CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Behind the efforts of five All-Americans and individual national champions Katie Lange (SO, Sherburn, Minn./Martin County West HS) and Marlynne Deede (SR, Springville, Utah/Springville HS), the Augsburg University women’s wrestling team claimed a fifth-place finish at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships, which completed on Saturday.
Lange, who entered the championships ranked No. 3 nationally at 143 pounds, staged a remarkable comeback in the final seconds of her national title match with top-ranked Ashlynn Ortega of King (Tenn.). Down 6-4, Lange scored four points in the final 32 seconds, including a takedown with 11 seconds left, to claim the win and her first national title. Lange is now 2-1 in her collegiate career against Ortega, after the two split their meetings last season. Both of Lange’s wins came when Ortega was ranked No. 1 nationally.
Competing in her first NCWWC national tournament, Lange advanced to the title match with a 10-4 victory over No. 2-ranked Grace Stem of Lock Haven (Pa.) in the semifinals earlier on Saturday. Lange finished her sophomore season at 33-6, scoring nine pins and 16 technical falls. She is now 51-7 in her two seasons, with 16 pins and 23 technical falls.
A four-time NCWWC All-American, top-ranked Deede claimed her first national title with a 6-2 victory over No. 3-ranked Dalia Garibay in the 155-pound championship match. Deede scored a takedown in the first period, and a takedown and exposure in the second period to secure the title in the first collegiate career meeting between the two wrestlers.
Deede reached the final with an 11-6 win over No. 4-ranked Tiffani Baublitz of King in the semifinals. In her four national tournament bouts, Deede outscored her opponents by a 41-15 margin, including a technical fall. She finished her senior season with a 31-2 record with eight pins and 18 technical falls, and her career at 77-20 with 20 pins and 42 technical falls. Her career victory and technical fall totals are both school records, and her 20 pins are second-most in program history. She finished third nationally at 155 pounds in both 2022 and 2021, and sixth in 2020.
As a team, Augsburg finished fifth in the NCWWC national tournament, held for NCAA schools that sponsor women’s wrestling on the varsity level, with 87.5 points.
TOP 10 TEAMS: 1. North Central (Ill.) 198.0; 2. King (Tenn.) 163.0; 3. McKendree (Ill.) 147.5; 4. Colorado Mesa 108.0; 5. Augsburg (Minn.) 87.5; 6. Simon Fraser (B.C.) 86.5; 7. Sacred Heart (Conn.) 57.0; 8. East Stroudsburg (Pa.) 50.0; 9. Presbyterian (S.C.) 44.5; 10. Gannon (Pa.) 39.0.
Nina Makem (SO, Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee HS) earned her second All-America honor wtih a fifth-place finish at 136 pounds. Entering the tournament ranked No. 2 nationally, Makem was edged 5-4 by No. 3-ranked Yele Aycock of North Central (Ill.) in Saturday’s semifinal, and was pinned in 5:16 by No. 8-ranked Diana Dzasezeva of Northern Michigan in the consolation semifinals. She then dominated in a 13-2, 4:46 technical fall of No. 6-ranked Holly Beaudoin of Colorado Mesa in the fifth-place match. Makem, who was the national runner-up at 136 last season, finished her sophomore campaign at 27-6, with eight pins and 17 technical falls, and is now 56-12 in her career with 11 pins and 34 technical falls.
Brooklyn Hays (FY, Lindon, Utah/Pleasant Grove HS) finished her remarkable first collegiate campaign with a sixth-place finish at 170 pounds. After scoring two wins on Friday, she was pinned in 1:49 by top-ranked Yelena Makoyed of North Central in the semifinals, then lost a 4-4 criteria decision to No. 6-ranked Cara Broadus of Sacred Heart (Conn.). She was injury defaulted in the fifth-place match against No. 8-ranked Alexandra Castillo of McKendree (Ill.). Hays finished the season with a 31-13 record, setting a single-season school record with 21 pins, adding four technical falls.
Gabrielle Torgerson (SR, Spooner, Wis./Cumberland HS) finished in eighth place at 123 pounds, dropping both of her wrestleback matches on Saturday. She was pinned in 5:36 by Mia Macalusco of East Stroudsburg, then was edged 3-2 by No. 5-ranked Naomi Henry of New Jersey City in the seventh-place match. Torgerson finished her senior with a 31-12 record, with 13 pins and 11 technical falls, and capped her career with a 71-27 record, with 26 pins and 23 technical falls. Her 67 wins are second-most in school history, and she holds the school’s career record with 26 pins.
NCWWC National Championships results
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
Augsburg has now finished in the top 10 in NCWWC competition each of its four varsity seasons. The Auggies finished sixth last season, fifth in 2021 and ninth in 2020.
Augsburg has now had six individual national champions in program history — five in NCWWC competition and one in Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Alliance competition in 2020.
In its four-season history, Augsburg now has 21 All-Americans (18 NCWWC, 3 WCWA) and 49 national tournament qualifiers (41 NCWWC, 8 WCWA).
Check out Auggies Women’s Wrestling at athletics.augsburg.edu.
