COSTA MESA -- The newest NCAA Championship sport dawns a fresh season at Vanguard University, as the women's wrestling team prepares for the 2025-26 season.  The Lions have two seasons of NAIA championship experience but did not have any opportunities at the end of the season last spring due to its merging status at the NCAA level.  While the dual against Menlo for the MPSF Championship was a good spectacle, that is not nearly the same pageantry that will come at the Xtream Arena in March, when the best of all three NCAA divisions head to Coralville, Iowa.  However, the journey to get to Iowa has a lot of blank pages to fill in first, and Vanguard's Head Coach, Joe Evano, is confident that the women's team can get some qualifiers for the inaugural championship.
 
 
The Lions have a senior-laden class in the new campaign; the first time the Blue and Gold have had a large contingent of veterans.  Of the seniors who hopped on the mat last year, Elena Ramirez had the best record at 9-5  and hopes to rack up more wins at either 124 or 134 pounds.  Kylee Wohlwend had a 1-11 record last year and has put in the work to finish above .500 in her final season at 160 pounds.  Charlize Jewell (138/145) and Jade Cabrera (124), Piper Hall (138), River Todd (124/131), and Mariz Soliman (145/160) all return after no recorded participation in 2024-25.  Hall, Todd, and Soliman are three of the four VU wrestlers with NAIA Championship experience, with Todd placing eighth as an NAIA All-American in 2024, and all three want to become the first names in the VU record book for NCAA success.  A new face to the senior crew is Noemi Nunez, who comes from Simpson and will work at either 145 or 160 pounds. 
 
The junior class, comprised of five wrestlers, generated the most wins last season.  Abbeygael Cabuag and Alexis Garza were Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champions and return for another shot at MPSF glory.  Cabuag had an 8-6 mark and is slotted in at the two lightest divisions (103 or 110 pounds) for this year, while Garza had a 1-3 tally and is penciled in for the 103-pound class.  Lily Avalos (131) missed the MPSF Championship but concluded the year with a 5-1 spell and has the best placing in VU women's history at the national level with a fourth-place finish at the 2024 NAIA Championships (All-American).  Johanna Forman was an even 6-6 in 2024-25 and is going to bounce between 145 pounds and 160 pounds this year.  Loretta Lopez was 9-11 as a freshman, and though she did not jump on the mat last season, she is currently the only wrestler at 117 pounds for the Blue and Gold.
 
The sophomore trio is the smallest group in the program and begins with Devyn McCormick, who had a 1-7 tally last year.  Marina Hernandez (160) wants to step into the ring for the first time as a Lion, as does Raeanna Halvorson, who wrestled at Westcliff last year and had a 1-3 record.  She will bounce between 138 pounds and 145 pounds in her first tour of duty at VU.
 
Four freshman reinforce the group and begin their collegiate experience when the year gets underway in November.  Selah Beatty, Chelsea Vilchis Garcia, Charlie Falomir, and Abbie Hock are set for year one and have plenty of chances to get in on the action.  Falomir was a two-time league champion out of Newport Harbor High School and was a CIF placer as a senior, while Hock finished second in the state of Oregon as a senior at North Eugene High School.  Beatty and Falomir are also NHHS products.
 
The Blue and Gold begin at the Menlo Open on November 2, which always has a strong field of wrestlers.  VU then goes to Montana for the Battle of the Rockies the following Saturday and proceeds to get a month off to hone some skills before the lone home dual of the year against Menlo on December 6.  The calendar year closes after the Las Vegas Duals on December 19, and the 2026 portion of the docket begins at Westcliff on January 10, when VU takes on the Warriors and Arizona Christian. 
 
The Evergreen Open, hosted by Evergreen State on January 18, leads into the MPSF Tournament on February 1, with the women facing Menlo for all the glory starting at 3:00 p.m. inside the Freed Center.  The women have one last test after that, as the Lions take part in the Grand View Open in Des Moines before tackling the regional ladder to secure places at the NCAA Tournament. 
 
All things are a go for VU women's wrestling in 2025-26.