Pacific Women Wrestlers Head to California This Week

The Boxers dig into the meatiest part of their schedule with a trip to California and some of North America's top teams at the Lady Oak Duals and Lady Oaks Open.

Photo: Pacific Athletics

FOREST GROVE - While much of the Pacific women's wrestling schedule has been sparse, the Boxers are in the meat of the most competition-heavy part of the slate with four competitions in January and three in February.

The Boxers compete on Friday at the Lady Oak Duals, followed by Saturday at the Lady Oaks Open.

OREGON CLASSIC:

Titilope Lawani (Jr., Rialto, Calif.) led the way for the Boxers by capturing outstanding women's wrestler honors at the Oregon Classic, held Saturday at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond.

Lawani went 2-0 to capture honors in the combined 673-72 kg. weight class as the Boxers swept the championships in the tournament's three combined classes.

Candace Sakamoto (Fr., Kaneohe, Hawaii) captured top honors in the 48-51 kg. class and Summer Scott (So., Castro Valley, Calif.) won the 55-59 kg. class for her second straight tournament victory.

ABOUT THE LADY OAKS TOURNAMENTS:

Hosted by Menlo College, the Lady Oak Duals and the Lady Oaks Open will feature some of North America's top women's wrestling programs.

The biggest benefit will be the dual meet tournament, where the Boxers will be able to add two matches to their schedule.

Joining the Boxers and host Oaks will be Cumberlands (Ky.), Simon Fraser and the Spartan Club team from San Jose State University.

The Boxers went 1-1 at last year's Lady Oak Duals, beating Menlo 26-5 before losing to Simon Fraser 25-10.

At last year's Lady Oaks Open, the Boxers set a milestone for the program by winning their first ever open tournament.

Stacey Martell, Michelle Ludwig (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) and Megan Richardson (So., Santa Paula, Calif.) each won individual titles to lead Pacific to a two-point victory over Simon Fraser.

BOXERS IN NORTH AMERICAN RANKINGS:

The Pacific women's wrestling program debuted in the 10th position in the season's first North American Women's College Poll, released by TheMat.com on Jan. 5th.

The Boxers received 53 of a possible 100 points.

Pacific ranks third among U.S. teams in the poll, topped only by Cumberlands (Ky.), ranked second, and Missouri Valley, ranked fourth.

The University of Calgary received all four first place votes to take first place in the poll.

Kapua Torres (Jr., Kahuku, Hawaii) is the only Pacific wrestler to earn an individual ranking.

The 2005 collegiate and junior national champion opens the season ranked No. 1 at 51 kg.

NO U.S. POLL:

To date, TheMat.com has not released a Women's Wrestling U.S. Poll. The last U.S. poll came out on Mar. 30, 2006, with the Boxers finishing third.

PACIFIC TO HOST WOMEN'S COLLEGIATE NATIONALS:

The Pacific Athletic Center will be the site of the 2007 National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships, which will be held Mar. 9th-10th.

The event will feature all of the nation's current college women's wrestling programs along with women affiliated with men's programs from across the nation.

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