Doane women's wrestler Rodriguez claims USA National Championship

SPOKANE, Wash. — Doane University freshman women's wrestler Cristelle Rodriguez returned to the national stage in a big way on Sunday afternoon at the 2023 USA Women's Wrestling National Championships presented by the United States Marine Corps. Rodriguez, competing in the U20 division, worked her way through the 57kg bracket on Saturday and advanced to the championship match on the final day of action. In the best 2-of-3 format in the championship, Rodriguez rallied from an opening match defeat to take the next two matches and claim a spot atop the podium as a national champion.

Rodriguez competed internationally for the United State in 2019 when she brought home a silver medal at the Cadet World Championships in Bulgaria. With her victory on Sunday, she will once again represent the United States when she travels to Warsaw, Poland, for the 20U World Championships.

The tournament opened for Rodriguez, from Clovis, California, with a pair of 10-0 tech fall wins as she defeated Andrea Hernandez from Indiana and Sara Sterner from California. In the semifinals, she met up with the 2022 U20 World Championships silver medalist in Sofia Macaluso of New York.

Midway through the opening period, Macaluso recorded a four-point takedown for the first points of the match. With 44 seconds left in the first period, Rodriguez tied the match with a four-point takedown of her own as the two fell out-of-bounds. The second period saw Macaluso regain the lead 30 seconds in with a leg sweep. Rodriguez tied the match at 6-all with 95 seconds left with a single-leg takedown and took the lead by rolling Macaluso to her back. Macaluso would lockup Rodriguez several times over the final minute but was unable to find a takedown and with four seconds left, Rodriguez turned one of those attempts into a takedown of her own to win 10-6 and advance to the championship.

On Sunday, Rodriguez faced off against Shelby Moore, the 2022 U17 World Championships fourth place finisher. In the first of three matches against each other on the day, Rodriguez scored the opening points with a throwdown 24 seconds into the match. At the midway point of the opening round, Moore tied the match with a takedown. With 27 seconds left in the first period, Moore recorded her second takedown to take a 4-2 lead. Rodriguez tied the match at 4-all with a takedown with five seconds left in the period.

In the second period, Moore regained the lead with two minutes remaining in the match. She added a takedown with 23 seconds left to take an 8-4 lead. Rodriguez responded with a takedown with eight seconds remaining but was unable to roll Moore over for additional points and the Washington native held on for an 8-6 win.

In the second match-up of the day, Moore earned the first point with a pushout point 18 seconds into the match. Moore picked up a takedown with 1:42 left in the first period and added a point to her score on a lost challenge on the move by the Rodriguez corner. The 4-0 deficit would not deter Rodriguez as she cut into the lead with a takedown with 1:21 remaining in the period. Moore picked up another one-point pushout to take a 5-2 lead, the last point she would score against Rodriguez on the day.

The final period of the second match had Rodriguez trailing by three points. With 2:04 left in the match, Rodriguez recorded a takedown to pull within a point. The tide of the match turned at the 1:01 mark, literally, as Rodriguez picked up a takedown to take a 6-5 lead and then rolled Moore over for an additional two points and 8-5 victory.

In the winner-take-all match, Rodriguez snagged a single-leg takedown at the midway mark of the opening period for a 2-0 lead. She extended her lead with a takedown with 48 seconds left in the period and then hit a four-point takedown with 17 seconds left to take an 8-0 lead after three minutes of action. In the second period, Rodriguez fought off a couple of attacks by Moore before hitting a single-leg takedown at the 2:21 mark to finish off a 10-0 tech fall victory.

In a post-match interview, Rodriguez expressed her gratitude for teammate Karina Vang who encouraged her to get back into wrestling and for Coach Dana Vote. She was also appreciative of God, saying that she has been "following God's footsteps and he had opened up a path for her to win (the national title)". 

In making the adjustments to bounce back from the first match loss to Moore, she said heading into the final two matches "it is pretty much about heart and who wants it the most. I feel like I worked hard, I worked really hard for this and wanted to come back stronger."

Rodriguez will now turn her attention to the World Championships and she thinks her experience from 2019 will be advantageous.

"Here (in the US) it is more about tying up and throwing but overseas they shoot a lot more and I like that part. It's the way I like to wrestle."

The 2023 20U World Championships will be held August 14-20 in Warsaw, Poland.