Lady Vikings get four medals at Senior Nationals

Eighth-ranked freshman Rachel Billerbeck (top) of Plugerville, Texas, pulled off a couple of upsets to take fifth at the U.S. Senior Nationals. [Click to enlarge]

LAS VEGAS -- The Missouri Valley College women's wrestling team had four athletes placed in the top eight during the U.S. Senior Nationals, held Friday and Saturday at Las Vegas.

The Lady Vikings had fifth-place performances from junior Brooke Bogren and freshman Rachel Billerbeck, a seventh place for sophomore Maika Watanabe and an eighth by sophomore Clarissa Calibuso. Valley had the misfortune, too, of seeing junior Kelly Branham -- ranked fifth in the 67-kilogram class -- suffer a first-round injury and having nine other wrestlers eliminated from the field with losses in their opening matches.

Bogren (59 kilograms) won four of her six bouts, losing a quarterfinal heartbreaker to third-rated Suekoilya Shelly of the New York Athletic Club by the slim margin of 2-1, 0-3, 1-0. After two more wins, top-ranked Brandy Rosenbrock of the U.S. Olympic Education Center pinned her, but otherwise Bogren was tough throughout -- beating Deanna Rix of SMT with a fall in the trophy round.

Billerbeck (63 Kg) began the meet in impressive fashion with a second-period pin of No. 6 Cumberland (Ky.) junior Othella Lucas, an MVC Showcase champion. Former Lady Viking Kaci Lyle, now ranked third with the powerful Sunkist Kids club, stopped Billerbeck by fall on her way to the finals.

However, Billerbeck responded by winning two of the next three matches, including a pin of fourth-ranked N'Tasha Umemoto of the Sunkist Kids in the fifth-place contest.

Watanabe (51 Kg) split her four matches, winning the opener before running into two highly-rated foes -- No. 3 Jenny Wong of the Sunkist Kids and No. 4 Debbie Sakai, a former MVC teammate now with the New York Athletic Club -- the next two rounds. Watanabe did salvage a medal by nipping fifth-ranked Cheryl Wong of the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club, 1-0, 1-0.

After beating another Valley ex, Sandy Do of the USOEC, Calibuso (55 Kg) ran into eventual finalist Marcie Van Dusen of the Sunkist Kids to be sent to the back side. Winning one of her two matches there put a medal on Calibuso.

The Lady Vikings' only other win came from freshman Amanda Velasquez (59 Kg) with an 8-0, 7-0 first-round decision over Andrea Whitney of MacMurray (Ill.).

Valley's two ranked 48-kilogram entries both sustained close first-round hits to solid opponents and found themselves out of the loop. Freshman Sadie Kaneda was upset by the USOEC's ninth-rated Liz Short, 1-0, 2-0, and junior Tabithia Ramsey was edged by No. 8 Jessica Medina of Cumberland, 2-4, 4-1, 1-1.

The final event of the season for the Lady Vikings will take place closer to home, with the U.S. World Team Trials being held in Ames, Iowa, June 17-19.