Valley freshman Samantha Schuman of Omaha beat a Top 10 foe en route to fourth place at the University Nationals. [Click to enlarge]

COLORADO SPRINGS -- The Missouri Valley College women's wrestling team won five medals in the upper division and six in a younger class of the Body Bar University Nationals tournament last month.

The USA Wrestling-sanctioned meet, held May 5-7 at Colorado Springs, was lightly attended -- with four or fewer entries in six of the eight weight classes. It also wasn't a true "university" event, since American women's wrestling has no umbrella organization like the NCAA or NAIA to provide command and control -- like hosting a full-participation national championship tournament or instituting eligibility and transfer rules.

The Lady Vikings had two grapplers place in the highly-competitive 55 kilogram class. Freshman Samantha Schuman notched an upset when she knocked off Jessica Medina of Cumberlands, No. 4 in TheMat.com's Senior Women 51 Kg rankings, by a slim 1-1, 0-1, 1-1 margin. Schuman, who be ranked seventh at 51 in the subsequent poll, won two out of three matches before meeting sophomore teammate Courtney Martell in the trophy round.

Martell, whose only loss was to top-ranked champion Sharon Jacobson of the Gator Wrestling Club, lost the first period, 1-0, but pinned Schuman with one second remaining in the second set for third place.

The 59 Kg weight class also had some stiff competition, but Valley's only entry was freshman Karen Howe -- who won one of four matches for sixth place.

Freshmen Sara Hilliard (72 Kg) and Lacey Novinska (77) each took a silver medal by splitting two matches in their three-entry divisions. Hilliard emerged No. 10 and Novinska as No. 7 among Senior women in their respective classes.

Several of the Lady Vikings who wrestled at the University level also did so in the FILA Junior competition -- with Schuman going 4-2 for second place, Hilliard finishing third, Novinska fourth and Martell and freshman Christina Varland (51) sixth.

Freshman Colette Curtis (79.5) won her first two matches, but withdrew from her third and final contest due to an injury and had to settle for second place.

Valley didn't take most of its Top 10 athletes to the meet, with junior Stephany Lee (No. 2 at 72 Kg), sophomore Rachel Billerbeck (No. 4, 63) and freshman Michelle Hooker (No. 5, 67) among the missing.

The season finale for the Lady Vikings will be June 29-30 at Colorado Springs, site of the women's World Team Trials.