Paxton-Ritchey-CSC Sports Information
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Chadron State women’s wrestling bookended the meet with runner-up finishes and placed third in the first-ever team scoring at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Women’s Wrestling Championships, held in Colorado Springs on Saturday.
Sophomore Mana Chanthasone earned a runner-up finish at the RMAC Championships for the second consecutive year, placing second at 103 pounds, while freshman Esther Peters also made the championship match, finishing second at 207 pounds.
The Eagles had two other podium finishes, with junior Brianna Vollendroff placing third at 103 and freshman Sicily Frates placing third at 180 pounds.
Chadron State women’s wrestling also earned a big win off the mat when junior Shania Wear won her second consecutive RMAC Summit Award, the conference’s highest individual academic honor presented to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at each sport’s championship site.
A total of 12 Eagle student-athletes earned a top six placing. Beyond the four podium finishes, Chadron State had three fourth-place finishers in Wear (117), Regan Rosseter (138) and Ella Shevlin (180), and one fifth-place finisher in Rylee Balcazar (110).
Four Eagle wrestlers finished sixth to snag a spot on the placement list: Maddox Gehlhausen (124), Karstin Hollen (145), Maria Arellano (160) and Estrella Vasquez Gutierrez (207).
While grapplers from each of the RMAC’s five women’s wrestling schools competed for individual titles at the conference championships, a team title was on the line and team scores were kept for the first time, with Chadron State placing third among five competing teams.
Colorado Mesa won the team title with 149.5 team points, followed closely by British Columbia university Simon Fraser with 129. The Eagles followed in third with 82.5 team points, finishing ahead of Adams State (73.5) and Texas Woman’s (68.5).
In terms of individual championships, wrestlers from Colorado Mesa won at five of the 10 contested weight classes while Simon Fraser won three and Adams State two.
Chanthasone had a strong RMAC meet for the second consecutive year, storming into the final based off a 10-0 tech fall win over Texas Woman’s wrestler Sloan Stewart. Chanthasone battled with four-time All-American Jennesis Martinez in the final, dropping a 6-2 decision.
Vollendroff found herself on the other end of the semifinal bracket at 103 and got pinned by Martinez before earning a pin over Stewart in the third-place match to get on the podium.
Peters, who has excelled in tournaments and taken home titles at the Chadron State Women’s Open and York Open so far this season, also stormed into the finals by repeating one of her signature wins over All-American Isabeau Shalack of Colorado Mesa via 5-1 decision in the semifinal, then lost to top 10 nationally-ranked wrestler Julia Richey on Simon Fraser in the final.
Frates and Shevlin, two freshmen who have gone back and forth in CSC’s dual lineup at 180 all season long, stayed neck-and-neck to finish third and fourth, respectively, at 180 pounds. Both wrestlers defeated Adams State’s Abigail Wold and Texas Woman’s Pauline Grace Heimuli while losing to one of the two eventual finalists at the weight.
That set up an all-CSC third place match between Frates and Shevlin, with Frates taking control in the middle of the match to earn a 9-3 decision win and the podium spot.
Rylee Balcazar went 2-2 to finish fifth in a deep 110-pound bracket, with both of her wins coming by tech fall against Victoria Pena of Texas Woman’s (10-0) and Gina Bolognese of Simon Fraser (14-2).
Freshman Regan Rosseter, the four-time Nebraska high school state champion who missed much of the season but has clawed her way into becoming CSC’s top option at 138 pounds, placed fourth and went 2-2 in her first taste of a college postseason. Rosseter beat Laisha Rios of Texas Woman’s via 12-1 tech fall in the opening round and also knocked off Colorado Mesa’s Valerie Glenn, 6-0.
Adams State’s Austria Holland was named the Wrestler of the Meet in addition to winning the 110-pound championship. At the time of her win, Holland became the first Adams State RMAC champion in program history, a feat matched by her teammate Corrie Williams at 138 later in the meet.
The Eagles have a couple more competitions before the NCWWC Regionals take place on February 22, with the Midland Warrior Open on Saturday, February 8 and a pair of duals against Hastings College and Fort Hays State on Wednesday, February 12.