ROSEVILLE, CA – The Oaks of Women's Wrestling made the trip to the Roebbelen Center in Roseville, California for the second day of the West Coast Tournament of Champions. After winning both of their duals on day one, Menlo placed 19 wrestlers - 8 of them taking 1st place, 5 taking 2nd place, 4 placing 3rd, and 2 others taking 4th place in their respective weight classes at the tournament. Those Oak placers would go on to earn Menlo the 1st place title with 258 points earned. This is the second consecutive year that Menlo has won the West Coast Tournament of Champions Title and this year the Oaks were ahead of the second place team by 148 points.
Results
Eight Oaks Stand Tall on 1st Place Podium
Six of Menlo's returning All-Americans and national qualifiers found 1st place victories at the West Coast Tournament of Champions including Ajayzee Zaballos (116), Alana Vivas (123), Louisa Schwab (130), Desiree Jones (155), Shannon Workinger (155), and Tavia Heidleberg-Tilloton (191). Samantha Barragan (136) has had herself a weekend after going 2-0 during the duals on day one. At the tournament, Barragan opened the day with a pin in a minute and 12 seconds against Hallie Carter (Snow College). Samantha followed that with a win by decision to advance to the semifinals where she would face Keilani Guillermo (Wayland Baptist). There, she went up 10-6 before landing a pin in the second minute of the first period to make it to the championship round. An injury forfeit would earn Samantha the 1st place finish, her first time as an Oak.
Another Oak who had a great showing this weekend was freshman Micaela Correa. Correa totaled only three minutes and 16 seconds of wrestling across two matches on day one after earning pins against Snow and Umpqua. It was the same story at the tournament on day two. Micaela added three more pins to the weekend and a tech fall. Her first two pins were against Melbourne Earl (Snow College) and Yessina Covarrubias (Unaff.) to punch her ticket to the championship match. The matchup against Rachel Jones (Snow College) was tightly scored 2-5 before Correa came from behind to score 4 more points before ultimately laying down her final pin of the day to earn the 109 title. This is Micaela's first collegiate title and continues to show great wrestling for the Oaks early in her Menlo career!
Three Earn First Collegiate Tournament Placements As Oaks
Along with Barragan and Correa, freshman Alana Ontiveros (143) would also find her first collegiate 3rd place finish at the West Coast Tournament of Champions. During the dual against Umpqua CC on day one, Alana made her Menlo debut and totaled a 13-2 tech fall over Tarnpreet Saroya. At the tournament, Ontiveros faced some of the toughest competitors at the 143 weight class. Her day started off with a tech fall over Madelyn Mazemke (Eastern Oregon) by a score of 10-0. A loss would send Alana to wrestle backs where she earned three pins to make it to the 3rd place match. There, Ontiveros would take the victory over Lainey Eckart by a 12-2 tech fall to win her first collegiate title!
Oak Placers:
Micaela Correa (109) - 1st place
Ajayzee Zaballos (116) - 1st place
Alana Vivas (123) - 1st place
Louisa Schwab (130) - 1st place
Samantha Barragan (136) - 1st place
Desiree Jones (143) - 1st place
Shannon Workinger (155) - 1st place
Tavia Heidelberg-Tillotson (191) - 1st place
Angelique Cervantes (101) - 2nd place
Ce'ariah Sands (136) - 2nd place
Alexandra Lopez (155) - 2nd place
Kalila Shrive (170) - 2nd place
Neila Fritts (191) - 2nd place
Kayla McKinley-Johnson (101) - 3rd place
Sara Vela (123) - 3rd place
Stephanie Chavez (136) - 3rd place
Alana Ontiveros (143) - 3rd place
Lainey Eckart (143) - 4th place
Nikita Dhaliwal (170) - 4th place
Up Next….
The Oaks go off to enjoy their short winter break before returning for the 2024 season! The next mat appearance will be on Friday, January 5, 2024 in Cedar Falls, Iowa for the NWCA National Duals.