CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Putting all the pieces together to build the most successful campaign in the program's brief history over the past four months, the 12^th-ranked Presbyterian College women's wrestling team will see their 2022-23 season reach its boiling point over the next two days in the Midwest, qualifying six competitors for the NCWWC National Championships, a number that has risen by two compared to last year. The final tournament of the season for all the marbles begins on Friday at 11:00 a.m.

Each of PC's entries into the national tourney – excluding freshman Paige Wehrmeister due to her status as a first-time member – will submit their names in the field for at least the second time, led by senior Cassandra Lopez who has reached the season's grandest stage at every opportunity over her four years in Clinton. Joined by Wehrmeister, Samantha Miller, Sierra Marie Miller, Catherine "CG" Bertrand, and Isabella Badon, Lopez and co. bring the Blue Hose their largest number of NCWWC contestants since the school's addition of women's wrestling in the fall of 2019.

It's been a rampage of dual victories and multi-team titles for Presbyterian – the second-ranked roster in the NWCA's Southeast Region – as they've maintained a stronghold on the national top 15 from the moment the campaign opened in November. Boasting 180 individual wins with an 8-3 record in head-to-head meetings, the Blue Hose have reached 39 top-four placements from their group of six that will represent the university in Cedar Rapids tomorrow and beyond.

Arguably the brightest star on a squad full of them, Wehrmeister's rookie stint under interim head coach Brian Vutianitis has been simply unparalleled in the PC ranks, strolling into the national championships with a record of 34-4 – gaining 23 of those W's via technical fall. The fifth-ranked wrestler in her weight class (136), Wehrmeister grabbed five separate tournament titles as a freshman and will lock up with Linfield's Ayana Medina tomorrow in the opening round having reached a 4-1 mark at the SE Regionals to take third place.

Collecting the second-highest win percentage on the team (84%) as a junior, 101-pounder Samantha Miller brings a 27-5 record with her into a first-round bout against Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Kelly Enriquez, claiming either 1^st or 2^nd in seven different tournaments this season. Miller's appearance in nationals represents a return to the event after making the cut as a freshman in 2021, one of 18 competitors left standing in her weight class as the 5^th-ranked grappler in that ensemble.

Lopez (109) and Sierra Marie Miller (130) won four matches between them at the Southeast Regionals two weeks back to reach 28 each on the season, both facing a representative of Wisconsin-Stevens Point tomorrow in the bracket's first round. The senior/sophomore duo has emerged as PC's top two pin-collectors in 2022-23 with 35 W's via fall between them, sharing 10 combined wins over their previous two tournament appearances in Gaffney and Bristol.

The fifth member of the Blue Hose to eclipse the 20-win threshold earlier in February, Bertrand (123) finds a high-profile matchup against fifth-ranked Naomi Henry of New Jersey City as her first encounter of the national tourney, part of a 20-person field in Iowa. Completing a 4-1 stand in the regional affair, the sophomore returns to the NCWWC fold behind 12 pins and eight extra victories by tech.

Joining Bertrand in the company of a nationally-ranked opponent being their opening bout on Friday, Badon's second trip to nationals will begin with a one-on-one versus Sacred Heart's Madison Sandquist (ranked eighth in class 155). The Tennessee native produced a pair of W's in Bristol during the penultimate event of the calendar, finishing off Presbyterian's loaded list of attendees for the national tournament over the next 48 hours.

A link to both live video and statistics for the NCWWC National Championships can be found below or at the top of this page, as the Blue Hose search for even more history to cap off a season already littered with it.
 
NCWWC National Championships – Live Video + Stats: https://www.trackwrestling.com/opentournaments/MainFrame.jsp?newSession=false&TIM=1677734496109&pageName=%2Fopentournaments%2FTournamentHub.jsp&twSessionId=vyohcrqjxi