At the end of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association National Championships, the smallest school stood atop the podium above all else.
Led by national-championship titles from Renaeh Ureste and JoJera Dodge, the Grays Harbor College women’s wrestling team claimed the team national title on Saturday at the Brookshire Arena in Bossier City, Louisiana.
Grays Harbor College led Ottawa College (Arizona) by less than 10 points heading into the final rounds, with four Chokers reaching their respective national-championship title matches.
With three Ottawa wrestlers winning national championships of their own, Grays Harbor needed to win at least one, but potentially both of the meet’s final two matches to secure the national title.
“It came down to the wire. Whoever won those matches, won the tournament,” GHC head coach Kevin Pine said. “It made for an exciting finale.”
With a ton of pressure on their shoulders, Ureste and Dodge would not be denied.
Wrestling against Ottawa’s Deonne Topete in the 191-pound final, Ureste repeated as national champion with a pinfall victory at 1:42, securing her legacy as one of the most decorated wrestlers in the program’s history.
With the victory and bonus points for the pin, Ureste essentially clinched the national championship for GHC.
Dodge made sure to leave no doubt which women’s team was best in the nation as the Chokers 235-pounder pinned Ottawa’s Evelyn Coronado at 2:07 to win her own national title and cement the national championship.
“When Renaeh got the fall, that gave us some breathing room and we pretty much clinched it,” Pine said. “JoJera was just icing on the cake.”
Holding an eight-point lead over Ottawa entering the placement matches, Pine said his team needed to find some pinfalls to win the team title.
“Both (GHC and Ottawa) had same number of scoring matches going in,” he said. “We could afford to lose a couple, but we needed to get pins.”
GHC’s Alexandria Kauffman-Templeton lost to Utah Tech’s Lauren Mills via fall at 6:23 in the 123-pound title match.
Chokers 143-pounder Courtney Jones also placed second in the nation after losing to defending-national champion Veloria Pannell of MIT via fall at 2:36.
GHC picked up key bonus points in the final matches from the likes of Maysa Brown and Marissa Riojas.
In a performance Pine said “showed grit and determination,” Brown earned pinfall victories in her final two matches after having her semifinal cut short due to rolling her ankle, losing via injury default after the Chokers freshman was unable to continue.
But Brown returned to the mat and won two matches, capping her tournament by pinning Florida A&M’s Samantha Sherman to place third at 130 pounds.
Riojas faced Fresno State’s Vanessa Mares in the 136-pound third-place match in a rematch of their final at the National Duals Championships at Hoquiam in February.
Riojas dominated from the opening whistle, pinning Mares at 2:34 to earn her second All-American award and pick up key points for GHC.
“That was a big win for us,” Pine said.
Also placing for GHC was Georgia Ustaszewski (170 pounds, 4th), Eden Lopez (109, 5th), Declyn Foster (191, 6th) and Elizabeth Patana (136, 6th).
When the points were all tallied up, Grays Harbor College had 158 to 148 for Ottawa. Washington State University was third with 82.5 points followed by Utah Tech (81) and Grand Canyon University (57.5) to round out the top five teams.
The national title is the second for the Chokers women’s program, which last won in 2018.
It’s also the first national championship under Pine, who was named the organization’s National Women’s Coach of the Year.
Pine said a key for his team’s success at the tournament was their reputation for being adept throwers, an aspect that reverberated amongst opposing coaches and likely played a part in how wrestlers approached matches with GHC grapplers.
“Grays Harbor College is known for throwing, and it really showed,” he said. “A number of coaches would say, ‘Do not tie up with them.’ We probably won a couple of matches just for that reason.”
Pine, who began coaching the program in 2019, said the national title is “special” for what he considers a special team.
“Going into the season, I was pretty excited about the potential this team had. This was probably the most athletic group I’ve ever had an opportunity to coach and we just got better and improved as the season went and I couldn’t ask for anything more,” he said. “It’s just a great group of kids with positive attitudes and they’re good students. They worked hard and the camaraderie on the team is just fantastic.
“Our team peaked at the right time and we had some of the best matches I’ve seen some of our girls wrestle all year long. We did something right at the end. We were trying to improve and finish off strong and that’s what we did.”
SUBMITTED PHOTO The Grays Harbor College men’s and women’s team pose for a photo at the NCWA National Championships on Saturday in Bossier City, Louisiana.
MEN’S COLLEGE WRESTLING
Luna earns All-American status at National Championships
Grays Harbor College wrestler Josh Luna placed seventh overall at 197-pounds to earn All-American status at the NCWA National Championships on Saturday in Bossier City, Louisiana.
Luna went 6-2 over the four-day tournament, defeating University of Georgia’s Michael Erfanl via forfeit to place seventh overall, earning a spot on the podium and All-American honors in the process.
Three of Luna’s wins were via decision with a 17-4 major-decision victory over University of Massachusetts’s’ Joshua Kravets.
The GHC men’s team placed 22nd out of 86 teams with 38 points.
No other GHC wrestlers placed at the tournament.
