Action is underway in Michigan at the 3rd annual Cliff Keen National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships with the top 8 placers in each weight class awarded All-American status.
Chadron State has 4 women in action – freshman Taylor Lindstrom and junior Kinsey Smith at 101 pounds, freshman Ryleigh Dye at 136, and junior Kamila Montenegro at 170.
Women’s wrestling is and isn’t an NCAA sport. D2 and D3 have recognized it as an “emerging sport” but it’s not an NCAA-affiliated sport but may be in the near future. It’s sanctioned by a division of USA Wrestling and Cliff Keen Athletic is the title sponsor.
The tournament is being streamed on FloWrestling, which requires a paid subscription, but free live results are available at trackwrestling.com.
CSC’s two 101-pounders have their work cut out for them. Lindstrom is paired in the second round against the No. 1 wrestler in the NCAA, Olivia Shore of Tiffin University, while Smith matches up against No. 6 Angelina Gomez of Emmanuel.
Shore, a freshman, is 14-1 on the season with three wins against currently-ranked opponents. She won the Northeast region by defeating No. 8 Katerina Pendergrass of Gannon. Her one loss, however, came by way of a tech fall to an unranked opponent.
Lindstrom owns a victory by fall over a junior college wrestler from Indian Hills Community College who was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time.
Smith’s opponent, Gomez, is 10-3 with all three losses coming to ranked opponents. She defeated No. 2 Jaclyn McNichols, in a 2-1 decision at an open meet in January, but she took a 2-1 loss to McNichols in the Southeast Region semis. The fourth-year junior settled for third in a three-wrestler group at regionals.
Smith’s resume also includes multiple wins over ranked NJCAA and NAIA opponents.
CSC’s Dye wrestles in a 136-pound bracket where 19 of the 20 places are filled.
Dye’s opponent, junior Sierra Brown Ton of Augsburg, is 4-4 on the season after transferring from Colorado Mesa and sitting out the fall semester. Brown Ton was an All-American as a freshman, finishing eighth at the inaugural NCWWC, and spent most of her sophomore season nationally ranked.
Montenegro draws another tough opponent, No. 2-ranked Yelena Makoyed of North Central College. Makoyed’s only loss this season was to No. 1 Chey Bowman of King University. Makoyed was the 2020 national runner-up and the 2021 national champ, and she placed fourth at last year’s U.S. Olympic Trials.