Contact: Taiah Gallisath, Associate Director of Athletics Communication, 630-637-5302
Story written by Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu
STEVENS POINT, Wis. (Nov. 1, 2025) – The No. 3 North Central College women's wrestling team started its 2025-26 campaign today at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointer Open. The Cardinals claimed 17 top-three finishes, with six wrestlers taking first place.
Kaelani Shufeldt claimed first place in the 110-pound gold bracket, starting her day off with a technical fall victory after a first-round bye, before defeating Stevens-Point's Alexis Winecke by technical fall with 3:56 on the clock.
In the 117-pound gold bracket, Mikayla Garcia came away with a third-place finish, doing so after dropping her first match against Tylin Long (unattached) via a 6-4 decision.
Riley Rayome and Carissa Qureshi claimed podium finishes in the 124-pound gold bracket, with Rayome winning the gold and Qureshi wrestling back to get the bronze. Rayome (the sixth seed) won via a pin in her first two matches before defeating Natasha Markoutsis of Aurora University via decision 14-6. She then went on to defeat Grand Valley State University's Aspen Blasko 5-4 via a pin to claim the bracket championship. Qureshi, after losing her semifinal match, rebounded with a 6-0 defeat of Markoutsis in the third-place match.
In the 131-pound gold bracket, Jax Realin earned second place, defeating Kaidance Gerg (5-0 via pin) and Emily Medford of Grand Valley State (11-8 via decision) before falling in the championship match to Grand Valley State's Hannah Palise.
Taylor Graveman took home second in the 160-pound gold bracket, while Sydney Perry earned third. Graveman defeated Izzy Strickert (Wartburg College) 12-0 via pin in her first match before taking down Alexandra Hofrichter of the University of Dubuque in a 16-8 decision. In the final match, Graveman fell in the championship match to Grand Valley's Elleni Johnson 10-3 via a pin. Perry won her first match via technical fall but was unable to defeat Northern Michigan's Sophia Bassino via a pin. After the loss, Perry won her next three matches without surrendering a point, winning 10-0, 12-0 and 10-0, respectively. She then claimed the bronze with an 8-6 defeat of Bassino in a rematch of their earlier contest.
In the 207-pound gold bracket, the Cardinals swept the top-three spots on the podium. Caroline Ward defeated Aaliyah Grandberry (Grand Valley) with an 8-2 decision. She then defeated Wartburg's (and the one seed) Rewa Chababo with a 4-0 decision. In the championship, she was paired up with teammate Dasia Yearby (who defeated her prior two opponents 12-0 and 4-0, respectively). In the all-North Central championship match, Ward came out victorious with an 8-6 decision. Tirza Twoteeth won the third-place match with a 5-5 decision over Chababo.
In the Purple brackets, the Cardinals had five top-three finishers, with Eliana Paramo defeating Jacey Mason of Wartburg via a pin to take home first place in the 110-pound purple bracket. Paramo defeated her quarterfinal and semi-final opponents 12-4 and 6-3, respectively, with both matches ending via a pin.
Elizabeth Rosenstiel was the 160-pound champion in the Purple bracket; after a first round bye, the freshman delivered a 10-0 technical fall over Lily Avalos of Elmhurst. In the quarterfinal, Rosentiel pinned Jalah Wilson of Lakeland in under three minutes (2:51). A 3-0 decision over Illinois Wesleyan's Hayley McNeal in the semifinal round sent Rosentiel to the first-place match where she pinned Amerrah Kayon of UW-Stevens Point (2:05) for the first win of her collegiate career.
Hayle Peck earned silver in the 117-pound purple bracket, defeating Simone Dyer of Illinois Wesleyan University via a pin, and then proceeded to take down Evelynn Garcia (Illinois Wesleyan) with a 10-6 decision before falling to Wartburg's Gable Hemann in the championship match.
Gracie Guarino and Natalie Klavetter also earned second-place finishes. Guarino did so in the 124-pound purple bracket, defeating her opponents 8-4 (decision), 15-4 (pin) and 14-3 (technical fall). She fell to Illinois Wesleyan's Beyonce Espinosa via pin in the championship match.
The Cardinals are back in action on Nov. 8 in Adrian, Michigan, for a two-day duals event at Adrian College.
