WPU Opens Season with Success at Simpson Invite

Indianola--The William Penn women's wrestling travelled to Simpson Saturday for its season opener as it competed in the Luther Hill Invitational.

 In a tournament that featured both a Varsity division and a Freshman/Sophomore division, 18 different Statesmen claimed a victory.

Varsity

William Penn had 12 total competitors win bouts in the Varsity division. 

Avy Perez (Fr., Mission Hills, Calif., Nursing) headlined for the Statesmen, claiming the right side of the bracket. Perez finished 3-0 on her way to becoming the champion at 110 pounds.

The second-best record Saturday came from 207-pounder Diara Pomares (Fr., Hemet, Calif., Fine Arts), who had two falls en route to a 4-1 record. 

138-pounder Espie Almazan (So., Council Bluffs, Iowa, Political Science) also put together a strong 4-1 performance, doing so at 138 pounds, highlighted by two technical falls and a fall.

 WPU had three competitors pick up wins at 131 pounds.  Devin Patton (Sr., Plano, Texas, Business Management) finished 3-1 with two technical falls, while Kendall Bostelman (Sr., Napoleon, Calif., Exercise Science) was 3-2 with two technical falls and one fall.  Bronwyn Brenneman (Sr., Parnell, Iowa, Biology) also had a technical fall at the Invitational.

 Four Statesmen wrestlers finished the day at .500 with 2-2 records. 138-pounder Isabelle Hawley (Sr., Winchester, Calif., Sociology) and 145-pounder Naida Abdijanovic (Sr., St. Louis, Mo., Biology) both pinned two foes, while 103-pounder Lily Zapata (So., Lewisville, Texas, Sociology), 117-pounder Silvia Garcia-Vasquez (Fr., West Liberty, Iowa, Nursing), and 180-pounder Faith Barrett(So., Texico, Ill., Elementary Education) all earned a technical fall and a fall.

The duo of 117-pounder Kylie Bustos (Sr., Amarillo, Texas, Industrial Technology) and 160-pounder Joey Ives (Fr., Bellevue, Wash., Undecided) both had their hands raised once as well.

Freshman/Sophomore

The Statesmen finished with six wrestlers claiming victories in the Freshman/Sophomore division. 

124-pounder Tatiana Paragas (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii, Exercise Science) went perfect on the day (5-0) with three technical falls and two pins.  Four technical falls and one fall highlighted the Invitational for Maeley Elsbury (So., Chelsea, Iowa, Biology) as she finished 5-1.  138-pounder Ana Vilar (Fr., Palm Coast, Fla., Secondary Education) was also 5-1, including two technical falls and two falls.

Jalyiah Gardner (Fr., Keokuk, Iowa, Business Management) posted three falls in her 3-2 weekend at 138 pounds.

160-pounder Naomi Templeman (Fr., Dallas Center, Iowa) also had a fall. 

"The first tournament of the year is always one of the most exciting events, no matter where it's at," Head Coach Jake Kadel said.  "It's a good tool for evaluation.  The tournament was a little tougher than I anticipated, but the ladies wrestled pretty well."

"I think we had some stones left unturned with a few, but had a lot of freshmen really put on some good wrestling, and that was exciting to see," Kadel added.

Up Next: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa Wednesday to host Baker in a Heart of America Athletic Conference dual meet at 5 p.m.