NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The No. 5 Colorado Mesa women's wrestling team competed at the very difficult North Central Invitational on Sunday (Dec. 14) afternoon. The Mavericks finished in fourth place as a team with 72 points and three top-6 finishers in the highest division.
 
Redshirt senior Jayleen Sekona placed second at 207 pounds in the A Division falling to No. 3 ranked Eliana Bommarito of King University by fall. The Anchorage, Alaska native went 2-1 on the day picking up wins over Alivia Davey of Indiana Tech with a pin in 29 seconds before a pin of North Central's Dasia Yearby at 3:49 in the semifinals.
 
Sekona was the highest finishing Maverick in the A Division.
 
At 103 pounds, Maverick Mia Zuniga finished in third place in the A Division after going 4-1 in the weight class. In the third-place match, Zuniga earned a 4-1 decision over Indiana Tech's Zoey Haney to cap a solid effort on the day. The Granger, Wash. native earned wins over Adams State's Mia Siqueiros and Haney in the championship side of the bracket. She ran into a buzzsaw in Erin Hikiji of Providence in the semifinal where she fell by technical fall.
 
Zuniga bounced back with a win over Zurri Zamora of North Central by pin, leading her to the third-place match.
 
Sophomore Gretchen Donally had a solid day with a fifth-place finish at 145 pounds. She finished the day with a 3-2 record and atoned for one of the losses she suffered in the tournament. Donnally fell to unattached wrestler Riley Amold 11-8 in the quarterfinals and came back through and picked up a tech fall win 11-1 in the fifth-place match.
 
The Ballantine, Mont. native picked up a 6-2 win over Desiree Jones of Menlo and a default win over Clarissa Agostini of Grand Valley State en route to her podium finish.
 
With two divisions in the tournament, the Mavericks had three B Division placers to go with their three A Division placers.
 
Sophomore Thalia Vogelsang earned the top spot on the podium at 131 pounds as she defeated Jaylene Martinez of Gannon 18-8 in the first-place bout. On her path to the title, she earned three technical falls and a pin of Bella Curcuru of Elmira in the quarterfinals.
 
Freshman Delarie Juarez finished as the runner-up at 145 pounds in the B Division after going 4-1 on the day.  Juarez picked up four straight pins on her way to the final where she fell to Adams State redshirt freshman Dakota Hull. She had wins over Grand Valley State, Wisconsin Stevens Point, North Central and Aurora.
 
Taylor Colangelo went 5-1 on the day to finish in third place at 160 pounds in the B Division. Colangelo's lone blemish of the day came in the quarterfinals where she fell to an unattached wrestler. The Peoria, Ariz. native had four pins and a technical fall with the pins coming against Quincy, Adams State, Elmira and Adrian.
 
The Mavericks will hop on a plane for Sin City to compete in the Desert Duals on Wednesday beginning at 9am in the Flamingo Hilton Hotel. They are set to compete against Simon Fraser, Grand Valley State, Wartburg, Presbyterian and Vanguard throughout the day on December 14.