Solid weekend for Jimmie women

• Christina Zamora

(Dave Selvig / The Sun) Jamestown College’s Christina Zamora competes in her match at 155 pounds during Saturday’s dual against Missouri Valley College at the Larson Center. Zamora earned a win by technical fall.
• Tiffany Sluik

(Andrew Gideon / Jamestown College Sports Information Director) Tiffany Sluik (bottom) gets a win by fall during the Cam Duals Saturday. Sluik, a senior, placed third in the Can Am Open on Sunday.

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Oklahoma City University is the women’s wrestling team others measure themselves against.

By that standard, Jamestown College head coach Tony DeAnda likes the direction his team is going.

The Jimmies advanced to the championship match against four-time defending Women’s College Wrestling Association national champion OCU in the Can Am Duals Saturday night at the Larson Center. They came up short, but progress is being made.

“Obviously, they’re very good and have a great program, but I thought we wrestled them pretty tough,” DeAnda said. “I think our girls are starting to buy in to that OCU is not as big and bad as they claim. I think we showed we weren’t going to back down against them.”

The Jimmies defeated Missouri Valley College and Midland Lutheran in dual action.

“We wanted to bring in some teams we didn’t wrestle last weekend. … For us, the bottom line is that we improved. We made some good progress and that’s important,” DeAnda said.

In the Can Am Open on Sunday, the Jimmies ended with eight place winners. Due to injuries and other factors, DeAnda featured a handful of different wrestlers from Saturday night.

Amy Fearnside (109 pounds), Tiffany Sluik (130), Lilia Gudzyuk (170) and Erie Bragg (191) each earned third-place finishes.

Fearnside, a freshman, has made a big impression in a short amount of time.

“She goes hard and doesn’t back down,” DeAnda said. “That’s the type of mentality we’re trying to instill in our team.”

Sluik had a typically solid outing. The senior from Mason City, Iowa, is a two-time All-American.

Allene Somera (101), Chaelynn Tan (123), Shai Mason (143) and Christina Zamora (155) each placed fourth.

Tan had a rough opening weekend in Oklahoma City, but bounced back nicely at home.

“She made a big improvement from before. She and Alicia Hubbard will be battling it out all year … It’s not out of the realm of possibility for both of them to be All-Americans,” DeAnda said.

Oklahoma City finished six champions out of the 10 weight classes.

The Jimmies return to action Nov. 11 when they compete at the Missouri Valley Open in Marshall, Mo.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at dselvig@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, wrestling, jimmies