CHADRON, Neb. – Rylee Balcazar and
Esther Peters won their respective brackets on their home mat as Chadron State women's wrestling took home two of 10 titles at the Chadron State Eagle Women's Open on Saturday at the Chicoine Center.
The Eagles had 10 placers overall officially, with another five CSC wrestlers placing while competing unattached. After the two champions, CSC had one second place finisher (
Adrianna Lopez, 117), three third place finishers (
Brianna Vollendroff at 103,
Piper Cadden at 131,
Nevaeh Leonard at 138), a fourth place (
Shania Wear, 117), two fifths (
Ana Rojas-Zamora at 124 and
Meredith Nash at 138) and a sixth (
Desza Munson, 145).
Both Balcazar and Peters had no shortage of standout moments. Balcazar, a sophomore from Fort Lupton, Colorado, went 4-0 with four pins in a combined 4:03, with her longest match of the day taking just 1:14. Balcazar topped wrestlers from Southeast CC, Hastings and Trinidad State before beating Adams State's Katelyn Faczak in the final.
Peters went 3-0 with a couple of marquee wins. The sophomore Texan, ranked No. 8 in The Open Mat's latest rankings, defeated the reigning junior college national champion, Southeast CC's Martha Hinneh, by an 8-0 decision in the semifinals before toppling RMAC rival and No. 9-ranked Kitana Leafaatoto 4-2 in the final.
Adrianna Lopez also advanced to a final for Chadron State. The redshirt freshman and Colorado Springs native pinned her first-round opponent in a minute, then tech falled a top-10 ranked juco wrestler in Southeast's Jasimen Ortega in the second round.
Lopez faced teammate
Shania Wear in a hotly contested semifinal that saw Lopez score a go-ahead takedown late to take a 5-4 win. Lopez would lose in the final to Adams State's No. 19-ranked Flavia Nagatani while Wear earned a consolation bracket win before she fell to Ortega in the third-place match.
Brianna Vollendroff finished third at 103 pounds while only losing to the champion. Vollendroff pinned two foes from Colorado Mesa (Madison Heinzer and Alissa Perez) among her three victories on the day.
Competing in the largest bracket of the day (21 wrestlers) at 131 pounds,
Piper Cadden took to the mat seven times and finished 6-1 while only conceding two points in her seven matches. Cadden lost to Bismarck State's Alexis Schneider 1-0 in the quarterfinals but outscored her other five opponents 44-0 to advance back up to the third-place match. The Fort Hays State got another crack at Schneider and made the most of it, winning 3-1 in the rematch.
Nevaeh Leonard was CSC's final podium finisher. Leonard recovered from a first-round pin at the hands of eventual runner-up Lisa Hoeflich of Hastings to finish third by winning four straight consolation matches, including a win over No. 6 junior college ranked Lillian Hagemann from Southeast CC, the same school Leonard competed at for the previous two seasons.
Competing for Chadron State and not placing were
Trona Bates (1-2, 117),
Maddox Gehlhausen (0-2, 124),
Hattie Baldwin (0-2, 145),
Cosette Desrosiers (0-2, 180),
Sicily Frates (2-2, 180) and
Estrella Vasquez Gutierrez (1-2, 207).
Six other CSC wrestlers suited up for competition unattached, and five of them.
Mana Chanthasone finished as the 103-pound runner-up while
Eliza Davis placed second at 145.
Angelina Cassioppi had a 4-2 day at 124 pounds, placing fourth, while
Isabella Crown (103) and
Regan Rosseter (138) each placed sixth.
No team scoring was kept, but of the 10 weight classes contested, Adams State led the way with three bracket wins (103, 117, 145) while Chadron State, Texas Woman's (160, 180) and Hastings College (131, 138) each had two. Colorado Mesa had one (124).
Chadron State will head north of the border to British Columbia, Canada, taking on RMAC rival Simon Fraser and Menlo College in duals next Saturday, January 17.
