Bazemore

Women's Wrestling Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Nine Golden Knights to Compete at NCWWC Women's Wrestling National Championships

GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS (11-4) at 2025 NCWWC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
DATE/TIME: Friday, March 7 and Saturday, March 8, 2025 | All Day
ARENA/LOCATION: Xtream Arena l Coralville, Iowa
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
LIVE VIDEO
LIVE STATS
 
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2025
SESSION I
10:00 am Championship 1st round & 2nd round; Consolation 1st round (Six mats)
SESSION II
4:00 pm Championships Quarterfinals (Mats 3 & 4)
Consolation First Round (Mats 1, 2, 5 & 6)
Consolation Second and Consolation Quarterfinals (Mats 1, 2, 3 & 4)
SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 2025
SESSION III
10:00 am Championships Semifinals (Mats 3 & 4)
Consolation Semifinals (Mats 1, 2, 5, 6), once Championship Semifinals are
complete will go to all mats
Consolation matches for 3rd, 5th and 7th places (Three mats)
SESSION IV
5:40 pm Parade of All-Americans, Xtream Arena
6:00 pm Finals (One Mat)
 
 
ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon University women's wrestling team will look to make some noise at the 2025 NCWWC National Championships this weekend. The University of Iowa is hosting the national championships at the Extream Arena in Coralville, Iowa on Friday, March 7 and Saturday, March 8.
 
Second-year coach Erin Vandiver had nine wrestlers qualify for Nationals at the NCWWC Region 4 Championships two weeks ago. In fact, the Golden Knights captured their first regional crown after previously setting a new school record for dual wins in a season with an 11-4 record.
 
Gannon has a mixture of experienced wrestlers looking for another shot at the stand along with a group of younger wrestlers seeking to make a name for themselves. Five Golden Knights came away with Region 4 titles – Brielle Larsen (Ogdensburg, N.J./Wallkill Valley Regional) (117 lbs.), Jayden Bazemore (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Ranch) (124 lbs.), Lili Ujfalvi (Kecskemet-heteny, Hungary/Bolyai Janos Secondary School) (138 lbs.), Nyla Burgess (Ajax, Ontario/Pickering High School) (160 lbs.), and Bella Phillips (Bellingham, Wash./Squalicum High School) (180 lbs.).
 
Noted Vandiver, "That was our goal at the beginning of the season was to have 15 healthy going into that event and to win the title."
 
A year ago Gannon finished 32nd out of 49 teams at the NCWWC National Championships. Six Golden Knights competed but in a rarity not one came away with All-American honors. Prior to that Gannon had four All-Americans in 2022 led by Ujfalvi as a freshman with a fifth place finish at 143 lbs. Brielle Larsen (Ogdensburg, N.J./Wallkill Valley Regional) placed eighth at 116 lbs.  In 2021 Gannon finished in a tie for ninth as once again four Golden Knights were All-Americans. That included Pendergrass, who was eighth at 101 lbs.
 
Five of Vandiver's nine qualifiers appear in the latest The Open Mat rankings. Bazemore leads the way as the junior is ranked sixth at 124 lbs. with a 20-6 record. She is making her second straight trip to the national championships.
 
Phillips is a freshman who has enjoyed a record-setting initial season. She has posted a 36-7 record, a school record for wins, while competing at 180 lbs. She is ranked seventh.

Nyla Burgess (Ajax, Ontario/Pickering High School) is ranked 10th at 160 lbs. with a 23-6 record. The senior is in her first year as a Golden Knight after transferring from Adrian College. She was an All-American in 2022 and 2023 and fell just shy a year ago. She is making her fourth straight trip to Nationals.
 
Kat Pendergrass (Bracey, Va./South Granville (N.C.)) has rejoined the rankings, standing 15th at 110 lbs.  The grad student has a 26-4 record. Like Burgess, Pendergrass is also a two-time All-American, once while competing at Ferrum and once as a Golden Knight.

The final ranked Golden Knight is Ujfalvi who comes in ranked 17th at 138 lbs. The junior owns a 26-5 record and is making her third trip to Nationals. As a freshman she earned All-American honors with a fifth place showing at the NCWWC National Championships.
 
