Cook, Datus Finish Top Five at Spire Classic
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. – Three Eagles placed in their weight classes, headlined by a second-place finish in a resurgent performance from Byanca Cook, in a strong day for the Avila women's wrestling team at Saint Mary's Spire Classic on Friday in Leavenworth.
16 Eagles got to compete in a rare nearby open event during the day on Friday, and nine of them won at least one match in a strong day for the team overall. Of the 14 schools with attached wrestlers competing, the Eagles recorded the fourth most pins (13, tied with Baker) and three athletes ended the afternoon with a spot in the top eight in their respective weights.
Wrestling in a small 7-woman field at 191, freshman Aaliyah Ivarra emerged from pool play without a win but recovered from that by pinning York's Alison Coykendall in less than a minute to move on to the 5th place match, where she was defeated by Lyndsey Buechman of Fort Hays State for the second time. Ivarra finished the day in 6th place at 191, the second time in her young career that she's placed in an open event.
Julia Datus didn't have the opportunity to wrestle much in her first season in Kansas City, but has been making the most of her increased mat time as this season has evolved, and she turned in one of the best weekends of her career on Friday. Datus started her day by pinning both Baker's Ranie Paulin and Kennedy Harris of Friends to quickly advance all the way to the semifinal round. She rebounded from a loss there by pinning Paulin for the second time in the day, this time in just 37 seconds, to get to the 3rd place match, where she was defeated by Angelique Norman of powerhouse Ottawa. Datus finished the day in 4th place at 123, her best finish at an event so far this season.
After she burst onto the scene and qualified for Nationals as a true freshman last season, Byanca Cook may well be starting to find her stride again as a sophomore this year. A weekend resume like this – by far her best of the year so far – will certainly help her as looks towards repeating her success at the conference tournament and at nationals a second time around.
Cook earned a 10-0 tech fall against Doane's Brooke Cox to start her day and followed that by pinning Kennadie Cope of UHSP to quickly move into the semifinal round. There, she went up against Peyton Hand of Ottawa, a Top 15-ranked freshman who's already armed with a number of high quality wins this season. But Cook outdueled Hand in a 7-2 decision, a potential landmark win for the Eagle sophomore, to book a spot in the title match, where she was ultimately defeated in the second period by upstart Madeline Santana of Missouri Valley, spoiling Cook's chances at a tournament title. Still, Cook finished the day in 2nd place at 130, her best finish at an event so far this season.
Elsewhere, Sara Soureshjani (143), Erma Williams (143) and Zoey Mzeru (116) each won a pair of matches at the event, while Asha Pearson (101), Dav'Yona Beatty (123) and MaKenzie Hamilton (136) each won one.
Up next for the Eagle women is a trip to Wichita for a KCAC dual against Friends on Wednesday, January 31 before a weekend in Iowa for a dual against Grand View on Friday, February 2 ahead of the Grand View Open on Saturday, February 3. For more information on all of these events, stay tuned to our social media channels as well as our website, avilaathletics.com.
