers.

184 - Tyson Beauperthuy of Doane comes in ranked No. 5 to lead a group of three ranked wrestlers. Brett Bober of Baker is No. 8 and Kelvin Coker of Texas Wesleyan is No. 21. Beauperthuy was a red-shirt last year while Bober qualified for nationals at 184 and Coker qualified at 197.

197 - Bradley Antesberger of Doane is ranked No. 2 in the NAIA entering the meet with No. 3 Malachi Karibo of Baker also entered. Antesberger defeated Karibo in overtime at nationals last year to take third place. Kasten Grape of Doane red-shirted last year and is ranked No. 8 this season. Ryker Blackburn of Saint Mary (Kan.) is No. 12 and Graceland's John Schuttler is No. 23. Hunter Hall of Carl Albert is ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA.

285 - The lone ranked wrestler is York's Tanner Hawkins. He enters the meet ranked No. 24. Brandyn Van Tassell of Nebraska and Nate Schon of Iowa State also figure to be key wrestlers in the weight class.