Sakamoto third, Caltagirone eighth
CORALVILLE, Iowa – The Northern Michigan women’s wrestling team wrapped up their season on Saturday at the NCWWC National Championships, with Yu Sakamoto claiming 3rd and Alissa Caltagirone earning 8th place to both earn All-America honors.
Sakamoto battled at 117 and took third to earn her All-America accolades. Her bronze medal finish is also the best finish in program history.
She started her competition with a win by tech fall (10-0, 4:34) in the Champ. Round 1 and followed it with a victory by decision (5-0) in Champ. Round 2 to advance to the quarterfinals. She was narrowly edged by decision (6-5), but bounced back with a win by fall (2:34) in Cons. Round 4 and another by tech fall (10-0, 3:32) in Cons. Round 5 to move on yet again.
In the Cons. Semifinals, she picked up her fifth win, coming by decision (6-5) to advance to the 3rd place match. She finished it out with her sixth win, this one coming by tech fall (13-0, 6:00) to take 3rd in the nation.
At 138, Alissa Caltagirone took 8th with a 3-3 record and collected her first All-America recognition in her career.
She started with a win by tech fall (12-2, 4:36) in the Champ. Round 1 and again by decision (6-4) in the Champ. Round 2 to move to the quarterfinals. She fell by tech fall in that round, but bounced back with a win by decision (10-3) in the Cons. Round 4. She fell in the Cons. Round 5 and 7th place match to take 8th.
Kailyn Garrett also competed for the Wildcats at 207. She added a win to her credit, coming by fall (0:47) in the Cons. Round 1.
The three combined for 29.5 points to take 14th place of 64 teams.
