Albrecht’s Late-Round Takedown Seals NAIA Title, Wildcats Finish 16th at National Championship

JAMESTOWN, N.D. – Kaylynn Albrecht picked up four points as time expired in her first-place match to capture the NAIA national title at 155 pounds and cap a tremendous championship run for the BU wrestler as Baker women's wrestling competed at the inaugural 2022-23 NAIA Women's Wrestling National Championships this weekend in Jamestown, N.D.

The Wildcats had five national qualifiers in total with Olivia Branson, Katherine Heath, Abbie Jones and Kylie Robledo wrestling alongside Albrecht. The team finished 16th in the overall standings with 33 points scored at the two-day tournament, falling a half-point shy of the top-15.

Cruising to her title bout with three straight falls, the second-ranked Albrecht faced off against No. 1 Latifah McBride of Life University in a top-two matchup in Saturday's finals. Facing an 8-4 deficit, Albrecht executed a late-stage near-fall against McBride to rally from behind and claim her national championship in spectacular fashion.

Albrecht earns NAIA All-American honors for the second straight season after finishing runner-up in the national tournament last year.

In Friday's action, Robledo had a spectacular start to her championship, knocking off back-to-back ranked opponents to advance to the quarterfinals of the 116-championship bracket. In her first match of the day, she upset No. 6 Cailin Campbell of Grand View with an emphatic pin before taking down Vanguard's Marissa Ritchie, who ranked No. 11, in her next bout with an 8-6 victory.

The junior from El Paso, Texas would see her run come to a close though with losses in her next two matches as she fell to a couple of ranked opponents. She came within a point of making it to the semifinals, narrowly losing out to the third-ranked Juliana Diaz of Missouri Baptist before falling out of the tournament to No. 8 Hannah Hall from Central Methodist.

After falling in her first match of the day, Branson bounced back in the 130-pound bracket and earned an 8-4 decision against Jordynn Robson (Southern Oregon) before bowing out in her next match.

Also, at 116 pounds, Heath advanced to the third round of the consolation bracket with a big 16-6 victory in her second match of the tournament. She rolled to a tech fall win over Oklahoma City's Iby Garcia before getting knocked out by Garcia's teammate, Avery Ashley.

In the 136 class, Jones received a first-round bye and then fell in her two matches in Jamestown, first by a 10-0 margin to Leidaly Rivera (Brewton Parker) before falling out of the tournament on a 10-3 setback to Taylor Howell of Campbellsville.

The Wildcats wrap up a 2022-23 campaign that saw them finish fifth at the Heart of America Conference Championships and boast three all-conference winners, including Albrecht's league title at 155 pounds.

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