Jones Captures First at Spire Classic; Men’s Wrestling Drops Dual at Benedictine

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – The Baker wrestling teams competed in a pair of events recently with the men falling in their dual at Benedictine on Thursday and the women earning five top-five finishes at the Spire Classic on Friday.

BC 23, BU 20
Baker opened the dual by winning the first three contested matches and, with a BU open spot at 133 pounds, carried an 11-6 advantage in the team scoring midway through the night.

Saoul Prado claimed the first match of the night for Baker with a win by major decision in the 125-pound bout. At 141 pounds, Joseph Triscornia wrestled to a 7-2 decision to tack on three points for Baker and Cael Lynch added another major decision victory in his match at 149 pounds.

Benedictine won the next four matches and earned a total of 17 points to create a double-digit deficit for the Wildcats at 23-11.

Needing 12 points in the final two matches to tie the dual, Baker's Roman Bushek won his match at 197 pounds by decision and, following a Ravens open spot at 285, the dual came to a close at 23-20 in favor of Benedictine.

Spire Classic
Highlighted by a championship performance from Abbie Jones, the Wildcats had five different wrestlers post top-five finishes to stamp an impressive outing for Baker at the Friday tournament, hosted by Saint Mary.

Jones captured her title by winning all four of her matches by tech fall, including a 13-2 result in the championship bout. It marks the second top-two finish at a tournament this season for Jones, a sophomore from Parsons, Kan., after earning runner-up at the Doane Open on Dec. 3.

After a first-round bye, Kylie Robledo earned an appearance in the 116-pound championship with a couple of tech fall wins and an injury forfeit in the quarterfinals. The 13th-ranked Robledo battled Hannah Hall of Central Methodist, who ranks No. 8 nationally, in the championship round, but came up short in a tight 4-3 decision.

Katherine Heath (116) and Mariam Shariq (136) each had to win five matches in their respective brackets to bag their third-place honors. Heath won her first contested match of the tournament on a pin and would later seal her placement match by pin as well. Shariq had three of her victories come by way of a pin, including one in the third-place match.

Kylee Slyter went 2-2 in her matches to finish fifth in the 109-pound bracket with a tech fall win in her second-round bout and a pin in the placement match.

Both teams will head to Central Methodist on Wednesday, Feb. 1 to take on the Eagles, starting at 5 p.m. for the women's dual with the men to follow.

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