Even with multiple forfeits in both duels, the NMU Women’s Wrestling squad remained competitive in their pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference showdowns Saturday. In the first match, the Wildcats battled back from three forfeits in the 103, 110 and 131 weight classes to claim a 26-21 victory over the Quincy Hawks. Of the seven weight classes where NMU had an available wrestler, the ‘Cats walked away with six wins, four by fall and two by decision.
Zhivanna Magdaleno opened up the scoring with a pin in the 117 weight class, while Alissa Caltagirone outscored Valeria Rodriguez 10-0 and got the eventual fall. Sophia Bassino and Abbie Miles rounded out the pins at weight classes 160 and 180, respectively. The other two Wildcat wins came by decision, courtesy of sisters Alyssa and Mickaela Keane, who picked up 12-5 and 5-0 wins to give NMU the 26-21 dual win and their third conference dual win of the season.
“I think that dual meeting with Quincy was really important, from a standpoint of there’s a tier that we want to get a part of. I don’t think we’re there yet, but I think that was an important goal,” head coach Adam Wilson said. “Quincy is a really strong team and has had a great season, some really strong individuals in there, and we came out on the right side of that and won the dual meet.”
As for their clash with No. 4 ranked Grand Valley State, Northern once again was forced to forfeit multiple weight classes at 103, 110, 131 and 138, but were unable to overcome the deficit. Against the Lakers, NMU went 3-3 in non-forfeit matches, including two 11-0 and 10-0 tech falls for Caltagirone and Miles, and a 10-4 decision win for Bassino, who all moved to 2-0 for the day.
“They’re [Grand Valley] a high power program. I got a ton of respect for Coach Short, what they have going on in their program” said Wilson. “But to have a 3-3 split in there, in contested matches, obviously, we want to fill some of those. But I thought we competed well on the weekend, and it was just kind of those checkpoints that we want to see.”
Before the team prepares and travels for NCAA Regional Qualifiers, the Wildcats will have one final regular season duel to close out the year, a dual against Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Saturday, Jan. 30. Live matches and results will be available on FloWrestling.
