Simpson women earn fifth and seventh at historic national meet

CORALVILLE, Iowa – Annelise Obermark and Keeley Kehrli closed out the inaugural NCAA Women's Wrestling National Championships with fifth- and seventh-place finishes, respectively, securing the first All-America honors in Simpson women's wrestling history.

Competing in the first NCAA-sponsored national championship for women's wrestling, the Storm duo made program history with top-eight finishes. Obermark placed fifth while Kehrli secured seventh, combining for 21.5 team points across the two-day event.

Obermark captured fifth place after winning a tightly contested match over Alexandra Szkotnicki of McKendree by an 11-10 decision. She opened the championship with back-to-back technical falls, defeating No. 8 Margaret Buurma of Grand Valley State University 13-2 before topping Alexandra Ford of Emmanuel (Ga.) 12-1 in the quarterfinals to advance to the final four, the first national semifinal appearance in program history. Obermark fell to No. 2 Bella Mir of North Central and No. 7 Madeline Kubicki of Presbyterian, but finished strong with her 11-10 fifth-place victory.

At 160 pounds, Kehrli placed seventh with her 20th pin of the season, defeating Noelle Gaffney of Grand Valley State in 2:44. Kehrli's tournament began with a 28-second fall over Lene McCrackin of Simon Fraser in the opening round, the fifth-fastest pin of the entire tournament. After a quarterfinal loss to No. 1 Kennedy Blades of Iowa, Kehrli earned a 14-6 decision over No. 9 Alexandra Hofrichter of Dubuque. She wrapped up the tournament with a fall over Gaffney after coming up short late in her match with No. 4 May Cuyler of Presbyterian. 

Simpson finished 17th out of 53 teams.