NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Nevaeh Leonard went 3-1 and earned a second-place finish in the 138-pound "B" bracket of the North Central College Women's Invite to lead Chadron State at the large-field event in Illinois as all of CSC's "A" bracket competitors failed to place. 

Brianna Vollendroff (2-2 at 103 pounds) and Piper Cadden (2-2 at 131 pounds) each won multiple matches while Adrianna Lopez (117 pounds), Angelina Cassioppi (124), and Esther Peters (207) all went 1-1 in "A" bracket competition. 

Rylee Balcazar (110 pounds), Shania Wear (117), Ana Rojas-Zamora (124), Meredith Nash (138), and Desza Munson (145) rounded out the crew of 11 competing CSC women's wrestlers, who were all entered in "A" brackets except for Leonard. 

Leonard, who hails from Yankton, South Dakota and transferred to CSC after two years at Southeast Community College, stormed through the first four rounds of the "B" bracket before a loss in the final. 

Leonard received a first-round bye then won by 10-0 tech fall in round two. Leonard won a high-scoring thriller over Quincy's Florida Niyokusenga in a 10-9 decision, then topped Southern Oregon's Sabrina Sifuentez 7-0 in the semifinal to wrestle for a championship. The title match ended quickly as unattached wrestler Taylor Engelen pinned Leonard in 23 seconds for Leonard's only loss of the day. 

Several Eagle wrestlers faced top competition throughout the day. Rylee Balcazar, who entered ranked No. 8 at 110 pounds by The Open Mat, faced No. 12 Trinity Pendergrass and No. 16 Kate Cooper in back-to-back matches, losing both. 

Esther Peters, ranked No. 6 by the Open Mat, faced No.5/7-ranked Caroline Ward from hosts North Central in a quarterfinal match that nearly went the distance before Ward found a pin. 

True freshman Angelina Cassioppi got to challenge herself against the No. 4-ranked wrestler in the country at 124 pounds, North Central's Sara Sterner. Cassioppi matched up with Sterner in the second round after pinning her first round opponent, and Sterner won via a 9-3 decision. 

North Central won the team scoring ahead of Iowa, Providence, Colorado Mesa and King University. With 10.5 team points, the Eagles were 25^th in the team standings out of 35. They finished just marginally behind the third and final RMAC team in attendance, Adams State, who was 24^th with 13 points.

After time off for Christmas break, women's wrestling will host the Chadron State duals and Chadron State Open on January 9-10 in the Chicoine Center.