Cook, Lottie Place at Conference, Book Nationals Berths
YORK, Neb. – Continuing what has been an excellent season for two Avila underclassmen, Markayla Lottie won her bracket and Byanca Cook placed fourth in hers at the 2023 KCAC Women's Wrestling Championships in Nebraska on Saturday, giving Avila women's wrestling two conference placers and two NAIA women's wrestling national qualifiers in the program's second year of existence.
Avila knew that the women's wrestling landscape would be different in the program's second year compared to the first: last year, Avila sent six wrestlers to nationals in the team's first year of competition, but because the NAIA officially adopted women's wrestling as a sanctioned sport ahead of this season, the rules for nationals qualification changed. Now, qualification for women's nationals is more restrictive and more in line with the men's wrestling procedures.
With those changes in mind, it was always going to be more difficult for Avila to send wrestlers to nationals this year. But still, the Eagles made it happen at the KCAC Championships hosted by York University Saturday, thanks to two underclassmen who have been excellent all season long.
Wrestling at 136, Byanca Cook began her day by pinning Ottawa's Derriane Morrison to advance to the semifinals, where she was defeated by Tabitha Wood of Hastings. She rebounded from that loss to defeat her second Brave wrestler of the day, Madelynn Griffin, in a 10-0 tech fall to advance to the third place match, where she was defeated by nationally ranked Ashlee Palimoo of Midland. That placed Cook at fourth in her first trip to conference, which was good enough to earn her an at-large bid to nationals for the first time in her career.
And then there's Markayla Lottie, who wrestled at 109 and was just as dominant as ever – and perhaps more so. After receiving a bye in the first round, Lottie defeated both of her first two opponents – Evelin Geronimo of Ottawa and Angie Rediger of Saint Mary – by pin, needing less than a minute in total to win the two matches.
That set up a prizefight with nationally ranked Jenna Gerhardt of Jamestown in the title match. Both wrestlers had their moments, but it was Lottie that prevailed, pinning Gerhardt in 3:56 to emerge as the champion of the 109 bracket, becoming the first conference tournament champion in Avila women's wrestling history.
Lottie received an automatic berth to nationals, joining Cook's at-large bid. Sara Soureshjani also competed for the Eagles, dropping two matches at 143 in her first trip to conference.
Avila women's wrestling will now look forward to the new-look NAIA Championships, which are coming up on March 10th in Jamestown, North Dakota. For details on how to watch and follow along, stay tuned to Avila Wrestling on social media as well as avilaathletics.com.
