Wildcats Earn Two Titles, Place Nine at Warrior Open

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - With the conference tournament about a month away, the Baker women's wrestling posted a strong outing at the Warrior Open, hosted by Indiana Tech, this past weekend where the Wildcats had nine wrestlers earn placement finishes.

Katherine Heath placed fourth in the Maximus division at 117 pounds, coming out on top in back-to-back matches against ranked wrestlers before falling in her final two matches of the tournament.

Freshmen Zoey Freeman (124) and Hailee Crosland (145) each claimed individual titles in the Pancake division of their respective weight classes. Both wrestlers won all four of their matches in Fort Wayne with Crosland winning by tech fall in her first two matches before recording back-to-back pins to capture the 145-championship. Freeman also won her first two matches by tech fall and battled to a tough 7-6 decision win in the semifinal before taking first place on an 8-2 decision in the title bout.

Zoey Kessler (131) and Johanna Carrasco (180) came away with runner-up finishes with Kessler wrestling to a 12-1 tech fall in the semifinal match at 131 pounds and Carrasco winning all three of her matches by pin.

Kara Pope placed third in the 207-pound bracket of the Pancake division, rattling off four straight pins, including one in the placement match, after falling in her first match of the day.

Kinzie Rogers (110), Mariam Shariq (117) and Belle Hernandez (138) all earned fourth-place finishes with Hernandez defeating her first three opponents at 138 pounds. Rogers and Shariq both picked up a pair of wins in their respective brackets with Shariq claiming a pin in both of her victories, while Rogers won on an 8-6 decision in the quarterfinal match to secure a top-four spot for the freshman from Cottonwood Falls, Kan.

Nevaeh Wardlow also picked up multiple wins in the Maximus division, earning two tech falls and a pin before bowing out in her third match of the consolation bracket.

With four competitions left until the Heart of America Championships on March 1, Baker will be in action again on Thursday, Jan. 30 with a conference dual at No. 18 Central Methodist set to start at 7 p.m. in Fayette, Mo.

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