ERIE (Pa.) – Senior Bridgette Schoultz took third place at the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) Northeast Regional tournament to earn her second-consecutive trip to nationals and help the Delaware Valley University women's wrestling team to a seventh place finish out of 11 teams.
The Aggies racked up 37 team points to finish ahead of Ursinus, Alvernia Cedar Crest and Western New England. They were just 6.5 points behind sixth-place New Jersey City University. First-year Olivia Kinder finished sixth at 143 and sophomore Caira Jaynes took eighth at 170.
Schoultz competed in the 130-pound bracket and went 3-1 with three wins by fall and her only loss surrendered to the tournament champion, Lillian Sherer of Lock Haven University.
Schoultz began her day with a first period pin of Juliana Cubias of host Gannon University. After falling to Sherer by tech. fall, she bounced-back with a pin over Nikoly Dos Santos in 2 minutes, 33 seconds. Schoultz built up an 8-1 lead before finishing the fall and advancing to the third place match. In a win-and-advance situation, Schoultz faced Cubias for the second time, and for the second time she controlled the match from the start. Cubias scored two points early, but Schoultz scored the next eight and finished the fall at 4 minutes, 23 seconds to take third place and punch her ticket to nationals.
Kinder, in her first collegiate regional tournament, dropped her first match of the day to eventual champion, Grace Stem of Lock Haven, but responded with a quick 10-0 tech. fall over Angelina Caban from Elmira. She made it back-to-back wins with a first period pin of Leslie Monterrosa of Elmira. After trailing, 4-1, Kinder scored four points before finishing the fall at 2 minutes, 35 seconds. In her next bout she battled Zoe Gress of East Stroudsburg and overcame an early 4-0 deficit with a five-point move to go ahead by one. Late in the first period, Gress got two points back to take a 6-5 lead into the second. Gress scored four more in the second and held Kinder off the board to earn the 10-5 decision. That placed Kinder in the fifth place bout where she was overcome by Selena Sifuentes Shaffer to finish the day 2-3 and in sixth place.
This marked the second regional tournament appearance for Jaynes who opened her day with a first period fall over Andrea Wilmoth of Alvernia in 2 minutes, 29 seconds. She dropped her next match to runner-up Cara Broadus from Sacred Heart, but staved off elimination by scoring 10 early points and cruising to a tech. fall over Calista Kolmer of Ursinus. She suffered an early loss by fall to Daminana Racciatti from East Stroudsburg before bowing out of the seventh place match with an injury to claim eighth overall.
The NCWWC National Tournament will take place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in two weeks and Bridgette Schoultz will be the DelVal representative for the second-straight year.
