COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Brianna Vollendroff became the first RMAC champion in Chadron State women's wrestling history, taking the 103-pound crown to lead four podium finishers and nine placers for the Eagles at the RMAC Women's Wrestling Championships on Saturday.

Vollendroff is the first conference champion for CSC since the RMAC began holding a women's wrestling conference tournament in 2024. The Eagles had recorded five second-place finishes across the first two years of the event prior to Vollendroff's win. 

Rylee Balcazar added to CSC's second-place tally with a nail-biting 7-7 criteria loss to Colorado Mesa's Adriana Gomez in the 110-pound final. Piper Cadden (131 pounds) and Esther Peters (207 pounds) each finished third at their respective weights.

The Eagles had two fourth-place finishers (Adrianna Lopez at 117 pounds and Meredith Nash at 138 pounds), a fifth-place finisher (Ana Rojas-Zamora, 124) and two sixth-place finishers (Shania Wear, 117 and Eliza Davis, 145). 

Also suiting up for the Eagles on Saturday were Maddox Gehlhausen at 124, Hattie Baldwin at 145 and Cosette Desrosiers and Sicily Frates at 180. 

Vollendroff took home the title in dominant fashion, pinning Simon Fraser's Unya Hollmayer in 3:42 in the semifinal and handling Adams State's Mia Siqueiros 10-4 in the title bout. 

Vollendroff jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Siqueiros came back to tie the score 4-4 at the end of the first period. The wrestlers stayed deadlocked for nearly two minutes in the final frame before Vollendroff earned a two-point takedown with 1:09 to go to move into the lead, then added on with 16 seconds left and two seconds left, scoring the final six points.

The Eagles nearly had back-to-back champs with Balcazar up in the 110-pound final against the top seed Gomez. Balcazar earned an initial point on a push-out, then connected on a few shots to take a 7-2 lead and was on top 7-4 at the intermission. 

Gomez rallied, earning a pushout early in the second period and finding the match-tying takedown with 1:51 left. Several scrambles followed, but no points were awarded the rest of the way and Gomez earned the 7-7 win and the championship due to scoring the most recent points. 

Cadden and Peters each had to navigate through a gauntlet to emerge with their third-place finishes. Cadden navigated the largest bracket of the tournament but finished 3-1, defeating Colorado Mesa's Brooke McCurley in both the quarterfinal and the third-place match. Cadden was pinned in the semi's by Simon Fraser's Agnia Krakovska, but rebounded to beat Adams State's Hallie Carter 10-0 and McCully 8-4.

Peters was part of a stacked 207-pound bracket that featured four wrestlers in the national Top 10 of The Open Mat rankings – No. 7 Jayleen Sekona of Colorado Mesa, No. 8 Julia Richey of Simon Fraser, No. 9 Peters and No. 10 Kitana Leafaatoto of Texas Woman's. 

The sophomore, who lost in the championship of the event to Richey a season ago as a true freshman, met her Simon Fraser nemesis again in the semifinals this time, with Richey earning a pin. Peters bounced back in the third-place match, defeating Leafaatoto for the third time this season, this time by a 4-2 decision. 

Simon Fraser, which won its third straight regular-season RMAC title based on its dual performances, won the league's tournament title for the first time, taking that crown away from Colorado Mesa. The Red Leafs finished with 309.5 points, well ahead of second-place CMU at 247. 

The other three teams were neck-and-neck. Adams State placed third with 147 team points and Texas Woman's was fourth with 131 points, just one point ahead of Chadron State at 130. 

The Eagles were one of only three programs with a champion at this year's tournament. Simon Fraser won six of the 10 weight classes (124, 131, 138, 145, 160, 180) while Colorado Mesa took three (110, 117, 207) alongside CSC's win at 103. 

Chadron State's four podium finishers were equal to Adams State and one more than Texas Woman's, but the Grizzlies and Pioneers were able to get enough early-round wins from their depth to surpass the Eagles in the team standings. 

The Eagles also got a huge off-mat win – even if expected – when senior Shania Wear earned the RMAC Summit Award for having the league's top GPA for the third consecutive year. To read more about Wear's Summit Award honor, click here.

The Eagles have two more duals – against Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction on February 7 and at home vs. Fort Hays Tech Northwest for Senior Night on February 11 – before the NCAA regional championships on February 21-22.