Led by NATIONAL CHAMPIONS Bella Williams (Edmond North) and Lynn Horn (Blanchard), the Oklahoma U16 Women’s team turned in a stellar performance at “Fargo”, officially known as the 2023 US Marine Corps 16U & Junior National Tournament. In addition to Williams and Horn, Harrah’s Addie Morse (4th), Edmond North’s Alexandria Ray (5th) and Bixby’s Millie Azlin (6th) all earned All-American honors to boost the team to a best-ever 3rd place finish in the team race. Oklahoma added a sixth All-American as Westmoore’s Aubrianna Smith earned All-American honors with an 8th place finish in the Junior Women’s Tournament.
In the most prestigious tournament of the year, Bella Williams dominated the field to not only claim the national title but was also awarded the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament Award for her incredible performance. Williams outscored her first five opponents 53-1 to advance to the finals. In the finals, Williams led 3-1 after the first period and broke away early in the final period, scoring six quick points to claim the title and the coveted stop sign with a 9-3 win over Nebraska’s Kaylyn Harrill. Williams was a double All-American last year, with 3rd place finishes in both the U16 and Junior Tournaments.
Lynn Horn made it two champions in a row for Oklahoma as she was equally impressive in winning the 127 lb. national title. Horn rolled into the finals with four falls (including falls in :22 and :49) and a 14-2 tech fall win. The tech fall win came over California’s Samantha Sachs (ranked 14th in the nation) and the :49 fall was over Oregon’s Bailey Chafin (ranked 12th in the nation). Horn saved the best for last, as she faced returning national runner-up Carley Ceshker from Wisconsin in the finals. Ceshker, ranked 3rd in the nation and 25th in the national Pound-for-Pound (P-4-P) rankings, led 3-0 with under a minute to go. Horn, who came into the tournament, ranked 20th in the nation, was not to be denied as she rallied with the final three points to win by criteria to claim the national title and her own stop sign in her first trip to Fargo.
Addie Morse had four wins including a fall and two shut out wins to earn a 4th place All-American finish at 100 lbs. In the consolation semifinals, Morse scored three points in the final 20 seconds to pull out a 3-2 win to advance to the consolation finals. Oklahoma earned two All-American honors at 164 lbs. as Alexandria Ray placed 5th and Millie Azlin placed 6th. Ray had four wins in the tournament, including winning her first three matches by outscoring her opponents 20-2 in advancing to the semi-finals. Azlin opened the tournament with four straight falls, before dropping a match to eventual champion Piper Fowler from Tennessee (ranked 13th in P-4-P rankings). Aubrianna Smith won five matches with one fall and two tech fall wins to earn an 8th place All-American finish at 127 lbs. In a high scoring match, Smith fell behind 10-4 before hitting a 5-point throw midway through the final period and then scored five more points in the final 20 seconds to win a wild 20-18 match over Nebraska’s Regan Rosseter.
The 3rd place team finish continued the vast improvement of the Oklahoma Women’s teams on the national scene. In 2021, the team placed 29th, improving to 14th last year and the big jump to 3rd this year. The tournament not only saw the best performance by an Oklahoma Women’s U16 team, but it also saw the continued increase in the number of Fargo qualifiers. In 2021 Oklahoma sent 33 wrestlers (21 Junior and 15 U16), and 47 competed last year (22 Juniors and 25 U16). With 26 Juniors and 36 U16, this year’s team had 62 make the trip to Fargo! Listed below are all the Fargo participants.
ALL-AMERICANS
16U Women – Freestyle | ||
122 | Bella Williams | 1st |
127 | Lynn Horn | 1st |
100 | Addie Morse | 4th |
164 | Alexandria Ray | 5th |
164 | Millie Azlin | 6th |
Junior Women – Freestyle
127 | Aubrianna Smith | 8th |
16U Women – 3rd Place (78 Points) / 36 entries Junior Women – 31st Place (2 Points) / 26 entries
Wt. | Name | Record | Place | Wt. | Name | Record | Place | |
94 | Halle Wassenberg | 1-2 | 100 | Katelynn Widner | 0-2 | |||
100 | Addie Morse | 4-2 | 4th | 106 | Emma Wissman | 2-2 | ||
100 | Mallory Hernandez | 0-2 | 106 | Addison Polk | 1-2 | |||
106 | Jadyn Roller | 3-2 | 106 | Destiny Jones | 1-2 | |||
106 | Lily Land | 2-2 | 112 | Mariah Robbins | 2-2 | |||
106 | Kyrian Perez | 0-2 | 112 | Charisma Meeks | 0-2 | |||
112 | Kyrstan Perez | 2-2 | 112 | Shae Salinas | 0-2 | |||
112 | Suzannah Gray | 0-2 | 112 | Skylar Gragg | 0-2 | |||
117 | Aiyana Perkins | 3-2 | 117 | Madison Roe | 1-2 | |||
117 | Dru Turner | 2-2 | 117 | Abigail Butts | 0-2 | |||
117 | Cashlie Bowman | 1-2 | 122 | Trinity Rakestraw | 1-2 | |||
117 | Kristen DeLaRosa | 0-2 | 122 | Annabell Chase | 0-2 | |||
122 | Bella Williams | 6-0 | 1st | 122 | Laila Mirza | 0-2 | ||
122 | Laura Mullin | 2-2 | 127 | Aubrianna Smith | 5-3 | 8th | ||
122 | Abbigail O’Kelly | 0-2 | 127 | Kurstin Howell | 2-2 | |||
122 | Brooklynn Huggins | 0-2 | 127 | Ashtyn Sagely | 1-2 | |||
127 | Lynn Horn | 6-0 | 1st | 132 | Shelby Kemp | 2-2 | ||
127 | Angelina Bezner | 0-2 | 132 | Kaylee Campbell | 1-2 | |||
132 | Jay’la Ford | 1-2 | 138 | Josaline Blevins | 3-2 | |||
132 | Millie Bradley | 1-2 | 138 | Trysten Rittberger | 0-2 | |||
132 | Kendra Perrien | 0-2 | 144 | Corin Lowe | 1-2 | |||
138 | Makaylee Cannon | 4-2 | 152 | Kaylee Davis | 4-2 | |||
138 | Aubrey Brown | 2-2 | 164 | Kylea Birdsong | 2-2 | |||
138 | Macy Gorczynski | 1-2 | 180 | Ashley Maldonado | 2-2 | |||
144 | Adrianna Chronister | 3-2 | 180 | Siara Arrington | 2-2 | |||
144 | Ryleigh Lefkowitz | 3-2 | 180 | Symphony Veloz | 2-2 | |||
144 | Maggie Beaird | 2-2 | ||||||
152 | Makenna Howell | 2-2 | ||||||
152 | Carli Antonelli | 1-2 | ||||||
152 | Jessica Fullbright | 1-2 | ||||||
152 | Madilynn Ingram | 0-2 | ||||||
164 | Alexandria Ray | 4-2 | 5th | |||||
164 | Millie Azlin | 4-3 | 6th | |||||
180 | Emery Turner | 3-2 | ||||||
180 | Brooklynn Latham | 0-2 | ||||||
200 | Aubrey Bolton | 0-2 |