Senior Nationals Day 1 Recap: Upsets, #9 Jackson in Finals, Lampe & Parrish Dominate
2x world bronze medalist Alyssa Lampe looked like Alyssa Lampe today, advancing to the finals of Senior Nationals where she’ll face Victoria Anthony tomorrow. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com
by Derek Levendusky, AWW staff writer
FORT WORTH, TX - It was a wild day today in Fort Worth. Some brackets went “chalk” (mostly) but others were loaded with upsets and bracket busters. None more than 57 kg. We lay it out for you below.
57 kg
Gracie Figueroa was the first to upset the apple cart with a fall over #1 seed 2012 Olympian Kelsey Campbell in the second round. Figueroa was seeded at 53 kg but unseeded once she bumped up to 57 kg. Then Colorado Mesa’s unseeded Marissa Gallegos, ranked #4 in our NCAA Rankings, upset the upsetter with a 3-1 win over Figueroa in the next round. In the quarters, #9 seed Tiana Jackson of Menlo got by Gallegos 5-3 and followed that up with a convincing 8-2 win over #5 seed Shauna Kemp in the semis. With the win, Jackson advanced to the finals to face #3 seed Abby Nette of Campbellsville’s Tiger WC and earned a coveted spot in the Olympic Trials next April. Nette won a back-and-forth barnburner 11-9 over Cameron Guerin in the semis. #2 seed Lauren Louive of the Hawkeye Wrestling Club was upset earlier in the day by unseeded Alexia Ward of McKendree Bearcat Wrestling Club.
Unseeded Gallegos was the hottest unseeded wrestler, making her way to the Consi-Semis, giving herself a chance to qualify for the Olympic Trials tomorrow, with wins over Figueroa, Sugiyama, and a tech fall over #1 seed Kelsey Campbell in the Consi of 4 round.
Finals: #9 Tiana Jackson (Menlo WC) vs. #3 Abby Nette (Tiger WC)
Consi-Semi: #6 Alexandra Hedrick (TMWC) vs. #5 Shauna Kemp (TMWC)
Consi-Semi: Marrisa Gallegos (Colorado Mesa WC) vs. #7 Cameron Guerin (TMWC)
7th place match: #1 Kelsey Campbell (SKWC) vs. Gracie Figueroa (TMWC)
50 kgs
#1 seed Victoria Anthony was her Vickie Vortex self, though her semi against young up-and-comer #5 seed Emily Shilson showed two things: 1) Shilson is coming and 2) It’s very hard to score on Anthony. The old adage held true that “they can’t win if they can’t score” as Anthony’s defense held to get the close win. Meanwhile, #3 seed 2x world bronze medalist (2012-2013) Alyssa Lampe is back. Seriously back. After a first round bye, she went tech, tech, tech, the last one in the semis over Amy Fearnside, currently ranked #3 at the Senior level in our AWW poll.
FloWresting’s David Bray pointed out on air that there seemed to be a huge drop off between the top four and everyone else as every quarter was decided by tech fall in this weight class.
Finals: #1 Victoria Anthony (SKWC) vs. #3 Alyssa Lampe (SKWC)
Consi-Semi: #2 Amy Fearnside (TMWC) vs. #4 Alleida Martinez (TMWC)
Consi-Semi: Natalie Reyna-Rodriguez (MBWC) vs. #5 Emily Shilson (TMWC)
7th place match: Brooke Thurber (Rabid Dawg WC) vs. Alleah Gould (Team Tornado WC)
53 kgs
This group went chalk as far as the semis go, all four top seeds advancing to semis—the only group of the day to do that. #1 seed Dominique Parrish of Simon Fraser & Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club looked the part, with four—count them…one, two, three, four—straight tech falls to reach the finals. She outscored her opponents 40-0. #2 seed WCAP’s Areana Villaescusa was equally dominant in early matches, going fall, tech, fall until she ran into #3 seed Katherine Shai, the gritty comeback Mom-on-the-mat, and scored the razor-thin 4-4 criteria win.
Finals: #1 Dominique Parrish (SKWC) vs. #2 Areana Villaescusa (WCAP)
Consi-Semi: #5 Ronna Heaton (SKWC) vs. #3 Katherine Shai (TMWC)
Consi-Semi: #6 Felicity Taylor (MBWC) vs. #4 Alisha Howk (SKWC)
7th place match: Nicole Nastri (Tri-City Tyrants) vs. Jaslyn Gallegos (BCWC)
The final three weights—62 kg, 68 kg, and 76 kg—go tomorrow. Things get rolling at 11am EST. Follow on FloArena or watch live video feeds on FloWrestling.