CHADRON, Neb. – Led by top two performances by a pair of freshmen, Chadron State wrestling had seven placers at the Eagles' own Chadron State Women's Open, held Saturday in the Chicoine Center.
Esther Peters, a freshman out of McKinney, Texas, took home the title at 207 pounds to headline the Eagle performances. Peters cruised through the bracket, defeating Jamestown's Grace Todhunter by fall in the quarterfinal, pinning Texas Woman's University's Jaycee Portee in just 56 seconds in the semi and winning 10-0 by tech fall over Minot State's Madilyn Schuck in the 207-pound final.
Ella Shevlin, a Columbus, Nebraska native who has solidified herself as CSC's top option at 180 pounds, took home second place in her weight class. Shevlin pulled out a win over Colorado Mesa's Maggie Smith on criteria in the semifinal before falling to CMU's Alison Evans in the final.
A Chadron State wrestler took home fourth place in each of the three smallest weight classes contested.
Brianna Vollendroff finished fourth at 103, rebounding from a first-round loss to the eventual second-place finisher to win three consolation bracket matches, including a head-to-head win over teammate
Mana Chanthasone.
CSC's other two fourth-place wrestlers were juniors
Heavynne Robles-Wright at 110 and
Shania Wear at 117. Both Robles-Wright and Wear finished 2-2 overall and lost to the eventual winners in the championship brackets.
Chadron State's final two placers were junior
Britley Lopez, who took fifth place at 103 pounds, and freshman
Rylee Balcazar, who placed in a tournament for the third time this season with a fifth-place finish at 110. Balcazar lost head-to-head to Robles-Wright in the consolation semifinal, but won the fifth-place match over Mackenzie Peterson of Texas Woman's.
Other Eagles who competed included
Mana Chanthasone at 103 pounds,
Trona Bates at 124,
Maddox Gehlhausen at 124,
Karstin Hollen at 145, and
Sicily Frates, who dropped back down to 180 after stepping up to wrestle at 207 during Friday night's duals.
Overall, there were eight NCAA programs in attendance at the Open – Adams State, Chadron State, Colorado Mesa, Minot State, Simon Fraser, Snow College, Texas Woman's and Jamestown.
Out of the 10 weight classes contested, Simon Fraser wrestlers took home titles in five of them, followed by Colorado Mesa in three and Snow College and Chadron State both in one.
