York, Neb.— USM women's wrestling added another long road trip to their 2026 season, traveling back to familiar territory as they competed in the York University Open this Saturday, January 17^th.

Destiny Jones, currently ranked #7 in all NAIA, added another solid performance to her resume, finishing in 3^rd place overall on the afternoon, earning her team 14.5 points. Jones (103lb.) was defeated by Grand View's Lita Cruz, however, Destiny wouldn't lose the rest of the day, going 3-0 in her next matches. She defeated the #16 ranked Serrano-Rios of Waldorf University by tech fall 12-0, then went on to again secure a tech fall win over Greene of Baker University, and finished off her day and subsequent 3^rd place match with a third TF victory (11-0) over Brandley of the DII Colorado Mesa University.

Alexsys Jacquez (#18 in NAIA) fought her way to a 2^nd place finish in Nebraska, earning the Spire squad another 16 points. Jacquez nailed two quick pins in her first two rounds against athletes from CMU and Baker, respectively. She would then go on to put up a high intensity fight against Cruz of Grand View, but would end up losing the 1^st place match with a final tally of 4-7.
Madison Kalamau (117lb.) started her day off with a forfeit from Johnson of Colorado Mesa, sending her to a quarterfinal match against Colon of Grand View. Kalamau would end up falling to GV, but would go on to win her next match over CMU with a final score of 10-0. Her final match would not end in her favor, as Madison would fall to McDaniel of CMU.

In the 131lb. weight-class, Gwen Musser would tally 3 points for USM. Musser fell to McCurley from CMU, but would go on to win her third match of the day after having a second-round bye, with a pin over Alyssa Jackson again from CMU. Gwen would drop her final match of the day 0-10 from Halverson with the Mavericks.

Maci Pearson would score 10.5 points in a 4^th place finish for the Spires in the 138lb. division. Pearson would start her day off with a bye, then subsequently drop her quarterfinal match 0-10 to Grand View's Adrienna Turner. From then on Maci would receive a bye in consolation round 2, a well-earned pin in round 3 over fellow KCAC foe Heidi Schultz of Friends University, and a hard-fought win by decision (8-7) over Dauphin from GV. Pearson would fall in the 3^rd place match over CMU Maverick Delarie Juarez.

Skylur Lewis would put together a strong day overall, earning herself a 2^nd place finish in the 138lb. division and 14.5 points for her teammates. Her first three matches would go in her favor with a qin by decision over the Falcons (8-0), an impressive tech fall over Miah Kenny of Northern Oklahoma College (10-0), and another 9-6 win over Grand View's Dauphin. However, the final 1^st place match would not fall in the Spires favor as Skylur fiercely battled with Turner (GV) but dropped the final round by decision 2-8.

Allison King (145lb.) would add another 12.5 points in her 4^th place finish, coming out of the gates with a first-round bye to start her off in Nebraska. King would drop her quarterfinal match to Haltom from Baker University with a final score of 6-4. Allison would go on to win her next three rounds, with a consolation round 2 bye, a decisive pin in round three over Grand View, and a win by disqualification also from Grand View. King's final 3^rd place match would have her matching up the way she started, with a battle over Haltom from Baker. This would again not fall the Spires way as King was defeated 1-8.

Ariana Mercado in the 160lb. weight class would add a few points for her team. Mercado started with a tech fall loss to CMU's Glenn (2-12), but would then go on to defeated Araujo of Waldorf University by TF 10-0. Her final match of the day would see defeat as she was quickly pinned by Ja'Nya Banks of Midland University.

Next up, Kristal Zamora's 6^th place finish would score her team 5.5 points in the 160lb. division. Zamora started off on the wrong foot with a 0-5 loss from GV, but quickly regained focus with three wins in a row, defeated Merino of Waldorf by decision 10-2, a 3-2 win over Crosland of Baker, and an 8-1 win by decision over Smith from Dakota Wesleyan. However, that would be the end of the winning streak for Zamora as she would face a loss in the consolation semifinal round and the 5^th place match 2-5 and 0-10 respectively.

Ka'aulani Hew-Len battled to 2^nd place in the 117lb. amateur division, winning 3 of her 4 matches on the afternoon. Her day started strong with a one-minute pin over Manning of Northern Oklahoma, followed quickly by an 8-6 win over Sheehan of Waldorf. This was followed up yet again with a semifinal win by pin over Stearns of Iowa Lakes CC. The 1^st place match would prove more of a challenge for Hew-Len as she ultimately fell to Rubio of Iowa Western CC to put a finish to her strong performance.

Wrapping up the Spire's day was Holly Thacher in the amateur division at 124lb. Thacher came out victorious fighting her way to the top and a 1^st place finish in Nebraska. Holly would begin with two tech fall wins in the first two rounds over Addison Newill (unattached) and Anglo of Grand View. She would continue her win streak with a semifinal win by fall over Weldon of CMU, in one minute and seventeen seconds, and finish her day with a win by decision (6-5) over Kenadee Thoma.

USM will have another short turnaround as they prepare to head a little closer to home to Baldwin City, Kansas to battle against the Wildcats of Baker University at 7:00 p.m. in the Collins Center.