Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Director of Athletics Communication, 630-637-5324

Oct. 9, 2025 - Winning the Pointer Women's Open Gold division as the No. 6 seed, North Central College women's wrestler Riley Rayome has been named the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Wrestler of the Week, the league announced Tuesday.

Rayome kicked off the competition Saturday with a pin of Miriam Hopson (Grand Valley State University) in 1:45 to advance into the quarterfinals. There, she pinned Ayane Jaslnski of Wargburg in less time, 1:27. In the semifinals, she scored 14 points over Natasha Markoutsis of Aurora University. Entering the second period down 6-2, Rayome rattled off 10 unanswered points to claim a 14-6 win. To win the first individual tournament of her Cardinal career, Rayome pinned the third-ranked wrestler in the country, Aspen Blaskeo (Grand Valley State), in 3:25 to win the 124-pound weight class.

She joined Kaelani Shufeldt (110 pounds) and Caroline Ward (207) as winners of the Gold Bracket while Eliana Paramo (110) won the Purple Bracket at the Pointer Open. In total, North Central has won 17 CCIW Player of the Week honors since 2022.

The Cardinals head to Adrian, Mich., this weekend, beginning with the Adrian Duals on Saturday before competing in the Adrian College Invite on Sunday. North Central begins Saturday by taking on No. 2 McKendree University.