ELMIRA, NY - The Utica University women's wrestling team did battle on Saturday afternoon down at the NCAA Region 1 Championships in Elmira, with a young roster hoping to notch a few top finishes and follow up on last year's successful campaign. At the LeCom Harborcenter, the Pioneer grapplers competed against athletes from 16 other institutions, with each school fighting to make their NCAA Nationals dreams a reality.
Natalie Enriquez (Mastic Beach, NY/William Floyd) started the event off with a bang, logging a big win over Norwich's Ana Lemler to move forward in the bracket. Enriquez took down the Lemler in just 53 seconds, recording a win by fall. However, after logging a big upset over the #8 seed Lemler, Enriquez would be defeated by the #1 overall seed Talisha Lewis of Felician, before seeing her tournament run wrap up with a loss to Elmira's Alexis Bilka-Durdon. Enriquez wrapped up a stellar season that saw her achieve 10 wins, six by fall and one by technical fall.
In the 131lb bracket,
Dakoda House (Oneonta, NY/Cherry Valley Springfield) would fight hard, but ultimately see her tournament run come to an end with back-to-back losses against Kali Bailey of Elmira and Madison Wellen of D'Youville. House wrapped up her rookie campaign with six wins, four of which came by fall.
Sophomore
Evelyn Enriquez (Mastic Beach, NY/Miller Place) would also meet some tough competition in the 160lb bracket, taking two losses to Jyla Johnson of Alfred State and Abbigale Williams of Norwich. The pair of pinfall losses would see Enriquez' run come to an end. Enriquez logged three wins on the year, two of which came by fall.
In the 124lb bracket,
Octavia Dragotta (Utica, NY/Thomas R. Proctor) met some resistance, falling to Ithaca's Sophia Torian and New Jersey City's Nuria Kojic.
To wrap up the event, and the third ever season for the Pioneer program,
Paityn Billard (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) would fight hard, but ultimately come up short in the 180lb bracket, losing to Elmira's Angelina Caban and Sacred Heart's Madeline Hodges.
The Pioneers completed their third season following the event, and now look to the future as they hope to build up their young roster during the coming years.
