Women's Wrestling Finishes 2nd at GPAC; Brewis and Kaz Claim Individual Titles
(Hastings, NE) – Hosting the GPAC Championships for the first time, it came down to the final matches between Doane and Hastings for the title, as the Tigers edged out the Broncos by 10 points, 179.5-169.5. Hastings finished in second with freshman Chloe Brewis at 110 and senior Larissa Kaz at 131 ending the day as individual GPAC Champions.
(Hastings, NE) – Hosting the GPAC Championships for the first time, it came down to the final matches between Doane and Hastings for the title, as the Tigers edged out the Broncos by 10 points, 179.5-169.5. Hastings finished in second with freshman Chloe Brewis at 110 and senior Larissa Kaz at 131 ending the day as individual GPAC Champions.
Brewis began her day with a 10-0 tech fall win in the 110 quarterfinals over Dakota Wesleyan's Cerys Gardner. She won her semifinal matchup with a 15-2 tech fall over Waldorf's Edyn Hartman, then defeated freshman teammate Raelynn O'Connor in a 12-0 tech fall in the final.
Kaz picked up a 12-0 tech fall win a minute into her quarterfinal match against Dakota Wesleyan's Isabelle Camarillo. She won her semifinal by fall over Neve Barragan of Waldorf at the 2:29 mark, then won a 6-0 decision over #6 Ashley Palimo of Doane to win the championship.
O'Connor was down 8-4 in the second period in her quarterfinal match against Doane's Isabela Gutierrez at 110, then scored 10 points in the final minute to win, 14-8. She advanced to the final with a 38-second pin over Destiny Castillo of Midland and took second with the loss to Brewis.
Following a quarterfinal bye at 124, freshman Jessica Farmer earned a pin win over Morningside's Callee Shearer at the 2:26 mark in the semifinals. Farmer was pinned in the championship match by #1 Christelle Rodriguez of Doane to take second.
After a quarterfinal bye at 138, junior Reagen Gallaway reached the finals with a pin over Dakota Wesleyan's Tiara Faehnrich in just over a minute. Facing #14 Maci Avila of Midland in the final, Gallaway led 4-0 in the first, but Avila won the last eight points of the bout including four in the final minute, as Gallaway placed second.
At 180, sophomore Mandy Perez reached the semifinals with a bye in her first match, then after trailing 9-1 to Doane's Hailey Romero, Perez took control of the match and pinned Romero at the 2:53 mark to advance to the final. Facing Doane's Yazmin Belk in the final, Perez was pinned late in the bout to take second.
Freshman Alexis Llamas began her day with a bye in the 207 quarterfinals and reached the finals in a no-contest win against senior teammate Taylor Rickley. Down 2-0 in the consolation semifinals against Midland's Noelia Sedano got a takedown and pin to advance to the consolation final. In the championship match against #4 Jessica Rodriguez, Llamas was pinned and finished runner-up.
Senior Lisa Hoeflich pinned Danielle Franco of Midland at the 1:54 mark in the 138 quarterfinal. Following a tech fall lost to Avila from Midland, she needed only 56 seconds to pin Waldorf's Emily Hibner in the consolation semifinals. Hoelfich took third with a 10-0 tech fall victory in a rematch against Franco.
In the semifinals following a quarterfinal bye at 145, sophomore Emma Stice led 4-2 after the first period over Waldorf's Niah Smith, but fell behind 8-4 in the second and was pinned. She rebounded in the consolation final, pinning Midland's Andrea Frisque at the 4:42 mark to claim third place.
Freshman Jayla Ford received a quarterfinal bye at 160, then was pinned in the semifinals versus Waldorf's Renee Miguel. In the consolation semifinal, she worked her way to a 12-2 tech fall win. She rode that momentum into the consolation final, winning by fall over Midland's Hallie Stone to finish in third.
Rickley got a pin at the 1:19 mark against Waldorf's Olivia Burciaga to advance to the semifinals at 207, setting up the no-contest matchup against Llamas to reach the final. Rickley defeated #18 Skyler Bruno in the consolation final by fall at the 2:29 mark, finishing third.
After a quarterfinal bye at 103, freshman Miranda LaJevic was pinned in the semifinals against #13 Karina Vang of Doane. She won the consolation semifinal match with a 12-0 tech win over Krya Gonzalez of Midland, then was pinned in the third place match against #17 Kimberly Navarette from Doane to finish fourth.
Hastings will now await the announcement from the NAIA for the list of the National Tournament Qualifiers. Nationals will take place on Mar. 13-14 in Wichita, KS.
