Joseph qualifies for national tournament in first season

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – It only took one season for the Simpson College women's wrestling team to send a wrestler to the national tournament.

A freshman from Longmont, Colo., Jenna Joseph punched her ticket to the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships with a fourth place finish at the NCWWC Region IV Championships hosted by North Central. The top four wrestlers at each weight class advanced to the national tournament, taking place on March 3-4 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Joseph began the day with her 13th pin of the season against Madison Horn of Augsburg, winning in 4:48. She then fell to Augsburg's Brooklyn Hays, who came into the day ranked No. 5 at 155 pounds. In her first consolation match, Joseph topped Sierra Hall of Lindenwood by a score of 3-0. She took a 6-4 lead in the third place match against Alexandra Castillo of McKendree, but ultimately was pinned in 3:52 to finish in fourth place.

As a team, Simpson finished fifth out of 12 teams. No. 1 North Central compiled 174.0 points to win the regional followed by No. 4 Augsburg (141.5 points), No. 3 McKendree (129.0 points) and No. 12 Aurora (48.0 points). The Storm tallied 42.5 points to rank fifth, one spot and one point ahead of No. 15 Lindenwood.

Frankie Graham was one place shy of going to the national tournament, finishing fifth at 130 pounds. She collected a pair of quick pins over Maya Porter of Lindenwood (0:45) and Megan Stutsman of McKendree (0:31) to finish her first season with a 7-11 record and five pins.

Yalixza Gonzalez went 1-3 with a pin over McKendree's Samantha Kruize (1:34) to finish sixth, Kylie Rae Torres beat Natalia Carrillo Mancera (Augustana) 8-4 en route to a seventh place finish, and Kari German took eighth with her lone win coming against Fontbonne's Anastasia Georges via a 12-2 technical fall.

Up Next
Joseph will represent the inaugural Simpson women's wrestling team at the NCWWC National Championships on March 3-4 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Meet Report
109 - Kylie Rae Torres: 1-2, 7th place
116 - Yalixza Gonzalez: 1-3, 6th place
123 - Kari German: 1-3, 8th place
130 - Frankie Graham: 2-2, 5th place
170 - Jenna Joseph: 2-2, 4th place