Northern Michigan University’s Alissa Caltagirone, left, has her arm raised by the referee signaling she won her match against East Stroudsburg’s Selina Moore, right, in a match in the 145-pound division at the NCAA Championships in women’s wrestling at Coralville, Iowa, on Friday. (Photo courtesy NMU)

CORALVILLE, Iowa — Junior Alissa Caltagirone picked up a historic first win by a Northern Michigan University wrestler at the NCAA Championships held for the first time in women’s wrestling on Friday.

She wrestled in the 145-pound division and opened with a 12-0 technical fall victory over Selina Moore of East Stroudsburg (Pennsylvania), having built that large lead in just 1 minute, 15 seconds to end the match early.

Caltagirone advanced in the winner’s bracket to face Alexandra Szkotnicki of McKendree, that school a fellow member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference and the eventual NCAA team champion that was decided on Saturday evening.

Szkotnicki scored a 10-0 tech fall in 3:17 to send the Wildcat wrestler into the consolation side of the bracket.

There, she wrestled another GLVC wrestler, Margaret Buurma of Grand Valley State, to a 4-4 tie but lost on a tiebreaker to end her run.

She would’ve needed a win in that match to place in the top eight in her division.

NMU finished with 2 1/2 points to tie for 39th place in a field of 54 teams.

Northern sophomore Sophia Bassino lost both her matches at 160. She opened with a 12-0 tech fall setback to Savannah Gomez of McKendree, then in the consolation bracket, was pinned at 4:49 by Alexandra Hofrichter of Dubuque despite having a 9-8 lead at the time of the pin.

Another Wildcat sophomore, Abbie Miles, competed at 180. She lost in a 10-0 tech fall to open against Paige Maher of Simon Fraser (British Columbia in Canada), then on the consolation side, lost on a tiebreaker after wrestling Journey Land of Mount Olive (North Carolina) to a 4-4 deadlock.

The NMU trio earned their bids to the national tournament after top-three finishes at an NCAA regional qualifier held in Tiffin, Ohio, on Feb. 20-21.

Caltagirone and Miles each placed second and Bassino was third in their weight divisions, while Caltagirone was also an All-GLVC First Team selection previously and Miles and Bassino each made the All-GLVC Second Team.

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.