CORALVILLE, Iowa – The Colorado Mesa women's wrestling team closed out the season on Saturday (Mar. 8) with the final day of the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship at Xtream Arena.
Saturday's session began with the blood round which is a win and you're an All-American or lose and your season is over. The Mavericks did not have a very good blood round as they went 1-5 in the round meaning they only came away with one All-American on the year.
Lorianna Piestewa was the lone winner in the round with a 11-1 technical fall win over Utica's Jazmene Molina to enter the round of eight on the consolation side and spot on the podium.
Piestewa, unranked but seeded No. 8 at 124 pounds, wasn't done on the day as she earned a 10-0 technical fall win over Iowa's Cali Leng, ranked No. 4 heading into the tournament, in her next match. She then picked up a 10-0 technical fall win over Sacred Heart's Ally Fitzgerald who came into the tournament ranked No. 8 by the NWCA.
The freshman reached the third-place match after her win over Fitzgerald which setup a showdown with King University's senior Montana DeLawder who came into the tournament seeded and ranked No. 2 nationally. The newcomer defeated the veteran in this matchup with Piestewa claiming a 7-4 win over DeLawder to claim third place at the weight.
Piestewa's lone loss of the tournament came to eventual champion Amani Jones of North Central College. She finished her freshman season with a record of 17-2.
124-pound teammate
Brooke McCurley fell to DeLawder in the blood round to finish her season at 23-13 while freshman teammate
Gretchen Donally lost to North Central's Tiera Jimerson 2-1 and finished her season at 27-8.
Maddison Heinzer fell to Schreiner's Odelia Lopez in the blood round while senior 103-pound teammate
Jennesis Martinez fell to North Central's Madison Avila 8-2 to finish her season with a record of 11-2.
Redshirt junior
Isabeau Shalack fell to Iowa's Alivia White in the blood round to bow out. She finished her final season with a 19-9 record.
Colorado Mesa finished the tournament in eighth place with 48 points and led all Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schools and NCWWC Region 8 schools.
