CORALVILLE, IOWA - It was close. VERY close. The finals of the inaugural Captain’s Cup came down to the last match, where 76 kg Dymond Guilford sealed it for Team Mensah-Stock over Team Winchester to win the trophy and the cash with a 10-0 tech fall over Geneva Gray. That put the match score tied at 3-3, but put Team Mensah-Stock ahead in classification points 13-12. It was the same exact result on Day 1, when Team Mensah-Stock won their pool with a 13-12 victory in classification points over Team Hildebrandt after the match score was tied 3-3.

“I knew I was bringing a championship team,” the always-animated Tamyra Mensah-Stock told FloWrestling’s Mark Bader after the finals. “I got exactly who I wanted , and it worked out! Are you freaking kidding me? It was awesome.”

Mensah-Stock was also awarded the OW for the event.

With Team Winchester up in matches 3-2 and 12-9 in classification points in the finals, Team Mensah-Stock needed their #1 draft pick Dymond Guilford to get a pin or tech fall in the final match of the dual—without her opponent Geneva Gray scoring any points—to win the dual and bring home the $3000/wrestler prize for her team. In the middle of the second period, it was 6-0 Guilford when she scored a double-leg takedown and turn, closing the deal with a 10-0 tech fall.  

 “At first I felt a lot of pressure,” Guilford told Bader in a post-match interview, “and that’s just not for me. But Coach Afsoon with her beautiful mind just came up and told me to wrestle and we’ll be fine. And that’s what I did. I just came out there and wrestled." 

I didn’t think about team points or anything. It was just about the love of wrestling.

The wrestling was fantastic over the 2-day tournament, a breakthrough event for the women’s wrestling community. It was everything fans of women’s wrestling hoped for. With photographers’ bulbs popping, the FloWrestling crew on the call with guest Adeline Gray, wrestling media outlets covering the action, and some of the best college and Senior level stars on the mat, the competitors at the inaugural Captain’s Cup put on a show the displayed the depth, skill, and entertainment value of women’s wrestling.

In the end, Team Mensah Stock came out on top in an exciting and dramatic final, with #4 Amy Fearnside getting things started at 50 kg with a huge comeback win over #5 Alyssa Lampe, a rivalry that has been playing out over the last few years as they had split their previous two matches. Fearnside was down 9-0, on the razor’s edge of a tech fall, when she came storming back to get the 14-11 win in a wild match in what must be considered the match of the tournament. The next three matches were won by Team Winchester, as reigning world champ Jacarra Winchester scored a 10-0 tech fall over Alisha Howk at 53 kg, then Gracie Figueroa got a huge 4-3 win over Abby Nette at 57 kg in what could have been the swing match, followed by 62 kg Macey Kilty overwhelming Xochitl “XMP” Mota-Pettis with a 10-0 tech fall. At 68 kg, reigning world champ Tamrya Mensah-Stock got the fall over Alexandria Glaude, putting Guilford and her team in a position to win it all. 2^nd place Team Winchester walked away with $2000/wrestler, while 3^rd place Team Francis goes home with $1000/wrestler.

Final results:

1^st Team Mensah-Stock

2^nd Team Winchester

3^rd Team Francis

4^th Team Burkert

5^th Team Hildebrandt

6^th Team Miracle

Pool A

Team Winchester over Team Burkert, 4-2

Team Burkert over Team Miracle, 5-1

Team Winchester over Team Miracle, 6-0

Pool B

Team Mensah-Stock over Team Hildebrandt, 3-3 (13-12 classification points)

Team Francis over Team Hildebrandt, 4-2

Team Mensah-Stock over Team Francis, 4-2

Placement Rounds

5^th place match – Team Hildebrandt over Team Miracle, 4-2

3^rd place match – Team Francis over Team Burkert, 3-3 (12-10 classification points)

1^st place match – Team Mensah-Stock over Team Winchester, 3-3 (13-12 classification points)

My 1-2-3 prediction in the preview? Team Mensah-Stock gold, Team Winchester silver, Team Francis bronze. Nailed it.

Here’s a few more storylines from the event.

Statement Wins

A number of women had statement performances and statement wins, cementing their place in the Senior WFS Rankings or claiming new spots. Here’s a few.

50 kg Emily Shilson (Team Burkert) – In what has to be considered the biggest domestic Senior level win of her career, #7 Shilson took out #4 Amy Fearnside 9-4 on Day 1. The last time they wrestled, at the 2019 Senior Nationals, Fearnside beat her 6-4. Shilson also took a loss to #1 Sarah Hildebrandt and defeated Team Burkert’s #8 Aleeah Gould 10-0. Overall, the Fearnside win has to be considered a big step forward.

57 kg Brenda Reyna (Team Burkert) – Last minute addition Brenda Reyna from McKendree University replaced team captain Jenna Burkert only days before the event. Recently returning from an injury that took her out for over a year, the 13^th ranked Reyna put on a clinic for leg attacks, going 3-0 with wins over #12 Gracie Figueroa 14-4, #11 Koral Sugiyama 11-10, and #10 Lauren Mason 7-2. That’ll put her in the top 10 at the Senior level.

62 kg Macey Kilty (Team Winchester) – She’s been climbing the totem pole ever since she started competing at the Senior level a few years ago, but for the first time, she’s cracked the top 3 at an Olympic weight. She stunned #3 Mallory Velte with a 11-0 statement win in the first round, then going on to get a 10-0 tech fall over #7 Julia Salata before finishing with a 10-0 thumping of #6 XMP. That’s right, Kilty outscored her opponents 31-0 at the event.

