CSC women wrestlers win their first dual

Chadron State’s women’s wrestling team returned to competitions after break with its first dual against Avila University, 19-15, Saturday.

“It was really exciting especially because we had talked about it all week that this is a dual that we can potentially win,” Alijah Jeffery, head women’s wrestling coach, said. “It was nice to get that first dual win. It wasn’t expected this first season, so it was exciting.”

The newest addition to the squad, Ryleigh Dye, freshman of Queen Creek, Arizona, contributed to the team’s win by pinning her 143-pound opponent Kai Morrison, freshman of Atwood, Kansas, at 3:32

Kamila Montenegro, sophomore of Las Vegas, pinned No. 20 Raziyah Thomas, freshman of Marshall, Montana, in 5:05 for the 191-weight class.

Karstin Hollen, freshman of Mesa, Arizona, won with a technical fall against Jessica Miller, freshman of Fenton, Montana, 10-0.

Along with Kinsey Smith, junior of Windsor, Colorado, taking points for a forfeit, the Eagles finished on top of the Avila Eagles.

CSC also faced No. 2 Umpqua Community College Saturday, but fell short, 42-7. The RiverHawks tallied up points with six forfeit wins.

Montenegro persevered in her match by pinning Aracely Rendon-Gomez earning the only points for CSC.

On Sunday, the women wrestlers remained in Hastings for the Hastings College Open and had seven of eight wrestlers place by the end of the tournament.

Montenegro finished the weekend first in the 170-pound weight class after pinning two ranked wrestlers, No. 7 Sierra Taladge of University of Jamestown and Saturday’s competitor Thomas of Avila. 

“She’s (Montenegro) been getting consistently better,” Jeffery said. “This has been her strongest performance all year. She doesn’t lose confidence in herself and it’s at the right time.”

She also took two decision wins before taking her only loss of the day against Summer Mauk of Albion, being pinned in a little over a minute.

With a 2-1-day, Smith took third of five wrestlers in the 101 weight bracket after a technical fall win against no. 11 Malarie Dominguez of Waland Baptist, 10-0, followed by a decision win over No. 7 Violeta Evangelista of Umpqua, 12-4.

In the same weight bracket, Taylor Lindstrom, freshman of Rapid City, South Dakota, finished fourth after she pinned her first opponent and fell to her other two.

“There were definitely times during my matches I could have wrestled better and put myself in better potions,” Lindstrom said. “I wrestled well though, and I’m proud of myself and my teammates for placing.”

Dye finished fifth of 11 in the 143-weight class by pinning two of her opponents and beating her teammate Hollen with a technical fall, 10-0.

Behind Dye, Hollen finished in eighth, going 1-3 for the day, and Jeslyn Jindra, junior of Box Elder, South Dakota, was another Eagle to place in Hastings, finishing seventh at 155 pounds.

The Eagles cuurently plan to send a group to compete at the York College Open Saturday.

“It’s hardly a job when you have athletes that want to work every day and get better,” Jeffery said. “We are excited to see where we are at and how much we progressed from last week to this week.”