JAMESTOWN, ND – Campbellsville battled their way through two days of heavy competition to earn a top ten finish at the NAIA National Championships on Saturday and have three NAIA All-Americans.
Liliana Vergara and
Emma Walker led the way earning fourth place overall for the championships. Vergara finished with a record of 4-2 on the weekend. She made it to the semifinal round, where she met the top-seeded Dymond Guilford. Guilford ended up winning the match against Vergara. Vergara would win her next match and fall in the third-place bout.
On Friday, Walker finished her first day of competition with three pins in three matches. On Saturday, she lost her first match of the championship with a pin from Southern Oregon's Isabelle Hawley. Walker was able to pick up a pin in her consolation final round against Liv Webber of Eastern Oregon on a pin. Walker would go on to finish fourth place overall for Campbellsville.
Kendra Thompson was the third NAIA All-American for the Tigers over the weekend. Thompson had to work through the blood rounds early in her championship run. She fell in the opening round to Life University's Latifah Mcbrybe. Thompson would go on to win three out of her next four matches. She earned key wins of 15-2 over Menlo College's Alexandra Lopez and a 6-0 win over Providence's Sadie Antonque. Thompson won her 7th place matchup on a tech fall of 11-0 over Madison Diaz of Grand View.
Angie Vitiritti finished her NAIA Championship run with an overall record of 3-2. She earned key wins in her opening round bout of 5-0 over Grand View's Isabella Gonzalez and Baker's Olivia Branson in an 11-0 tech fall.
Brelane Huber earned her solo victory in her opening round matchup, winning by criteria 5-5 over Eastern Oregon's Morgan Shines.
Jacqueline Ghent earned a solo win this weekend against Central Methodist's Allison Hynes 6-2.
Kelsey Bilz won her only match of the weekend in a 10-0 tech fall against Texas Wesleyan's Jasmine Howard.
Sierra Chavez won in a tough matchup against Southern Oregon's Bailey Dennis of 4-3.
Taylor Howell was the final athlete for Campbellsville to compete this weekend. Howell finished with a record of 2-2. Her first victory came against Byanca Cook of Avila in a close 10-9 matchup. Her second victory came against Baker's Abbie Jones in a 10-3 win.
Campbellsville will now look down the road to the US Open, where a select group of athletes will compete in Las Vegas, Nevada, in late April.
