NCAA Weekend Takeaways: Nov. 6-8

The NCAA women’s wrestling season produced its biggest result yet this weekend. Grand Valley State knocked off top-ranked Iowa on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown, where the Lakers’ young stars came up big and Presbyterian’s Zoe Griffith and Delaware State’s Willow White made noise at 138 pounds. Northern Michigan’s freshmen dominated the Pointer Open in Wisconsin, and Chadron State won five titles at the Dickinson State Open in North Dakota.

Below are five takeaways from the NCAA weekend.

GVSU stuns Iowa, but it’s too early to overreact

GVSU has the biggest win of the young season. The Lakers, ranked No. 4 in the HerMat NCAA dual meet rankings, edged top-ranked Iowa 22-20 on Sunday to finish 3-0 at the Throwdown on the Yorktown in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. It was just the second dual loss in Iowa program history. The first came last season at the NWCA National Duals, where North Central won 23-21. GVSU built a 21-6 lead through six bouts, then held on as Iowa outscored the Lakers 14-1 over the final four weights. The dual may have turned in the first bout. No. 4 Katey Valdez trailed Iowa’s Sterling Dias 5-4 in the closing seconds at 103 pounds before scoring an exposure and securing the fall at the 6:00 mark. A Dias decision would have swung the dual to Iowa. Still, it’s far too early in the season to overreact. Iowa competed without three ranked wrestlers, No. 1 Val Solorio (103), No. 1 Everest Leydecker (124) and No. 5 Karlee Brooks (131). GVSU was missing No. 1 Sabrina Nauss (207), No. 5 Elleni Johnson (160) and No. 14 Alyssa Favara (180). Both teams also used different wrestlers at several weights from one dual to the next, and lineups are far from solidified. Iowa is still the team to beat, but GVSU proved it can win a close dual against anyone.

GVSU’s young stars deliver on a big stage

In last week’s takeaways, we noted that the future is bright at GVSU after the Lakers’ freshmen shined at the Tiffin Open. It didn’t take long for that young talent to deliver on a bigger stage, as GVSU’s newcomers carried the Lakers on the flight deck. Freshman Julia Horger, ranked No. 8 at 110 pounds, went 2-0 with wins over two top-eight wrestlers. She rolled to a 10-0 technical superiority over Presbyterian All-American Chloe Dearwester, the No. 3 wrestler at the weight, in 1:33 on Saturday. On Sunday, she controlled Iowa’s Isabella Gonzales, ranked No. 6, 7-0, stopping several deep shots along the way. It came a week after Horger beat another All-American, McKendree’s Heather Crull, for the Tiffin Open title. Freshman Naima Ghaffar went 3-0 with three falls at 131 pounds. Her biggest win for the team came Sunday, when she rallied from an 8-0 deficit to pin Iowa’s Emily Frost, the Luther Hill Open champion, in 2:16. Ghaffar also pinned Presbyterian’s Alyssa Mahan, ranked No. 7 at 124 pounds. Valdez, a McKendree transfer, matched Ghaffar with three falls, including a 35-second pin of Presbyterian’s Annalise Maralit, ranked No. 17 at 103 pounds. Freshman Noelani Lutz bounced back from an 11-0 loss to Presbyterian’s Jenna Anderson to edge Iowa’s Harlee Hiller 12-10 at 124 pounds, a win that proved critical in a two-point dual. Noelle Gaffney also beat Presbyterian two-time All-American May Cuyler 8-3 at 180 pounds. With Nauss, Johnson and Favara still to return, GVSU’s lineup should only get stronger.

