Northern Michigan University’s Abbie Miles, at back, tries to pin Tiffin's Erin Martin during the Northern Duals women’s wrestling meet held at the Vandament Arena in Marquette on Dec. 19. (Photo courtesy of Cara Kamps)

TIFFIN, Ohio — The women’s wrestling team at Northern Michigan University finished fourth at an NCAA regional meet over the weekend, and probably more importantly, qualified three of its wrestlers for the NCAA Championships national finals coming up in two weeks in Iowa.

The Wildcats scored 80 points to edge out Otterbein with 78 for fourth place in the 18-team field. North Central won the team title with 182.5, with Grand Valley State a close runner-up with 173 and Aurora a rather distant third, and not far ahead of NMU, with 97.

Last year, Northern came in third in what was just an eight-team regional meet.

The Wildcats’ national qualifiers, all of whom finished in the top three of their weight division, were junior Alissa Caltagirone at 145 pounds, sophomore Abbie Miles at 180 and sophomore Sophia Bassino at 160. Each was ranked in the top 10 in the nation headed into the meet.

The trio will travel to Coralville, Iowa, for the nationals on March 6-7.

Just missing the top-three cut were junior Zhivanna Magdaleno in fourth place at 117 and junior Mickaela Keane in fifth at 207.

Caltagirone came in second place, advancing with back-to-back pins at 48 seconds and 1:15 on Friday, then adding an 11-1 technical fall at the end of the first period in the semifinals to start her competition on Saturday. She finished as runner-up after a tech fall loss at 4:36 in the championship match to Bella Mir of North Central.

Miles also finished second in her division, recording back-to-back tech falls at 1:35 and 3:59 on Friday, adding an upset win to start Saturday as the No. 3 seed knocking off the No. 2 seeded Gabriella Allen of Alma in a tech fall score of 12-0 at 3:59. Advancing to the finals, Miles lost to Shenita Lawson in a tech fall, 12-2, at 2:35.

Bassino also won with two tech falls on Friday at 5:05 and 1:11, then lost 8-4 in her semifinal to Noelle Gaffney of GVSU. In the consolation match for third place that would determine who would go to nationals, she won in another tech fall, 12-2, past Emma Hanrahan of Mount Union.

Magdaleno also got off to a fast start Friday, winning 2-0 and by tech fall at 3:22 to reach the semis. On Saturday, she lost 8-0 to Carleigh Czerneski of Adrian, then won on tech fall 13-2 at 2:17 over Valentina Fantoni of Elmhurst to make the third-place match, where she lost to Kiely Tabaldo of Grand Valley by fall at 3:57.

Receiving a first-round bye, Keane only needed one win, a 7-4 victory, on Friday to advance to the semis. There, she lost to Caroline Ward of North Central 3-1, then lost another close one, 2-1, to Alivia Davey of Illinois Wesleyan to qualify for the fifth-place match. She clinched that place with a forfeit win over Lyndsee Young of Mount Union.

Three other Wildcats also competed at Tiffin. Samantha Chaon at 131 made it to the semis before bowing out in consolation round 3, going 2-2 with wins by a pin at 4:18 and a 7-0 decision.

Teammate Alyssa Keane at 138 had a 1-2 record, while Jamie Cook at 124 was 0-2.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.