Centerville, IA – The top-ranked and defending national champion Indian Hills Women's Wrestling team cruised to a 36-16 season-opening dual win over No. 5 nationally ranked Carl Albert State College (OK) on Thursday night at the Multi-Purpose Building.

The Warriors picked up eight of the 11 matches on Thursday night, including four pins. Indian Hills, the No. 1 ranked team in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Women's Wrestling Preseason Poll, took the final four bouts of the night to run away from the Vikings. 

Defending 101lb national champion Dutchess King (Lansing, IL/Thornton Fractional South) scored a win in Thursday's opening match to ignite the Warriors. Following a forfeit win from the Vikings, freshman Madison Leverknight (Kansas City, MO/Winnetonka) picked up her first collegiate pin to push the Warriors' lead to 8-6. Defending 116lb national champion Shammilka Miranda Diaz (Salinas, Puerto Rico/Eugenio Guerra Cruz) secured a technical superiority to push the lead to 12-7 followed by a decision from Angelica Vicente Gonzalez (Cidra, Puerto Rico/Eugenio Guerra Cruz).

Carl Albert State battled back with consecutive technical superiority wins to even the dual at 16-all. A late surge over the final four contests saw three falls from the Warriors – Genesis Gilmore (Clarksville, TN/Montgomery Central), Yaracely Saenz (Bernalillo, NM/Bernalillo), and Karla Padilla Zepeda (South Weber, UT/North Ridge) to close out the night.

The Warriors have now won each of its season-opening duals over the course of the four years of existence for the program and improves to 24-3-1 overall in team duals.

King, ranked No. 1 in the preseason individual rankings, jumped out to convincing 8-0 lead to open the sophomore's first match of the season. King pushed the lead to 10-4 before closing out the night's opening bout with a 12-4 victory to score three team points for the Warriors.

Leverknight, ranked No. 5 in the 109lb weight class but wrestling at the 116lb bout, needed just 1:27 of mat time to pick up the first fall of the night for the Warriors for an 8-6 team advantage.

Diaz, the top-ranked individual at 116lbs after winning last year's national title, jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the 123lb match. The sophomore used a series of late takedowns to score the 14-4 tech superiority.

At 130lbs, Vicente Gonzalez broke a 2-2 deadlock with a takedown and managed to hold on to the lead down the stretch, scoring an 8-6 decision for three team points.

With the match all square at 16, Gilmore provided the highlight of the night with a thrilling pin in just seven seconds in the freshman's collegiate debut.

Saenz, ranked No. 1 in the preseason 170lb rankings after an All-American performance as a freshman followed up Gilmore's effort with a second consecutive fall. Saenz pinned No. 4 nationally ranked Grace Thompson in just 1:56 of mat time.

An injury default at 191lbs pushed the Warriors' lead to 31-16 before Zepeda, last year's national runner-up and No. 2 nationally ranked 235lb wrestler, scored the night's final fall in just 50 seconds to cap the night for the top-ranked team in the country.

Following Thursday's dual, the two nationally ranked squads put on an exhibition match between two defending national champions. Diaz squared off with Carl Albert's Lexi Miller, last year's NJCAA 109lb national champion. In a thrilling battle between the two No. 1 nationally ranked individuals in their respective weight class, Diaz edged Miller with a 4-1 decision.

The Warriors will now head to the Luther Hill Invitational on November 4 in Indianola, IA.

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