CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Cascade Collegiate Conference Women’s Wrestling Championship Tournament, presented by U.S. Bank, is set to take place on Sunday, Feb. 26, in La Grande, Oregon.
Live video streaming will be available
here. Follow along on the CCC Women’s Wrestling
Tournament page as the 2023 Champions are crowned.
No. 14-ranked Eastern Oregon University hosts the tournament, which has all 6 CCC teams participating – four of which are ranked and another is receiving votes in the final NAIA
coaches poll. University of Providence is ranked eighth while Vanguard University is receiving votes. Simpson University will also be competing in the championship.
No. 3-ranked Southern Oregon had an undefeated season and was voted second spot in the
NAIA preseason poll. No. 4-ranked Menlo College was picked as the slight preseason favorite on the 2022-23 Cascade Collegiate Conference Women’s Wrestling
Preseason Poll.
Last year, the Oaks took the crown with a 157.5 team total.
Sunday’s matches begin at 10 a.m. (PST) while the championship matches will commence at 2 p.m. (PST). The top-three place winners in each weight class will be designated all-conference and an Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament and Coach of the Year will be voted on by the head coaches following the conclusion of the tournament.
Last year, six of the ten national invitational championship matches were represented by a CCC wrestler. Southern Oregon led all CCC teams with a runner-up finish in the championship.
Each conference tournament awards automatic bids per weight class based on the final regular-season poll. Each conference is awarded automatic berths based on the amount of wrestlers ranked in each weight class. The Cascade Collegiate Conference received
36 automatic qualifiers to the NAIA Championships. The following number of individuals from each weight class will be selected succeeding the conference tournament, in addition to eight coach selected wildcards:
101 – 5
109 – 4
116 – 3
123 – 4
130 – 4
136 – 3
143 – 4
155 – 3
170 – 3
291 – 3
After the conference tournaments have concluded, a 10-member committee consisting of conference raters and oversight members will meet to select the remaining at-large qualifiers, which will be released Tuesday, February 28th by 5 p.m. (CST) by the National Office. The seeding and preliminary brackets will be announced on NAIA.org by 5 p.m. (CST) on Friday, March 3rd.
Women’s Wrestling has passed its
invitational stage, meaning this will be the first year it will be considered an official National Championship sport by the NAIA. The inaugural championship will be held on March 11-12 in Jamestown, North Dakota.