4 NIACC women earn all-American honors
COUNCIL BLUFFS - In its first year of existence, the NIACC women's wrestling team crowned four all-Americans.
NIACC's Chiara Barbieri (101) placed third, Laken Lienhard (143) and Valerie Smith (235) placed fourth and Tatiana Hernandez (109) placed sixth under the guidance of head coach Basil Minto and assistant coach CarrieAnn Randolph.
NIACC placed eighth with 62.5 points. Indian Hills was the women's national champion with 287 points and Umpqua was second with 230 points.
Barbieri earned her third-place finish at 101 pounds with a 14-3 victory over Northwest Kansas Tech's Chelsey Mendoza. Barbieri pinned Mendoza in 2:49 in the quarterfinal round on Friday.
In the consolation semifinals, Barbieri (9-2) topped Southwestern Oregon's Mailien Tran, 10-0.
Barbieri dropped a 6-2 decision to Iowa Western's Nicole Nontojo in the 101-pound semifinals.
Lienhard (9-5) was pinned by Carl Albert State's Kylie Hulse in 5:41 in the 143-pound third-place match.
Lienhard downed Indian Hills' A'myrha Dylina-Syyan 10-3 in the consolation semifinals. Snow's Ashlea Larson edged Lienhard 6-3 in the championship semifinals.
At 235 pounds, Smith (6-4) was pinned by Umpqua's Leilani Holley in 1:58 in the third-place match.
Smith pinned Indian Hills' Averie Burns in :20 in the consolation semifinals.
Smith was pinned by Indian Hills' Eliana Bommarito in 1:55 in the 235-pound semifinal match.
At 109 pounds, Hernandez dropped a 11-1 decision to Umpqua's Leila Sidhu in the fifth-place match.
Hernandez (8-5) fell to Indian Hills' Malachite Chumm 14-11 in the consolation semifinals. Northwest Kansas Tech's Ryasia McDougle pinned Hernandez in :55 in the 109-pound championship round semifinals.
