CORALVILLE, Iowa – The Colorado Mesa women's wrestling team competed in the opening day of the NCWWC National Championship meet at Xtream Arena on Friday (Mar. 7) afternoon. The Mavericks had 10 wrestlers competing and were a part of over 300 wrestlers at 64 schools in the field.
 
Senior Jennesis Martinez is one win away from becoming a five-time NCWWC All-American after winning a pair of matches at 103 pounds on Friday. Martinez defeated Gianna Hernandez of Western New England by pin and followed that up with a 10-2 victory of Brianne Graves of North Central. The Albuquerque, N.M. native fell to Iowa's Sterling Dias by pin at 1:54 to wrap her day.
 
Martinez will face North Central's Madison Avila in the blood round for her shot at history.
 
The Mavericks had another competitor at 103 pounds with freshman Madison Heinzer taking to the mat. She is still alive after winning her first match of the day 12-2 over Olivia Klein of East Stroudsburg before running into a buzzsaw in Otterbein's Olivia Shore. Heinzer bounced back with a win over Alexis Dobson of New England College and a huge win over No. 3 ranked Rayana Sahagun of Grand Valley State 9-7.
 
Heinzer will now face Schreiner's Odelia Lopez in the Blood Round tomorrow morning.
 
Lorianna Piestewa made her way to the quarterfinals before suffering her first loss of the day at 124 pounds. The freshman defeated Liannett Ortiz of Wartburg 10-2 before moving onto a 13-3 technical fall win over Linda Holeman of Western New England to reach the quarters. There, she fell to top-seeded Amani Jones of North Central College 10-0 to drop down into the consolation rounds.
 
Piestewa will take on Jazmene Molina of Utica for a shot at becoming an All-American.
 
Colorado Mesa had the luxury of having two wrestlers at 124 pounds with fellow freshman Brooke McCurley. McCurley fell to Frostburg State's Jada Fowler in the first round by a score of 8-3 but she rebounded in a huge way. The Round Rock, Texas native won her next three matches with a pin of her opponent from Marymount, a pin of her opponent from Simpson, and a pin of her opponent from Schreiner and is now one match away from being an All-American.
 
McCurley will take on King University's Montana Delawder in the Blood Round.
 
Freshman Gretchen Donally reached the quarterfinals at 160 pounds before dropping her first match of the tournament. The Ballantine, Mont. native earned a pin of Janiya Brogan of West Liberty in her first match followed by a pin of Love Daley of Sacred Heart at 4:40 in her second match. Donally dropped a 10-0 technical fall matchup to top-seeded Kennedy Blades of Iowa. Blades was the Olympic Silver Medalist at this past summer's games in Paris.
 
Donally will matchup with North Central's Tiera Jimerson in tomorrow's Blood Round.
 
At 207 pounds, Isabeau Shalack won her first match of the day with a 2-1 decision over Manusiu Muti of McKendree but then fell to Alyssa Favara of Lock Haven to drop into the consolation bracket. The Evergreen Park, Ill. native then went on to defeat Jocelyn Cacek of Frostburg State by technical fall 10-0 then earned a 7-0 decision victory over Talisha Lewis of Felician to cap her day.
 
Shalack will take on Iowa's Alivia White in the Blood Round with a spot on the podium on the line.
 
Sophia Cornish, Jojo McDaniel, Erica Smith and Alison Evans have been eliminated from the tournament. All three won at least one match in the tournament to contribute to the team's total points.
 
The Mavericks currently sit in eighth place as a team with 34 points. They are currently the highest team in the RMAC and the NCWWC Region 8 teams.
 
Wrestling is scheduled to resume tomorrow morning with the blood round matches beginning at 9am.