BOSSIER CITY, La. – Tarleton State, the defending NCWA Women's champion, leads the women's field after the first day with 42 points with plenty more to gain. Utah Tech is just behind with 40 points, but Tarleton State owns a large difference as the Texans have 13 wrestlers still working through the championship quarterfinals compared to Utah Tech's eight. Menlo College is third at 29 points followed by Ottawa Arizona (27) and Washington State (26) in fifth.
Much of the wrestling, and certainly the matches that will help determine the team title, will be on Friday when the tournament begins again at 9 a.m. at the Brookshire Grocery Arena. For the first time, the NCWA will be awarding All-America status to the top eight finishers in the women's division.
Complete results from the tournament and video coverage can be found at https://go.flo.zone/r0XDZJTi
Here is a class-by-class recap of Thursday's matches with notes how each bracket looks heading into Friday.
Women's 103 lbs.
Three returning All-Americans still remain in the quarterfinals, but this appears to be Fresno State's 30-win freshman phenom Jocelynn Benitez's (30-1) bracket to lose. Benitez began her tournament Thursday with a 23-second pin over her opponent in the opening round. Beyond Benitez, its an experienced bracket that had one of the day's best upsets when UNLV's Kaelynn Seidl (4-4) took down Lilia Davila Ortiz (9-6) of Western Washington, last year's third-place finisher, in the round of 16. Second-seeded Ema Graves won her opening match, and could face third-seeded and fellow returning All-American Liliana Voakes (22-7) in the semifinals. Graves was the runner-up at 110 pounds a year ago.
Women's 110 lbs.
There are two returning All-Americans in this class, and they could clash in the semifinals. Rachel Corley (8-2) of Tarleton State is the top seed and won her match with a first-period fall. Jerymar de Jesus (25-4) of Springfield Tech CC is one of the winningest women's wrestler this year, and picked up her 24th and 25th wins Thursday, both by fall. She's the four seed. Another big winner, Abbey West (36-9) of Utah Tech, reached the quarterfinals with a win by fall Thursday. This is a young bracket with 11 of 19 entrants being freshmen.
Women's 117 lbs.
Two of this bracket's three returning All-Americans have already been dispatched to the consolation bracket, leaving top-seeded Mia Shepard (23-5) of UNLV as a big favorite to defend her national title in this class. Shepard won by tech fall on Thursday and will face Alessandra Duken (8-3) of LSU in Friday's quarters. Duken beat Angelina Berume-Walker of Ottawa Arizona, a two-time All-American, in the first round, by fall. Fiona Smith (27-5) of Tarleton State can close a 30-win season should she win the 117 title.
Women's 124 lbs.
The top half of this bracket is loaded with plenty of experience and wins. Skylar Schaefer (15-2) of Apprentice is the top seed and cruised through two matches on Thursday. She'll likely face the winner between two other returning All-Americans, Sabrina Cunha (8-1) of Sacramento State, or Marisol Pena (20-8) of Grand Canyon in the semi's. Pena and Cunha finished two-three at the West Coast Conference Championships earlier this month. Tarleton State's Daniela Martinez (14-8) took third in this class last season.
Women's 131 lbs.
The two highest seeds, Anna DiCugno (28-4) of Tarleton State and Jordyn Anderson (29-4) of Apprentice are two of the winningest wrestlers in the women's division this season. They appear headed for a finals clash. But Anderson will perhaps have to get past two returning All-Americans to get there. She faces off with Florida State's Madison Moody (10-0), still undefeated, in the quarters Friday morning. Then third-seedd McKinley Jovanovic (24-10) could be awaiting in the semi's.
Women's 138 lbs.
Here's a wide open bracket full of experienced wrestlers from the Southwest and West Coast Conferences without any returning All-Americans in the quarterfinals. Who comes out of this with gold medals is anyone's guess. Jennifer Soto (28-3) of Tarleton State is the top seed and won two matches by fall on Thursday totaling 43 seconds. Alexa Paz (11-1) of Florida State is the two seed and a wrester who likes to work quick. Brianna Reyes (26-7) has one of the highest win totals this season.
Women's 145 lbs.
Two of the returning starters in this bracket will wrestle each other Friday morning. Top-seeded Katherine Stewart (22-3) of Central Florida faces Alexa Camacho (10-9), seeded eighth, in the quarterfinals. Stewart was the runner-up in this class last season. Ava Collins (7-3) took third last season and is in the bottom half of the bracket. Tarleton State's Aine Drury (13-0) is one of the few still-undefeated wrestlers in the women's division and won her match Thursday with an 18-second pin.
Women's 160 lbs.
There's a defending national champion in this class with Cassandra Freundlich (37-16) of UNLV taking the two seed spot at the bottom of the bracket. She had to yield the top spot to Menlo College's Leia Hernandez (18-11) after Hernandez topped Freundlich for the West Coast Conference title earlier this month. Tarleton State's Natalie Venable (8-4) is also a returning All-American, taking fourth last season.
Women's 180 lbs.
One member of this class stands out from the rest as a returning All-American – from 2017. Tiana Roy of Springfield Tech CC (18-2) was the runner-up that season at 155 pounds. She's back, and into the quarterfinals after winning by major decision in the round of 16. There's four other returning All-Americans, and then the top two seeds, making for an interesting set of accomplished wrestlers. Tarleton State has the top two seeds in Lia Gutierrez (14-9) and Scarlett Snodgrass (13-6). Snodgrass will face off against Aniyea Dickerson (4-2) of Florida A&M in the quarters. Gutierrez takes on Samantha Suttle, who is in her fourth national tournament with a fourth-place finish from 2024. Tayleigh Robertson (32-6) of Utah Tech is a two-time All-American and seeded third, taking on fellow returning All-American Faith Kiefer (11-9) of Liberty in the quarters. This bracket is anyone's call.
Women's 207 lbs.
More than half of this bracket will wrestle for the first time Friday. Katrina Wangen (26-3) of Central Florida is the top seed after finishing as the runner-up last year. She could be two-time All-American Evelynn Coronado (20-11) of Ottawa Arizona in the semifinals. Coronado was the 2024 runner-up in this class. Sydney Hall (6-0) of Cincinnati won her Thursday match to stay undefeated but now faces the top-seeded Wangen in the quarters.
Women's 240 lbs.
This class begins its competition Friday morning. The three returning All-Americans are all in the upper half of the bracket topped by Erin Kremer of Washington State, the defending national champion. Sophia Sunior (4-3) of Grand Valley State, who took fifth in this class last year, must face Katherine Meza-Perez (5-5) of Central Florida in the quarterfinals. Janelle Mattos (18-4) of Ottawa Arizona is the only wrestler in this class who has more than 10 wins.
