CEDAR FALLS, IOWA— On the program's second day at the NWCA/USMC Multi-Division National Duals, Eastern University Women's Wrestling dropped a pair of tight matches to finish in eighth place overall.
Coming into the event with only eight wrestlers, the first-year program started each of today's matches down points. Those forfeit losses proved significant as the Eagles dropped a 25-22 decision to Elmira College and fell to Pacific University by a 23-20 score.
Eastern won five of the eight contested matches against Elmira, but the Elmira Eagles earned bonus-point wins at 110 pounds and 138 pounds and Zoey Lintz ground out a decision at 145 over
Zoey Haines in a rematch of an outstanding bout from earlier in the year. The two nationally-ranked individuals have each won by decision. Lintz, a junior, was an All-American last year and her only loss came to Haines at East Stroudsburg.
Olivia Kinder and
Maya Krieger each picked up bonus-point wins, but with the forfeit at 203, the Eagles needed pins to even tie the match.
Jesenia Camargo earned a pin in 90 seconds at 103, and
Josey Wehr won her match by technical fall without allowing a point.
Savannah Witt earned a win by technical fall, but Elmira junior Megan Edwards scored two points and a team point with a take-down late in the first round. The point was the first Witt has conceded to a college wrestler this year.
With Pacific not fielding a participant at 207, the Eagles were only five points down to start. That gap, however was enough as the Boxers sealed the match with a win by decision in the final match of the day.
The Eagles trailed 19-9 after four contested matches and a forfeit at 131. Wehr earned four points without conceding at 117, and Witt won with her fourth pin of the weekend, but the Boxers, who have been a wrestling program since 2007, won by fall at 103 and 110, and picked up a win at 138.
Haines secured a full five points with her 13th win by fall on the year, and Kinder earned a decisive win but allowed a single point to have the match tied at 20 with one bout to go. Kreiger rallied from a 10-2 deficit to pull to within 10-8, but the Pacific wrestler earned the final take-down of the match for a 128 win.
The Eagles are at Sacred Heart University next Sunday.
