Three Place at Spire Open for Women's Wrestling

Doane Women's Wrestling competed at the Saint Mary Spire Classic on Friday in Leavenworth, Kansas. The Tigers brought home three Top 3 finishes on the day.

Cristelle Rodriguez went 4-0 at 130 to win the individual title. She opened her bracket with a 26-second pin of Athena Wilden of NCAA Division II William Jewell. In her next match, she defeated Ottawa's Madelynn Griffin by tech fall, 10-0. The semifinals pitted Rodriguez against NJCAA No. 7 Bronwyn Brenneman of Iowa Central CC. She picked up a 12-2 tech fall victory. 

In the championship match, Rodriguez took on Nichole Moore who was competing unattached. An All-American at Baker last year, Moore also won the 2022 23U 57-kilogram division of the USMC women's national championship. Rodriguez led 2-1 after the opening period but Moore would tie the match in the second. With 17 seconds left, Moore hit a takedown to take a 4-2 lead but Rodriguez would come back with a takedown with six seconds left to tie the match. She would go on to win by criteria with the final score at 4-4.

Karina Vang picked up a third place finish at 101 with a 4-1 day. She opened with a pin over York's Ella Whitaker in 46 seconds. In the second match, Vang pinned Alyssa Cordova of Saint Mary in 1:29. She posted a tech fall win, 12-0, over Alanis Serrano-Rios for her third win. Vang's lone loss came to NJCAA No. 3 Tenley Jones of Carl Albert CC by pin in 57 seconds. In the Third Place match, Vang defeated Cordova for the second time by pin, finishing the match at 2:59.

Maya Blackman also placed third at 155 after going 5-1. She dropped her opening match by an 8-6 decision to Jazmine Garcia of Quincy. Her next four matches all ended in pin victories. She defeated Rebekah Koolstra of Saint Mary (1:26), Amyrha Dylina-Syyan of Indian Hills CC (1:14), Erma Williams of Indian Hills CC (1:46), and Genesis Higuera of Waldorf (1:21). In the Third Place match, Blackman would face Garcia once again. This time, it was Blackman coming out on top as she picked up her fifth straight pin of the day, winning in 1:49.

Aevri Ciha went 3-2 for the Tigers at 143, with her two losses coming to ranked opponents. She defeated Niah Smith of Waldorf by pin in 4:39. She was pinned in her next match by NAIA No. 13 Aniseta Acosta of Missouri Valley in 1:48. Ciha followed with a pin of Jennifer Jimenez of Waldorf in 3:20 and a pin of Emma Thompson of Central Methodist in 1:30. In the final match for Ciha, she was defeated by NJCAA No. 8 Kylie Hulse of Carl Albert CC, 9-1.

Lamia Benn picked up one win for the Tigers as she defeated Anyha Cain of Central Methodist in the 170 bracket by pin in 3:14.

Next up for the Tigers is the Grand View Open on February 4 in Des Moines, Iowa.