62 kg Emma Bruntil (Team Francis) – Though she faltered in the finals against #3 Mallory Velte, Bruntil still made her mark at the Captain’s Cup with a win over #6 (at 57 kg) XMP 13-2 and a 2-2 criteria win over #6 Jennifer Page, the 2020 Senior Nationals champ. Bruntil had beaten Page 2-1 in late December on the Nittany Lion WC card. Edging Page again cements her spot in the top 5.

68 kg Alexandria Glaude (Team Winchester) – OK, so she didn’t beat Tamrya Mensah-Stock, but apparently no one beats Mensah-Stock, or even scores on her—not even 5-time world champ Adeline Gray, who Mensah-Stock recently defeated in an exhibition 4-0. But Glaude still had a big tournament. After getting a dramatic 3-2 win over Team Burkert’s Alyvia Fiske in the final seconds of her first match, she followed it up with a 5-1 win over #3 Ashlynn Ortega to climb to the #3 spot.

76 kg Dymond Guilford (Team Mensah-Stock) – Not only did Guilford have the big win in the finals for Team Mensah-Stock, she established herself as the clear #2 with a 2-1 win over #4 Precious Bell and a convincing 10-0 tech fall over #3 Victoria Francis, an opponent she’d recently beaten 4-2 to take the #2 spot. Becoming the clear #2, the only woman in front of Guilford now is 5-time world champion Adeline Gray.

Best Matches

There’s so many matches we could highlight, but here’s some of the top matches from Day 1 & Day 2:

Day 1, Pool A

57 kg: Brenda Reyna (Team Burkert) over Koral Sugiyama (Team Miracle), 11-10

The high-flying Sugiyama goes back and forth with leg shooter Brenda Reyna in a high-scoring affair that ends 11-10, with Reyna coming out on top.

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62 kg: Macey Kilty (Team Winchester) over Mallory Velte (Team Burkert), 11-0 (5:18)

The match itself wasn’t very competitive, which is what made it compelling. For #4 Kilty to dominate #3 Mallory Velte, a 2018 World bronze medalist, was shocking and a clear statement by the younger wrestler from the Tar Heel Wrestling Club.

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68 kg: Alexandria Glaude (Team Winchester) over Alyvia Fiske (Team Burkert), 3-2
A chess match with drama in the final 20 seconds as Glaude finds her offense in time to win it.

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Day 1: Pool B

50 kg: #7 Emily Shilson (Team Francis) over #4 Amy Fearnside (Team Mensah Stock), 9-4

Shilson breaks through and takes out Fearnside, showing what we all already knew, that Shilson is the future in this weight class and is here to stay.

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53 kg: #8 Alisha Howk (Team Mensah Stock) over #9 Felicity Taylor (Team Francis), 5-4

A back and forth match between two young talents, with Howk finding a way in the final 30 seconds.

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62 kg: #5 Emma Bruntil (Team Francis) over #6 Jennifer Page (Team Hildebrandt), 2-2

A rematch from December, where Bruntil, the NCAA national champion, defeated the 2020 Senior Nationals champ 2-1.

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76 kg: #3 Victoria Francis (Team Francis) over #4 Precious Bell (Team Hildebrandt), 8-4

A #3 vs #4 battle with some history. World teamer Francis comes out on top for the second time in a row as Francis beat Bell 11-8 at the 2020 Senior Nationals last October. 

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76 kg: #2 Dymond Guilford (Team Mensah-Stock) over #3 Victoria Francis (Team Francis), 10-0 (5:01)

Again, not a competitive match, but a shocking one, as the younger Guilford scored a tech fall over the current world teamer Victoria Francis, who placed 5^th at Worlds in 2019.

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Day 2: Championship Rounds

5^th place match

53 kg: #8 (57) Alex Hedrick (Team Hildebrandt) over #5 Ronna Heaton (Team Miracle), 5-2

2020 NCAA college national champ Hedrick pulls the upset over surging Ronna Heaton, who has been on fire in recent months.

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57 kg: #11 Koral Sugiyama (Team Miracle) over #4 Lauren Louive (Team Hildebrandt), 17-5

Count them…FOUR arm spin throws! You know you want to see it. What’s more of a spectacle is that she did it over the 2020 Senior Nationals champ.

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68 kg: #3 Ashlynn Ortega (Team Miracle) vs #6 Kayla Marano (Team Hildebrandt), 4-4

Tight match between two top college women.

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3^rd place match

68 kg: #5 Skylar Grote (Team Francis) over #7 Alyvia Fiske (Team Burkert), 6-1

Don’t be fooled by the score. It almost went Fiske in the final seconds. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth the watch. Turns out, Grote’s final takedown was worth $1000/per team member as this win helped put her team in bronze position.

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Finals

50 kg: #4 Amy Fearnside (Team Mensah-Stock) over #5 Alyssa Lampe (Team Winchester), 14-11

This one has to be the match of the tournament. Down 9-0, Fearnside turned on beast mode and came back in a wild one to get the win, and ultimately, help her team claim the trophy in the finals!

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57 kg: #12 Gracie Figueroa (Team Winchester) vs #7 Abigail Nette (Team Mensah-Stock), 4-3

Figueroa had to win to give her team a chance. She did, pulling the upset over #7 Abby Nette, the 2019 Senior Nationals champ.

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Derek Levendusky is a freelance writer at American Women’s Wrestling and FloWrestling. You can find him on Twitter: @awwnewsfeed and @AWWderek.