Five Wildcats Set Sights on NAIA Women’s Wrestling Championships
JAMESTOWN, N.D. – Baker women's wrestling will send five wrestlers – Kaylynn Albrecht, Olivia Branson, Katherine Heath, Abbie Jones and Kylie Robledo – to the inaugural 2022-23 NAIA Women's Wrestling National Championship this upcoming weekend, held inside Harold Newman Arena in Jamestown, N.D.
Four of the five Baker national qualifiers competed at the culminating NAIA tournament last year when it served as an invitational instead of a qualifying championship. In 2021-22, Albrecht was an NAIA runner-up at 155 pounds, while Heath and Jones each picked up a couple of wins. Branson advanced to the second round of the 130-pound consolation bracket.
After winning a conference title her last time on the mat, Albrecht earns the No. 2 ranking in the 155-bracket and receives a first-round bye. She will wrestle against Missouri Valley's Elise Falcetti in a second-round match as the pair face each other for the second straight tournament after Albrecht won by tech fall in the quarterfinals of the Heart Championship.
At 130 pounds, Branson takes on Alexandria Baudhuin of Jamestown in the first round with the winner going on to face top-ranked Lexie Basham (Texas Wesleyan). Branson placed fifth at the conference tournament and boasts a third-place finish from the Doane Open earlier this season.
The first of two Wildcats at 116 pounds, Heath draws the No. 4-ranked Camille Fournier of Texas Wesleyan in her opening bout. Fournier defeated Heath earlier this year at the York Open. Heath is a two-time all-conference grappler with a runner-up finish from 2021-22 and a third-place showing at this year's Heart meet.
Jones is coming off an impressive conference performance where she pinned back-to-back opponents to finish third and will earn a bye in the first round of the 136-bracket on Friday. She will go up against Brewton-Parker's Leidaly Rivera who is the No. 4 seed in the weight class.
Joining Heath in the field at 116, Robledo will wrestle against No. 6 Cailin Campbell from Grand View, who finished runner-up for the Vikings at the Heart Championship. Robledo, a junior from El Paso, Texas, came in second place at the Spire Classic and had a perfect 5-0 outing for Baker at the highly-competitive NWCA National Duals.
The action will get underway at 10 a.m. tomorrow (March 10) and run through Saturday (March 11) evening with the championship finals beginning at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
You can watch a live stream of the NAIA matches HERE (FloWrestling) and live results can be found HERE. A link to the preliminary bracket can be found HERE.
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