Women's Wrestling Competes at Life Duals, Life Open
MARIETTA, Ga. – The women of Avila wrestling made the first big in-season cross-country trip in program history, heading east to the outskirts of Atlanta to compete in the Life Open on Saturday and take on the hosts, Life University, one of the best wrestling programs in the country, in a dual on Friday afternoon.
The significance of this trip was not lost on the Eagles and their coaches, and the competition faced by the second-year program over the course of the weekend was stout, to say the very least. Avila is receiving votes again in the latest NAIA women's wrestling rankings, but Life jumped up a pair of spots to No. 5 in the nation in that same poll, and the so-called Running Eagles very much lived up to the billing in their dual against Avila on Friday afternoon.
Life picked up three wins via forfeit to set the table Friday, and Life also earned three falls and two tech falls. In the midst of her second straight excellent season, Markayla Lottie provided the best result of the day for the visitors, going toe-to-toe with Brianna Funakoshi, one of the best wrestlers in her class a season ago. Funakoshi ultimately prevailed in a slim 8-7 decision, giving Avila the courtesy team point – their only point of the day in a 46-1 victory for Life.
Less than 24 hours later, Avila took the mat again at the Life Open, dubbed Eagle Madness. The Eagles fared fairly well against more top-tier competition, with five Eagles placing in the top eight of their brackets to help the team finish in ninth place out of 12 total teams.
At events like this, placement is often determined by the size of the bracket as much as by results on the mat. It's obviously easier to place in brackets with fewer wrestlers, and Avila took advantage of a couple of situations like that to earn some solid results, even if the match-by-match results weren't always groundbreaking.
For example, Ashley Yamat placed 7th at 109 despite not technically winning a match. Oxmara Diego won her final match of the day (via forfeit) to finish in 7th at 170, and Sara Souresjhani finished with the same final placement despite actually winning three matches – two by pin and one via tech fall. Just another indication of what difference bracket size can make.
Elsewhere, Jada Meredith placed 5th at 191 by earning one forfeit victory, and Lottie once again led the pack for the Eagles, taking advantage of a small but very good field at 116 to finish in 5th. Lottie pinned her first opponent to advance to the semifinal, and rebounded from a pair of defeats to pin Lena Taylor of the Cumberlands in just over two minutes in the fifth-place match.
Up next, the Eagle women will head much closer to home for another tournament full of high-level competition: the Missouri Valley Open, a two-day event in the same vein at the national tournament. Action begins on Friday, November 18 and concludes on Saturday; stay tuned to avilaathletics.com for details on how to watch and follow along from Marshall, Missouri.
