They Come in Threes, Nine Place in Top-3 of Waldorf Open,Iowa

[JSTILES]

Alli Ragan,Sarah Hildebrandt, and Malexis McAdoo all took first place in their respective divisions at Saturday's Waldorf Open. Six more placed second or third.

Nine King Lady Tornado wrestlers placed in the top three while three took home top honors in their respective weight classes at Saturday's Waldorf Open, hosted by Waldorf College. Junior World participants Alli Ragan, Sarah Hildebrandt, and freshman Malexis McAdoo all placed first overall. Thirteen wrestlers placed in the top-5 as King ruled the lighter divisions by taking second and third in the 101-, 109-, and 116-pound weight classes.

Junior Alli Ragan (Carbondale, Ill.) rolled through her first two bouts, registering technical falls over Roni Goodale (Waldorf) and Sarah Bollinger (Missouri Baptist) to advance to the championship match of the 136-pound bracket. Ragan matched up against Missouri Valley College's Randi Betz and continued her streak of shutout rounds, tallying a 1-0, 5-0 victory to take first place. Ragan did not allow a single point against her throughout the entire tournament, defeating her opponents by a combined score of 32-0 over six rounds in three bouts.

The win comes in Ragan's first tournament of the season following a preseason injury that held her out of competition until Dec. 1.

Sarah Hildebrandt (Granger, Ind.) was the second King wrestler to not only take home first place, but shut out her opponents. Over two matches in the 123-pound bracket Hildebrandt kept her challengers pointless, defeating them by a combined 9-0 total. In her first bout, the sophomore beat Millagros Zamora (University of the Cumberlands) 2-0, 5-0, advancing her the championship match where Brieana Degado awaited. Hildebrandt pulled out a narrow 1-0, 1-0 victory over Delgado to reel in first place honors.

Freshman Malexis McAdoo (Amarillo, Texas) continued her dominant run through the heavyweight division with victories over Sherese Thomas (unattached, OCU) and Heather O'Connor (OCU). McAdoo defeated O'Connor in a title bout for the second time this season after previous beating her (2-0, 2-1) at the Missouri Valley Open on Nov. 10. McAdoo took the 191-pound title of the Waldorf Open with a 2-0, 3-1 victory over O'Connor on Saturday. Leading to the title match, McAdoo defeated Thomas, 2-1, 6-0.

Of the three title winners at the Waldorf Open the combination of Ragan, Hildebrandt, and McAdoo combined to go 7-0 and allow only two points total to their opponents.

Six more Lady Tornado wrestlers took second or third place in their respective division with all those placements coming in the 101-, 109-, and 116-pound weight classes.

Shannon Constantine (Haverhill, Mass.) advanced to the championship round after victories over Lily Trihn (NW Kansas Tech.) by technical fall and second-period dominance over OCU's Brianna Rahall (1-1, 4-0). The sophomore met Emily Webster in the title bout but was pinned in the first period to settle for second place.

Freshman Ashley Iliff ook third place with a victory over Tamika Jones (Waldorf) in the consolation championship, pinning her inside the first 20 seconds of the second period.

Defending WCWA National Champion Emily Martin (Frisco, Texas) rolled through her first two bouts, pinning Justine Palabrica (Jamestown) and Christina Bautista (Missouri Valley), both in the second period to set up a championship bout against OCU's Kristie Garr. Martin battled to a 1-1 tie in the first period with the advantage going to Garr and dropped the second period, 1-0, for the loss by decision. Martin took second place at 109.

Freshman Marina Sanchez lost her first bout of the day to Jessica Fresh (Waldorf) but battled back all the way to the third place match to set up a rematch with Fresh. Sanchez recorded a rewarding win by fall over Fresh in 1:22 to take third place at 109.

Samantha Klingel (Kresgeville, Pa.) advanced to the 116-pound championship bout with wins over Shelby Morrison (OCU) and teammate Kayla Brendlinger (3-0, 4-0). In the title bout, Joey Miller (OCU) held on to a 1-0, 3-1 decision, giving Klingel second place.

Brendlinger, a native of Slippery Rock, Pa., finished third by defeating teammate Victoria Nguyen (Johnson City, Tenn.) in the third place bout 1-0, 0-1, 3-0. Ngyuen finished fourth in the 116-pound bracket.

Also placing the top-5 of their respective weight classes were Samantha Martin (4^th, 136 lb.), Lorrie Ramos (5^th, 170 lb.) and freshman Jackie Williams (5^th, 155 lb.). King finished with 13 top-5 finishers in the open tournament.