Yates, Rogers earn WCWA All-American status at National Championships

BIG BEND COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Office of Communications

After having one wrestler earn All-American status in 2019, the Big bend women's wrestling team outdid themselves in 2020 placing two wrestlers in the Top 8 in the country during the Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) National Championships held on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 7-8) at Life University in Marietta GA.

At 136 pounds, freshman Aliyah Yates defeated the top-seeded wrestler in the nation in her weight class and advanced all the way to the final match before finally being defeated. Yates finished in 2nd place and was named an All-American for her performance. At 101 pounds, Kayla Rogers finished in 7th place, also earning All-American honors from the WCWA.

"I am extremely proud of all of our wrestlers and how they performed this weekend," said BBCC Women's Wrestling coach Bryan Seibel. "Having two girls earn All-American was an amazing accomplishment for our program. Most of the schools that competed were 4-year programs, or private schools, Division II or Division III schools. They are able to give scholarships and have a lot more funding then we do, but our girls went out there and performed against all of the odds."

Only one other 2-year school had a wrestler advanced to the finals in their weight class and that wrestler was from Umpqua and of all of the other competing 2-year schools, none of them had any wrestlers advance.

"We definitely made an impression," Seibel said.

For a recap of the WCWA National Tournament CLICK HERE.