The Lindenwood women's wrestling team wrapped the prestigious NWCA National Duals in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday afternoon and after two hard-fought days of wrestling, the Lions finished 6th among the NCAA teams competing.
The two-day dual format tournament featured some of the top teams from across the country, including eight of the top 12 teams in the latest NWCA rankings. The teams were broken up into pool play, where the Lions went 2-2 and finished in 3rd place in Pool B. The Lions' two wins came against higher ranked opponents, as they knocked off #11 ranked Adrian 25-20 and 8th ranked Presbyterian 35-10. After advancing to the bracket style of the tournament, the Lions knocked off Limestone before falling in the 5th place match 36-6 to Augsburg who is currently ranked 5th in the nation.
Individual highlights from the tournament include:
- Freshman Cayden Condit who is currently ranked #6 in the nation at 123 had a huge first round 9-8 decision over Asia Nguyen-Smith of North Central College who was ranked #3 in the nation heading. Condit went 5-0 for the tournament and her wins included a big technical fall over Caitlyn Thorne of McKendree in pool play.
- Ranked #8 nationally, Athena Willden, who wrestled at 136 for the Lions, finished the tournament 4-2 and earned a crucial technical fall win in her match against Kathe Wilken-Yoder of Limestone to help the Lions earn the win in the consolation semifinals.
- Sara Lake wrestling at 155 earned two wins by fall and finished the event 3-3. with her fall against Isabella Badon of Presbyterian coming in only 47 seconds.
- Jasmine Ward went 3-2 on the day, winning one match by fall and she tech-falled Hannah Mains that eventually was the deciding points to earn the Lions the victory over Limestone.
The Lions return to the mat on Saturday, February 5 for the GV Open in Des Moines, Iowa.
