Women's Wrestling Claim Second at Warrior Open
Women's Wrestling / 12.11.21
FORT WAYNE, Ind. --- The Life University women's wrestling team saw two wrestlers take first place in their weight classes, while the team finished second overall with a total of 221.5 points at the Warrior Women's Open today in Indiana.
On the team rankings, the first overall team position was claimed by Campbellsville with 234.5 points, while following the Running Eagles in third place was Adrian College with 188 points.
Acting as highlights for the day for the Running Eagles,
Katalina Bartelt and
Sie Powell earned champion honors in their weight classes as four other wrestlers finished with top three results. Appearing at her new weight, 101 lbs, for the first time, Bartelt put together a great showing to claim the 101 lbs title. In her six matches, Bartelt recorded a pair of technical falls and three technical falls before earning a hard fought, upset decision over eighth-ranked Sydney Kutzke, 8-7, for the title. The other champion,
Sie Powell, dominated the 123 lbs weight class, winning all four matches without being scored on. Powell recorded a pin and three technical falls in the fastest time of all participants (4:05) to quickly win the 123 lbs. division.
At 109 lbs,
Kory Phillips came in second, bouncing back after an opening round loss via fall, winning four straight matches via a fall, two techs, and an injury forfeit, defeating wrestlers ranked 15th (Elizabeth Dosado) and 11th (Jaine Stephens).
Brianna Funakoshi had her best performance of the season, claiming second in the 116 lbs division. Funakoshi's won three straight matches to start the day, including a pin, tech, and decision before suffering her only loss in the finals. On her way to a third place finish,
Olivia Mottley opened the day in the 136 lbs division with a pin and a tech fall, before taking her only loss of the day in the semifinals. Mottley bounced back with another tech and pin to clinch 3rd.
Catherine Palmieri rounded things out for the Running Eagles with a third place finish in the 191 lbs division. Palmieri wrestled in six matches, going 4-2, her only losses coming via a pair of ranked opponents. The four victories came in dominant fashion with a 9-2 decision, two techs, and a quick pin.Â
The records of the otherr Life U wrestlers are listed below:
Speaking on how the team performed, head coach Ashley Flavin said, "Our athletes performed well this weekend. We are beginning to see some of the nerves and rust get knocked off as we get a few more matches under our belts." She continued, talking about her two champions, "
Sie Powell had an outstanding weekend, going unscored upon in the tournament and earning the most technical falls in the least amount of time, three in 4:05, and a pin. We also got to see
Katalina Bartelt at her new weight class, showing she is a force to be reckoned with as she knocked off the number eight athlete in the nation and earning three technical falls in 4:34 and a winning a gutsy finals match 8-7."
Flavin finished saying, "We are scoring lots of points and now will tighten down the defense and increase our polish as we move into The Midlands and the championship portion of our season. Walking away with 2 champions and 4 other top 3 finishes is a good weekend, but we are not satisfied."
The women's wrestling team has a couple weeks off from competitions before traveling to Northwestern for the Midlands Championships December 30th.
