Jamestown, ND - Cumberlands sent 12 wrestlers to the NAIA National Tournament and four wrestlers advanced to the second day of action. UC currently sits in 13^th place as a team, having garnered 50 points.

UC has dominated the 170-weight class with a pair of wrestlers in the semifinals. Both Chamira Cooper and Dymond Guilford went 2-0 on the day to stay in the championship bracket. In Cooper's first bout she had to face #11 Aalyah Villarreal from Texas Wesleyan. Cooper, seeded 7^th dominated the match and did not surrender a point. She finished off Villarreal 10-0 in just 2:55. She then had the tough task of facing #2 Sierra Talmadge from Jamestown who had just three losses on the season coming in. Cooper started the match with a four-point takedown and Talmadge answered back with a point coming out of the takedown. Then in the second period, it was all Cooper. She rattled off eight unanswered points to be up 12-1 and then finished off Talmadge with a pin to move to the semifinals where she will face sixth ranked Olivia Robinson from Eastern Oregon.

The other semifinal matchup in the 170-weight class will feature fifth seeded Guilford and eighth seeded Bailey Dennis from Southern Oregon. The path for Guilford featured two seeded wrestlers, starting with #12 Jason Ballesteros from Midland. Guilford was in command from the start, rattling off a pair of two-point takedowns in the first minute. She then got a four-point takedown that turned into a pin at 1:43. This moved her into a MSC championship rematch with #4 Jordan Nelson from Life. A little over two weeks ago it was Nelson who won from the 8-2 decision, but this time it was Guilford who came out on top. Nelson got the first point of the match in the opening period, but Guilford answered back in the second with a two-point takedown. Nelson then got two more points for herself and was up 3-2 with less than 30 seconds left in the bout. Guilford stayed aggressive and took Nelson down with just 10 seconds left to defeat the defending National Champion, 4-3.

After missing last season, Jesse Kirby finds herself in the semifinals for the 191-weight class. Seeded #3 as the highest ranked wrestler for UC, Kirby went 2-0 on the day. In her first match, Kirby blanked her opponent while being on the mat for just over a minute. She went up 6-0 and used the final two-point takedown to put her opponent on her back for the fall victory at 1:12. The Culpeper, VA native then had to face six seeded Emily Sandoval from Menlo College. Kirby never trailed in the match going up 3-0 before conceding her first point of the day. Kirby then got one more two-point takedown in the first period to be up 5-1 heading into the second. The second period Kirby also scored five points to be up 10-1 before getting the fall at 3:40. The two wins puts Kirby up against #2 Kelani Corbett.

Alexis Medina went 3-1 on the day in the 109-weight class. She won her first match 8-5, starting off up 4-2 in the first period. Her opponent scored the first two points in the second to tie it up but Medina got a pair of two-point takedowns. Her opponent got one more point, but it was not enough as Medina won 8-5. Medina won her next match as well from a decision. This time Medina got 10 points in the bout while conceding eight points. In her next matchup Medina had to face #2 Asia Ray from Wayland Baptist who beat Medina 11-0 to put her in the consolation bracket. Medina then had to face #12 Kelsey Bilz from Campbellsville and dominated the match for the most points she scored on the day at 14-5. Even with the tech fall lead, Medina got Bilz on her back for the pin win. She will now face #7 Jessica Correrdor from Missouri Baptist tomorrow.

Elizabeth Dosado went 2-2 on the day, winning her first two matches in the 101-weight class by 10-0 and 5-4. However, she lost her next two matches to end her bid at the National Tournament.

Jaine Stephens, Allyson Arrington, Dylan Hernandez, and MaQuoia Bernabe all got one win on the day but lost two more to knock them out of the tournament. Taylor Whitehurst, Zoey Smith and Kailee Godinez all competed on the day.

The four Patriots will be back on the mats tomorrow starting at 11AM ET for day two. Live video can be found here and live stats here.

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