Campbellsville claimed its first-ever WCWA national titleOKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Needing two wins in the final two matches of the WCWA National Championship to claim the first-ever team title in Lady Tiger wrestling history, who else would you rather have in your corner than Grace Bullen and Kayla Miracle?
The freshman Bullen, wrestling at 130 lbs., defeated three-time WCWA finalist Nicole Depa of SFU with a pin to set up Miracle to a storybook ending. Bullen, who is a two-time age-group World medalist and six-time age-group European champion, did not allow a point all championship and out-scored her opponents 42-0.
The Bullen win pulled Campbellsville within 1.5 points of SFU and that set up the most iconic finish in Lady Tiger history…. With arguably the greatest athlete in Campbellsville Athletics history.
Only needing a win to the match to claim the team title, top-seeded Miracle impressed with a pin over No. 2 Desiree Zavala of Grays Harbor late in the second period. Zavala got the first takedown, but it was Miracle who emerged victorious.
Miracle became only the fourth WCWA wrestler to win four titles and joins an elite list, which includes Olympic and two-time World champion Helen Maroulis, two-time World Team member Victoria Anthony and Emily Webster.
"This whole round, I knew it was going to be a fight with Simon Fraser," Miracle said. "This whole season I've known that our team could win a national title. I really didn't know that it was going to be that close, going into my match. I'm just excited. I'm excited that our team did it."
Mariah Harris (170) also wrestled in the finals but lost to Brittany Marshall of Wayland Baptist. Harris had a one-point advantage, 5-4, but Marshall pulled a two-point reversal with 1.7 seconds left in the second period to earn the spectacular win.
Campbellsville out-lasted Simon Fraser by five team points, 196.5 - 191.5. The team win is the sixth in Campbellsville University athletics history. The Lady Tigers join the 2009 women's volleyball team (NCCAA), 2012 football team (NCCAA Victory Bowl), 2012 men's tennis team (NCCAA), 2015 men's tennis team (NCCAA) and 2017 football team (NCCAA Victory Bowl) for team national champions.
The individual titles for Miracle and Bullen are the 25th and 26th national championships for student-athletes in CU history. In the five years CU has had a women's wrestling program, the Lady Tigers have totaled eight national champions - the most for any CU team.
Rounding out the Top 5 team scores - McKendree finished in third place, while Emanuel College was fourth and Menlo was fifth.
In addition to Bullen, Miracle and Harris, the Lady Tigers also had a slew of wrestlers finish in the consolation brackets and earn All-American honors.
Charlotte Fowler finished third at 109 lbs., Alexia Foca and McKayla Campbell both placed fourth at 143 and 101 lbs., respectively, senior Shelby Hall finished in fifth at 130 lbs., Kaitlyn Hill placed seventh at 191 and Morgan Becker finished eighth and 155.
Fowler pulled victories over Kateri Rowell of Grays Harbor and Jessica Dehart of Eastern Oregon.
Foca and Campbell, both wrestling in their first national championship, had stellar tournaments. In the consolation bracket, Campbell stormed back from a 6-0 deficit to get a defensive fall over four-seed Genae Sampract of Mckendree. She later lost to Asia Ray in the third-place match, 10-5.
Foca picked up her first consolation bracket victory over Sienna Ramirez of Southern Oregon, 5-1, but fell 6-0 to Kayla Marano of Emmanuel.
Hall and Hill both finished their careers on high notes. Hall, a three-time All-American dominated Erin Redford 7-0 in the fifth place match. Hill defeated Victoria Espinozo to finish seventh.
Lastly, Morgan Becker's tournament ended with a 8-2 loss to Kendra Kehril.
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