Fifteen members of the women's wrestling program at Wayland Baptist took off for Bristol, Tenn. early Thursday morning to compete at the Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) National Tournament.  The day-long tourney will take place on Saturday with competition slated to begin at 10:00 a.m. CST.

WBU Coach Johnny Cobb took eight wrestlers to the WCWA's a year ago.  The young Pioneer team finished 12th out of 14 teams, but Cobb expects things to be much different on Saturday.

 "I'm really excited about going.  We are in our second year now, and I believe people will see a vast improvement in our team.  We were close to the bottom last year, but with that year of experience under our belt, I believe we have a realistic shot to finish in the top 4 this year."

The Pioneers were ranked fifth in the last WCWA poll.  Top-ranked Oklahoma City University is the four-time defending WCWA Champions and the Stars have seven individuals ranked at the top of their respective weight classes.  Host King College is rated second, followed by Simon Fraser University and Lindenwood University, which are tied for third.  

M. Moreno

T. Mensah

Of the 15 Pioneers wrestling on Saturday, eight are ranked nationally.  Freshmen Miriam Moreno of Hereford, Texas and Tamyra Mensah of Katy, Texas are WBU's best shots at reaching the finals, according to Cobb.  Moreno is rated second at 191 pounds, while Mensah is #4 at 143 pounds.

The top six individual placers in each class earn team points and receive All-American status.  Other potential All-Americans on Cobb's squad are freshman Shanice Vernon Jackson and sophomore Jeneisha Woods who are ranked 6th and 7th at 136 pounds; freshman Valerie Rosales, who is #5 at 155 pounds; junior Brenda Mendoza, ranked 6th at 170; and sophomore Angela Vyborny, who is 3rd at 191.

"If everything falls just right, we could even see Angela and Miriam square off against each other in the finals," says Cobb.

The other ranked Pioneer is 101 pound junior Ofelia Valdez.  Cobb says that Valdez, who is seventh, could be among the top three in her weight class.

Another competitor at 155 pounds, sophomore Loraine Herrera is currently unranked because she did not wrestle during the fall, but she was the most successful Pioneer at last year's national meet, going 2-2 on the day.

Other members of the WBU team hoping to bring home hardware are junior Nallely Carrillo (109), freshmen Jessica Von Behren (123), Tarkyia Mensah (130), Erin Miller (130), Danielle Walker (136), and Jerilyn Partin (136).

Three mats will be running simultaneously throughout the day with all ten weight classes and 16 teams being represented.  Brackets containing tentative rankings and matchups will be formulated and released Friday night after the coaches' meeting.

With the partnership of the America One (B2) Broadcasting Network, King will be providing multiple webcasts of the tournament and the preceding press conference. The press conference, set for Friday Jan. 27 at 3:00 p.m. EST, will feature the head coach and select wrestlers from the top five programs in the WCWA. Two webcasts will be running simultaneously, covering all three mats of the competition.

Statistics will also be published live to the web via TrackWrestling.com. Please search "2012 WCWA Womens College Nationals" and follow the on-screen instructions to access coverage.

An interactive blog will also be provided to allow viewers the opportunity to receive the most current updates and visuals on the actions on all three mats. Viewers may also engage our on-site blogger with questions and comments on the event or to support your favorite wrestler or team.

Access to the interactive blog, statistics and live video are all free and available on www.KingTornado.com. Navigate to the women's wrestling page to view the official web page of the WCWA National Tournament and links to the live stats, interactive blog and live video.