The women’s wrestling team added another successful season to their program’s storied history. After an 11-5 season and a second consecutive regional championship, the team finished with six All-American placers and placed fifth overall at the big dance.
The Mavericks sent 11 wrestlers to the national tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 8 and 9. The Mavericks competed with 48 other schools and finished as a top-five team for the fifth year in a row. This tied the third best national standing in team history and their six placers also tied the third most in program history.
Finishing as a top-five team in the country is a great achievement for any team at Colorado Mesa University, but this is all the more impressive because there are not different divisions between schools. Whether a school is typically Division I or II does not extend to the women’s wrestling world. The Mavericks truly did finish as the fifth best women’s collegiate program in the nation.
But the Mavericks have their eyes set on more: a team national championship that they have been on the cusp of since 2020.
“I am very happy with finishing in 5th place and we wrestled the best that we could given some circumstances of injuries that we had going into the tournament and plagued our season. But I am hungry for more. As a program, we can come home every year with a team trophy. I know that we can break through and be a top-three team and even win a national championship. Unfortunately it wasn’t in the cards for us this year,” Head Coach Travis Mercado said.
Dalia Garibay came away as the Maverick’s highest placer with a fourth-place showing at 155 pounds. Jennesis Martinez placed sixth at 101 pounds and joined elite company as a 4-time All-American. Garibay and Martinez are mainstays for the Mavericks and have been with the team since the 2019-2020 season. If Colorado Mesa University had a women’s wrestling “Ring of Honor” those two would certainly be up there.
Martinez went into nationals with an undefeated 18-0 record and had not given up a single match point.
Junior Jayleen Sekona (191 pounds) and Isabella Morales (109 pounds) both finished at seventh place and became multiple time All-Americans. Morales also etched her name into the history books by becoming CMU’s first All-American at 109 pounds, the only weight CMU had not recorded an All-American at prior to the tournament.
Lastly, program veterans Holly Beadouin and Erica Schroeder placed 8th. Beadouin is no stranger to executing well at the national level and gained the third All-American designation of her career. The placing may have been even sweeter for Schroeder who had barely missed out on placing in her last two national runs.
“One of the biggest highlights was Erica Schroeder upsetting the #3 seed from William Jewell in the 2nd round. [Assistant Coach] Marissa Gallegos made scouting reports for the team for their potential first round matches and Erica executed the game plan to perfection. Then, she beat a multiple time All-American from Augsburg University to reach the top eight,” Mercado said.
Looking ahead to women’s wrestling’s future, the Mavericks look to continue to be a perennial powerhouse in a landscape that will have even tougher competition in the years ahead.
“This tournament is becoming more and more competitive every year. We are starting to see early round match ups of returning All-Americans, tough freshmen trying to make a name for themselves, and athletes that aren’t going down without a fight,” Mercado said.
Women’s wrestling will most likely achieve NCAA Championship status in the next two seasons. When that happens, the Mavericks will have a chance to become CMU’s first-ever NCAA Team National Champions.
At the very least, Mercado and company are poised to continue their dominance with 12 freshman ready to step into starting roles.