Northern Michigan freshmen shine at Pointer Open

Northern Michigan’s freshmen made a statement at the Pointer Open. The Wildcats won five of the 10 Gold-bracket titles in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and four of their champions are freshmen. No other team won more than two. The five champions went a combined 21-0, with 20 of those wins by technical superiority, and Northern Michigan’s 29 technical superiorities were the most of the 20 teams. Lillee Denson, ranked No. 12 at 103 pounds, went 4-0 with four technical superiorities, capped by a 13-1 win over No. 3 Genesis Ramirez of Aurora in the finals. Denson won a Fargo title last summer. Cheyenne Frank went 5-0 with five technical superiorities at 117 pounds. She took down Wartburg’s Ava Gardner, ranked No. 13 at 110 pounds, in 1:03 and needed just 32 seconds against North Central’s Mikayla Garcia, ranked No. 12, who beat her on criteria five days earlier. Belicia Manuel blanked Wartburg’s Aniyah Kelly, ranked No. 12 at 145 pounds, 11-0 for the title, and Kandice Spry won at 124 pounds after a 10-0 technical superiority over Simpson’s Ashley Cannon, ranked No. 13, in the semifinals. No. 8 Sophia Bassino won all four of her matches at 160 by technical superiority, including an 11-0 win over Wartburg’s Kami Senlycki, ranked No. 10, in the semifinals. More help is on the way. Belicia’s sister, Kaili Manuel, a senior from Romeo, Michigan, is one of the nation’s top recruits. She won a U17 world title at 73 kilograms this year.

Chadron State rolls at Dickinson State Open

Chadron State owned the Dickinson State Open. The Eagles won five of the nine titles on Saturday in Dickinson, North Dakota, and filled both spots in the 131-pound finals. Rylee Balcazar, ranked No. 12 at 110 pounds, led the way with three straight technical superiorities. Her toughest test came in the semifinals, where she beat NAIA No. 9 Raelynn O’Connor of Hastings 17-7, before closing with a 12-0 technical superiority over Dickinson State’s Piper Montoya in the finals. Adrianna Lopez pinned all three of her opponents at 117 pounds, capping her day by sticking NAIA No. 16 Larhae Whaley of Dickinson State in 2:57 in the finals. Katie Snyder was even quicker at 160 pounds. She pinned four opponents in a combined 2:43, and none of the pins took longer than 1:03. Martynique Davis went 4-0 with three technical superiorities and a fall at 131 pounds, opening with a technical superiority in 20 seconds and beating teammate Zitlali Sarmiento 11-0 in the finals. Mana Chanthasone added a title at 103 pounds with two technical superiorities and a fall. Chadron State did all of this without two of its ranked wrestlers, No. 14 Piper Cadden (131) and No. 11 Esther Peters (207). The Eagles, who are not in the HerMat NCAA tournament rankings, look like a team ready to climb.

Griffith, White shake up 138

The 138-pound weight class got a shake-up on the Yorktown. Iowa’s Lilly Luft, ranked No. 2 at the weight, dropped both of her bouts on Saturday, and the two wrestlers who beat her were among the breakout stars of the event. Luft appeared to be injured Saturday and was unable to compete Sunday, when Iowa forfeited at 138 pounds against GVSU. Delaware State’s Willow White, ranked No. 10, handled Luft 12-3 in the first dual of the day, then topped GVSU’s Jordyn Fouse, ranked No. 14, 7-3. White’s unbeaten start ended Sunday, when Presbyterian’s Kassey Daugherty, ranked No. 9 at 131 pounds, blanked her 3-0. The Delaware State freshman also won the East Stroudsburg Open title last weekend, beating East Stroudsburg’s Ragan Retell, ranked No. 11, by technical superiority in 55 seconds. Presbyterian’s Zoe Griffith was even more impressive. The unranked Griffith pinned all three of her opponents, and two of them were ranked. She moved down to 138 pounds to pin Luft at 5:54, earning Presbyterian’s only win over Iowa. She also stuck GVSU’s Alexis Lazar in 1:14 and Delaware State’s Louise Juitt, ranked No. 9 at 145 pounds, in 2:16. Griffith wrestled at 145 pounds in those two duals after Presbyterian moved Maddie Kubicki, ranked No. 6 at 145, up to 160, one of several lineup shifts the Blue Hose made over the weekend. Griffith put herself on the national radar this past weekend.