Larsen looks to earn All-American accolades for the second time. The grad student is 15-7 at 117 lbs.
 
The remaining three national qualifiers are freshman. Jada Bedayos-Chaves has earned a spot at 103 lbs. after finishing third at the Region 4 championships. She has a 14-7 record and would like nothing better than to accomplish a rare double double. Her brother Caleb Chaves will compete in the NCAA Division II Men's Wrestling Championships for Gannon next weekend.
 
Twin sisters Brenna McCarley (North Tonawanda/North Tonawanda High) and Hannah McCarley (North Tonawanda, NY/North Tonawanda High) have qualified at 117 and 124 lbs., respectively.  Brenna has a 12-11 record while Hannah is 18-10.
 
The wrestling gets underway on Friday with the opening session at 10 a.m. with Session I featuring the first and second rounds along with a consolation round. Session II begins at 4:00 p.m. with the championship quarterfinals plus three consolation rounds, including the consolation quarterfinals.
 
Saturday's wrestling gets underway at 10:00 a.m. with the championship semifinals along with the consolation semifinals, followed by the 3rd, 5th and 7th place matches. On Saturday night the Parade of All-Americans takes place at 5:40 p.m. with the finals set to begin at 6:00 p.m.

GANNON WRESTLERS (first round opponent)                          
103 lbs. -- Jada Badayos-Chaves (Odenton, Md./Arundel High), Fr., 14-7 (No. 2 Gabriele Tedesco, McKendree)
110 lbs. – No. 15 Kat Pendergrass (Bracey, Va./South Granville (N.C.)), Gr., 26-4 (No. 3 Samara Chavez, King)
117 lbs. –  Brielle Larsen (Ogdensburg, N.J./Wallkill Valley Regional), Gr., 15-7 (No. 12 Shea Reisel, Dubuque)
117 lbs. -- Brenna McCarley (North Tonawanda/North Tonawanda High), Fr., 12-11 (Giselle Ramirez York (Pa.)
124 lbs. – No. 6 Jayden Bazemore (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Ranch), Jr., 20-6 (Jayla Oberst, Albion)
124 lbs. -- Hannah McCarley (North Tonawanda, NY/North Tonawanda High), Fr., 18-10 (No. 11 Annesley Day, Wisc.-Oshkosh)
138 lbs. – No. 17 Lili Ujfalvi (Kecskemet-heteny, Hungary/Bolyai Janos Secondary School), Jr., 26-5 (No. 11 Maddy Barton, Quincy)
160 lbs. – No. 10 Nyla Burgess (Ajax, Ontario/Pickering High School), Sr., 23-6 (Sophia Sosa, Quincy)
180 lbs. – No. 7 Bella Phillips (Bellingham, Wash./Squalicum High School), Fr., 36-7 (No. 20 Lindsay Laws, Lock Haven)
 
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Players Mentioned

Jayden Bazemore

Jayden Bazemore

124
5' 3"
Junior
130
Brielle Larsen

Brielle Larsen

117
Graduate Student
Kat Pendergrass

Kat Pendergrass

110
Graduate Student
101
Lili Ujfalvi

Lili Ujfalvi

138
Junior
Jada Badayos-Chaves

Jada Badayos-Chaves

103
5' 0"
Freshman
Nyla Burgess

Nyla Burgess

160
5' 6"
Senior
Brenna McCarley

Brenna McCarley

117
Freshman
Hannah McCarley

Hannah McCarley

124
5' 1"
Freshman
Bella Phillips

Bella Phillips

180
5' 6"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Jayden Bazemore

Jayden Bazemore

5' 3"
Junior
130
124
Brielle Larsen

Brielle Larsen

Graduate Student
117
Kat Pendergrass

Kat Pendergrass

Graduate Student
101
110
Lili Ujfalvi

Lili Ujfalvi

Junior
138
Jada Badayos-Chaves

Jada Badayos-Chaves

5' 0"
Freshman
103
Nyla Burgess

Nyla Burgess

5' 6"
Senior
160
Brenna McCarley

Brenna McCarley

Freshman
117
Hannah McCarley

Hannah McCarley

5' 1"
Freshman
124
Bella Phillips

Bella Phillips

5' 6"
Freshman
180