Lady Flames building depth, competitiveness in wrestling room

Liberty University's women's wrestling team opened its season last Thursday at Emory & Henry (Va.) College, which won three of the four official matches wrestled and four others by forfeit in a 33-14 victory. The Lady Flames also picked up two forfeit wins and were anchored by senior Maile Ka'ahanui, who won her 170-pound match by 10-0 technical fall in just 23 seconds. E&H's Eryn Hubble won her 191-pound match over Liberty junior Hannah Fisher by the same score in 1:05.

"We're a lot farther along at this point in the season than we have been in the past, so we're excited and we're hoping to see that difference in our competition," Lady Flames Head Coach Charisse (Manley) McIlhenny said.

All seven of the exhibition matches were decided by fall, including three by Liberty sophomores — Youngseo Choi over Haley Viars in 2:31 at 123 pounds, Allysa Drummond over Madison Wilson in 1:41 at 136 pounds, and Mackenzie Yates who needed just 53 seconds to pin Natalie Giocondo at 170.

"Women's wrestling is such an intense sport and one that requires a lot of hard work and community," Choi said. "Seeing it grow within the team and within the state of Virginia is so exciting. It's the people that bring in wrestlers … the character that wrestling builds is what is so attractive about the sport. It was exciting to see all these new girls really excited to learn all these new things just come in and be ready to go."

McIlhenny said having a solid foundation in place has been beneficial to building the program up, rather than having to start a rebuilding process.

"We had all of our returning wrestlers that weren't seniors return to us this season, which was awesome," McIlhenny said. "That helps a lot with bringing on new women to continue the culture because it's already been established. Our girls already know how it runs, so now it's easier to assimilate new wrestlers and it causes our new ladies to rise up to the standard that's being set for them."

Video edited by Kylee Lilge/Club Sports Video & Media Coordinator

Lady Flames building depth, competitiveness in wrestling room

Players Mentioned

Maile Ka'ahanui

Mackenzie Yates

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