2019 Marine Corps U.S. Open: Collegiate women wrestlers positioned to make an impact

The collegiate women’s wrestling season is over, but competition for some of the most highly trained competitors is not. Programs will be represented by athletes competing in the senior women’s division at the U.S. Open taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada Thursday April 25^th and Friday April 26^th.

Depending how the tournament goes, fans could see some of these same competitors at the Women’s National Championships for Junior & U23 World Team Trials in Irving Texas, May 10-12, and/or again at the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament in Raleigh North Carolina, May 17-19.

Why Placing Matters

• Champions at 50kg, 55kg, 57kg, 59kg, 65kg, & 72kg punch their ticket to Final X
• Second through fifth place winners earn a spot to compete at the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament in North Carolina on April 17 – 18^th
• Placing at a senior level event puts collegiate women in a position to earn seeding strength for 2019-20 collegiate season
• For seniors, it could be one last competition or a segue into the next level
• Maybe just for the love of the sport

Pre-Registrants

The senior women’s freestyle division will feature competitors with talents across a spectrum of experience levels from young high school stars to senior level stars – the middle of that spectrum being college. It’s also important to recognize the growing number of traditional college age wrestlers not committed to collegiate programs – we could see that number increase for the upcoming season as we move closer to the 2020 Olympics.

The pre-registrants categorized by weight below are freshman – seniors in college, and are noted at the institution they represented for the 2018-19 season. The brackets will continue to increase depth through 6:30 PM PT Wednesday, April 24^th.

50 kg

• Alleida Martinez (Menlo)
• Angelina Gomez (Emmanuel)
• Clare Garcia (Emmanuel)
• Ira Navarro (Southwestern Oregon)
• Ivy Navarro (Southwestern Oregon)
• Maria Vidales (Emmanuel)
• McKayla Campbell (Campbellsville)
• Natalie Reyna (McKendree)
• Nina Pham (Wayland)

53 kg

• Gracie Figueroa (Menlo)
• Madison Angelito (Cumberlands)
• Marie Seely (Southwestern Oregon)

55 kg

• Alexandra Hedrick (SFU)
• Dominique Parrish (SFU)
• Kailyn Ramos (OCU)
• Makayla Welch (King)
• Victoria Gutierrez (Emmanuel)

57 kg

• Alanah Vetterick (Midland)
• Alayna Swilley (Southwestern Oregon)
• Alexandra Herle (Emmanuel)
• Allison Petix (King)
• Marissa Gallegos (Colorado Mesa)
• Daishea Jaime (OCU)
• Dajan Treder (Providence)
• Kasey Baynon (Emmanuel)
• Koral Sugiyama (Campbellsville)
• Sierra Brown Ton (Colorado Mesa)

59 kg

• Abby Nette (Emmanuel)
• Alyssa Aceval (King)
• Kaylee Macy (Colorado Mesa)

62 kg

• Alexis Porter (McKendree)
• Amber Strong (Colorado Mesa)
• Brenda Reyna (McKendree)
• Bridgette Duty (Cumberlands)
• Caitlin Cardenas (Emmanuel)
• Passion Hollins (Emmanuel)
• Solin Piearcy (Menlo)

65 kg

• Destiny Lyng (OCU)
• Nicole Joseph (King)

68 kg

• Adriana Orozco (Southwestern Oregon)
• Alma Mendoza (Colorado Mesa)
• Anna Naylor (Cumberlands)
• Ashlynn Ortega (King)
• Jayden Laurent (Lakeland)
• Kayla Marano (Emmanuel)
• Ophelia Lara (Emmanuel)

72 kg

• Alyvia Fisk (SFU)
• Dymond Guilford (Missouri Baptist)
• Iman Kazem (Menlo)
• Myranda Velazquez (Jamestown)
• Rachel Watters (OCU)

76 kg

• Andrea Sennett (McKendree)
• Hannah Gladden (Emmanuel)
• Kenya Sloan (Campbellsville)
• Paige Baynes (Wayland)
• Payton Rigert (Cumberlands)
• Precious Bell (Menlo)
• Serena Sanchez (Midland)

Coaches as Competitors

These coaches are about to compete alongside and against their athletes.

• Ashley Sword, Head Coach at Life University, will compete at 68 kg
• Shauna Kemp, Head Coach at University of Jamestown, will compete at 55kg

We are excited to watch these women showcase their talents and report on their accomplishments in more depth as the week progresses!