YVCC women wrestlers earn third consecutive national championship

MACON, Ga. — Yakima Valley’s women’s wrestling team made an emotional week a triumphant one as well Saturday, claiming their third straight National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling championship and dedicating it to the family of co-coach Tito Pimentel, whose father recently passed away.

“The girls all gathered up and wrestled this tournament in honor of Coach Pimentel’s father,” co-coach Mike Schmitt said via telephone. “The funeral was today, and the girls dedicated this championship to coach Pimentel’s family.”

Five of the nine YVCC wrestlers won championships, with heavyweight Kendra Cremeans pinning teammate Maura Tynanes for her title.

“We actually walked away with it this year,” Schmitt said.

Also claiming championships were Chel-C Bailey at 112 pounds, Stephanie Geltmacher at 139, Chantelle Bailey at 159 and Faith Wasmund at 176.

While Tynanes was second in her weight class, Samantha Lovelace, Ricarda Garcia and Amber Rodriguez were third at 112, 121 and 130, respectively.

Geltmacher, the only Yaks sophomore in the competition at Mercer University, was second in last year’s national tournament and finished her season with a record of 21-3.

“She’d been here before and knew what was going on,” Schmitt said.

Schmitt said only one of Geltmacher’s losses came in collegiate competition with the other two coming to freestyle opponents.

Bailey finished 18-2, with both losses coming in freestyle competition. In her title match Saturday, Bailey defeated former YVCC standout Cady Chambers, who was wrestling for Central Washington University’s club team.

A National Collegiate Wrestling Association women’s division web site lists 26 schools as having women’s teams that wrestle in collegiate competition.

Schmitt said Yakima Valley is considering switching from collegiate to freestyle, since more schools have women’s teams in the latter type of competition.

“It’s known to be a little bit tougher,” he said. “We’ve dabbled in freestyle and have done well. We’re thinking about tackling that next year and doing things a little differently to get a new challenge.

“But also this week, the girls were especially motivated for Tito and his Dad. Tito’s father was a special individual in a lot of ways.”