FREMONT, NE – The No. 3-ranked Indian Hills women's wrestlers competed at the Warrior Open, hosted by Midland University over the weekend, and IHCC came home with a healthy haul of hardware.
Six Warriors placed in the top four in their respective weight classes and Head Coach Cole Spree says his competitors are peaking at the right time.
"As a coach, you always want to see your athletes competing their best at the end of the season," Spree noted. "I believe that this was by far our best competition of the year, and that gives us a lot of excitement leading into the National Tournament."
Saturday saw one IHCC wrestler crowned champion with a pair taking runner-up and third place honors and yet one more Warrior finishing in fourth.
Alondra Rosado Martinez captured top honors at 136 pounds after sweeping three matches, including an impressive win over the No. 16-ranked female in the NAIA ranks in the finals.
Heaven-Leigh Jackson continued her impressive freshman campaign by making a run to the finals before collecting runner-up honors. Not to be outdone, IHCC 143-pounder, Celeste Tellez also took home silver after advancing to the title round.
At 191-pounds, the Warriors showed some depth as both Sofia Rubio and Annalease Barraza went 2-1 to collect third place honors in what Spree called a phenomenal effort by the pair.
Annaliz Duran put together a fourth place finish while notching a technical fall win over the NAIA No. 17-ranked wrestler at 101-pounds.
"We are not just winning matches, but we're winning matches against nationally ranked competition," Spree added. "It's been a lot of fun seeing how much our women have improved."
The Warriors will tune up for the NCWA Nationals in Allen, Texas (March 11-13) with one more dual on February 26 at Iowa Wesleyan in Mount Pleasant.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
109 lbs – Mya Turnmire notched a victory while going 1-2 on the day.
123 lbs – Kari German and Nani-Marie McFadden both showed improvement at 123 and each collected a win.
170 lbs – Brittney Zenteno recorded a fall in under a minute in her second bout of the day. She finished 1-2.