Freshman wrestler, Jenna Joseph, accomplished a major feat as she earned a spot in the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship by placing fourth at the NCWWC Region IV Championships in Naperville, Illinois. 

“I think it’s a pretty big accomplishment for me personally, mainly because going into the season, I never thought that I was going to do necessarily as well as I did, let alone make it this far,” Joseph said.

Joseph sets the mark as the first Simpson woman to make the national tournament, and what makes this success even more impressive is that it took her and the team only one season to do it.

“Being not only the only girl from our team to qualify for the national tournament, but being the first from our school to qualify for the national tournament in women’s wrestling just feels kind of big, but kind of nice at the same time,” Joseph said.

Joseph said the Simpson community, her teammates and people from back home in Longmont, Colorado have been extremely supportive of her recent accomplishment. Some of her current teammates are planning on attending the tournament to cheer her on and to gain experience of what the national stage is like.

At the start of the season, she had no idea she would be able to make it this far, and this recent achievement of making the national tournament in her first year gives her a lot of hope for her future at Simpson.

Kylie Rae Torres, a sophomore on the women’s wrestling team, is excited that Joseph has made the tournament and says she will be in attendance to show her support.

“I think it just makes us more excited for next year when we have more girls and more opportunities to show off how great our program really is,” Torres said.

Joseph making the tournament in her first year sets the bar high for the women’s program and gives insight into what the Simpson community can expect for the next season. The team, being in its first year as well, has had their fair share of ups and downs, but both Joseph and Torres are looking forward to the new commits coming in next season to help the team grow.

During her time off before the national tournament, Joseph has been focusing on her mental state and preparing for the big competition. She has been trying to pin her focus on the tournament but says it has been hard with midterm exams in a lot of her classes. 

“Giving myself enough rest is going to be a big part of it because, yes, I can sit there and drill myself into the ground, but that is not necessarily going to be beneficial for me to do so because then I will not have the strength I need to actually compete well,” Joseph said.

Joseph will compete at the national tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa March 3 and 4 where she aims to win in the 170 lb. weight class or place in the top 8.