WOMEN'S WRESTLING: Revelle, Martin claim WCWA national titles for King

A month ago, Krista Revelle was a senior at Jefferson West High School in Meriden, Kan.

On Saturday, she became one of the most accomplished athletes to ever attend King College.

In just her third collegiate competition and less than two weeks after she officially became a student at King, the 18-year-old Revelle was one of two Tornado wrestlers, along with senior Emily Martin, to win individual titles in front of a hyped home crowd at the Student Center for the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association nationals.

“I knew I could do it if I just trained hard enough,” Revelle said. “Age has nothing to do with it.”

Revelle took a 3-0, 3-0 decision over Oklahoma City University’s Stephanie Geltmacher in the 136-pound weight class, becoming the third Tornado wrestler in the three-year history of the women’s program at King to earn a national championship about 30 minutes after Martin became the second with a 3-2, 6-0 win at 109 pounds against Kristi Garr of Oklahoma City.

After graduating early from Jefferson West, Revelle arrived in Bristol and began training with the Tornado in late December before starting class on Jan. 16.

It didn’t take long for Revelle to fit in with the tight-knit King squad, which finished a program-best second Saturday in the team competition with 91 points behind three-time defending champion Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City scored 141 points behind the strength of six individual national champions and nine finalists.

“It’s amazing,” Martin said about her young teammate’s accomplishment. “She jumped into this program like she’s been here the whole year, like she’s family.”

King coach Jason Moorman said Revelle is a special talent.

“Her style and her philosophy really fits with my philosophy and my style,” he said. “I knew right away that we were going to work well together. Her goal is to be a four-time national champion so she’s got one down.”

Revelle offered up a big grin and hearty hugs with her teammates after her win but took her victory in stride, echoing her coach that she now has three national titles left to chase.

“That’s my goal,” she said. “I want to be a four-timer.”

Martin, who was named the WCWA Wrestler of the Year, finished second at nationals last year and had a year to think about falling one step short of the ultimate prize.

She took care of business Saturday in front of the home crowd, pulling out a tight victory in the first period before dominating the second.

“It was a little nerve-wracking, honestly, to have everybody screaming your name,” she said. “… I think I calmed down the second period.”

While Martin, who hopes to get another year of eligibility and wrestle again in 2012-13 for King, was happy with the win, she wasn’t ecstatic as it came without a pin.

“I didn’t think about winning it,” she said. “I was just like, ‘That wasn’t very pretty.’ That’s how I am, though. No matter if I win, nothing’s ever good enough for me. I always want to go that much more.”

Martin had the luxury of nitpicking herself with a national title to her name, but teammate Alli Ragan, who also finished as a runner-up at the 2011 WCWA nationals, wasn’t so fortunate.

The top-ranked wrestler in the 143-pound class, Ragan made the final again only to be upset 3-1, 3-2 by rival Jennifer Page of Oklahoma City.

Ragan remained unsmiling on the second-place podium during the awards ceremony and declined an interview request after the meet.

Moorman said the defeat was heart-wrenching for his sophomore standout, who won the prestigious 2011 Body Bar title but has fallen just short of multiple other titles at major competitions throughout her career.

“No question,” he said. “It’s the most disappointing and the most disappointing to her for sure. What I told her is that we’re going to take a little break, we’re going to go to lunch at the end of the week and we’re going to get re-focused.”

The fourth WCWA finalist for King, freshman Sarah Hildebrandt, also had to settle for silver after an excruciatingly narrow 2-1, 1-0 defeat to Michaela Hutchinson of Oklahoma City in the 123-pound championship bout.

“I’m pretty angry right now because it’s never fun to lose, but the first match I wrestled her this year I got pinned so to go into clinch is a really good positive thing especially because I’m a freshman,” Hildebrandt said.

“It’s definitely motivation. I won’t ever forget this. I don’t ever want to be here again. I want to be winning.”

After recording seven All-Americans at the 2011 WCWA nationals, King had a dozen on Saturday under the new system of the top-eight finishers in each class earning the distinction. Under the top-six rules in place last year, the Tornado still would have finished with a program-high 10 All-Americans.

Sophomore Kat Perez had the most impressive win for a King wrestler outside of a final, pinning Oklahoma City freshman Brieana Delgado at the 1:40 mark of the second period for third place at 130 pounds after losing to Delgado in the quarterfinals and dropping the first period 1-0 in the rematch.

Along with the four finalists and Perez, the other King All-Americans were: Shannon Constantine (fourth, 101), Samantha Klingel (fourth, 116), Julia Salata (fourth, 170), Amber Floyd (fifth, 191), Kayla Bartosch (sixth, 116), Victoria Ngyuen (seventh, 116) and Stacy Martin (seventh, 123).

Revelle, Hildebrandt and Emily Martin also earned berths to the Olympic Qualifier in April at Iowa University, joining Ragan and Salata, who had previously earned spots in the field of competitors seeking a trip to the 2012 London Games.

“It is a good day, especially for our third year,” said Moorman, whose team finished 10^th in 2010 and fourth last year at the WCWA nationals. “A lot of our girls did well. The good thing for a lot of them is we had disappointing losses in the semifinals, but they did a great job trying to wrestle back and those points are real important.”

Oklahoma City coach Archie Randall, who was named the WCWA Coach of the Year, said King’s progression from new program to nationals host and WCWA runner-up in just three years has been impressive.

“Jason’s done a really good job and I’ve tried to help him as much as I can – to a point,” Randall said with a laugh. “He’s doing a good job and they’re getting better. The tournament’s getting bigger and harder to win.”  

King was awarded the right over the weekend to host the WCWA nationals again next year and Hildebrandt said there’s only one spot higher for her and the team to go.

“Never being satisfied is the most important thing in wrestling,” she said. “We always work to be better so, yeah, we’re not satisfied.”

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