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National Champions: Women's Wrestling

Women's Wrestling TeamThe No. 1 ranked women’s wrestling team defended its national championship team title at the second annual Cliff Keen National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) in March and six individuals were crowned National Champions.

No. 1 ranked junior Sydnee Kimber (191-lb) went 4-0 with one pin and three fall victories at NCWWC. She was also recognized with the Manuel Gordon Award for the Most Falls in the Least Accumulative Time. In May, she finished fourth in the 72kg weight class in the U23 Freestyle division at the 2021 USAW Women’s National Championships.

Senior Brenda Reyna (136-lb) went 4-0 at NCWWC. She finished second in the 59kg weight class in the U23 Freestyle division at the 2021 USAW Women’s National Championships in May.

No. 1 ranked junior Felicity Taylor (116-lb) went 4-0 at NCWWC. She finished third in the 53kg weight class in the U23 Freestyle division at the 2021 USAW Women’s National Championships in May.

Sophomore Alara Boyd (155-lb) went 3-0 at NCWWC. She finished in the top five in the 68kg weight class at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in April and second in the 65kg weight class in the U23 Freestyle division at the 2021 USAW Women’s National Championships in May, narrowly missing her spot on both the Olympic and U23 World Teams. However, she won her respective weight class in the UWW Junior World Team finals and will represent the U.S. in Ufa, Russia on Aug. 16-22. This is Alara’s third appearance on the World Team, with prior bronze and silver medal performances on the Cadet Team in 2016 and 2017.

No 1. ranked sophomore Emma Bruntil (143-lb) went 4-0 at NCWWC and captured her second consecutive national championship. She also competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in April and a month later won the 62kg weight class at the 2021 USAW Women’s National Championships, earning a spot on the U23 Women’s Freestyle World Team that will compete in Belgrade, Serbia on Nov. 1-7. This is Emma’s first appearance on the World Team.

No. 1 ranked first-year Cameron Guerin (130-lb) went 4-0 at NCWWC. In November 2020, she won the UWW Junior National Championship in the 57kg weight class, however due to COVID there was no World Championship competition. In May, she finished fifth in the 57kg weight class in the U23 Freestyle division at the 2021 USAW Women’s National Championships.

In addition to the six NCWCC National Champions, Payton Stroud (123-lb) capped off her sophomore season with a Junior National Championship title at the USAW Women’s National Championships in May. She will make her way to Russia this summer as a Junior World Team representative at the 55kg class. Payton won three straight matches by technical fall, giving up only one point in the challenge tournament. She also finished fifth at the NCWWC National Championships in March and competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in April.

Sydnee, Brenda, Felicity, Alara, Emma, Cameron and Payton earned NCWWC All-American status, along with seniors Michelle Camacho (4th place/136-lb) and NatalieReyna ’21 (3rd place/109-lb); juniors Grace Kristoff (3rd place/191-lb), Joye Levendusky (2nd place/170-lb) and Carly Valleroy (7th place/109-lb); sophomore Pauline Granados (2nd place/101-lb); and first-year Lizette Rodriguez (3rd place/101-lb). Senior Katherine Sumner ’21 (116-lb) also qualified for nationals.