ERIE, Pa. — In a monumental day for New Jersey City University, the NJCU women's wrestling squad made history by becoming the first-ever intercollegiate women's wrestling program in the state of New Jersey to officially compete in collegiate competition. The Gothic Knights saw an immense amount of success at the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) Northeast Regional Qualifier, hosted by Gannon Unviersity on Saturday, Feb. 20, as three individuals punched their tickets to NCWWC Nationals.

In order to qualify for Nationals at Tiffin University in Tiffin, Ohio, on March 6, wrestlers must have placed among the top four in their respective weight classes at regionals — a quartet of Gothic Knight freshmen accomplished that feat on Saturday. Johnae Drumright (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Central) was the runner-up at 109 pounds, while Naomi Henry (Brooklyn, N.Y./Wingate Educational Campus) (130) and captain Sandra Guerrero (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) (191) each placed third. Overall, NJCU was able to amass 61.0 points as a team to place fourth overall out of the seven on the day.

Highlighting the day for the Knights was Drumright's run to the finals before ultimately falling in the championship bout. Drumright opened her day and career with a dominant 10-0 technical fall over Gannon's Kennedy Javier. She would then cement her spot at the national tournament with a heart-stopping 10-9 decision in the semi-finals over Tiffin's Brooke Richards, eventually falling to top seeded Emily Mendez of Adrian College in the championship bout.

After dropping her first bout, Henry had the daunting task of having to win two consecutive matches in order to make it to the big dance. The rookie responded with back-to-back technical falls of 10-0 and 11-0 over Vivian Newcomer of Gannon and Bridgette Schoultz of Delaware Valley University, respectively. With her place in Ohio already reserved, Henry put an exclamation point on her day by adding a third consecutive tech fall over Mackenzie Tayerle of Adrian to secure a 3-1 record on the day and a third-place finish.

Guerrero began her day with a stunning 17 second fall in the quarterfinals to secure her national qualification before dropping her semi-final bout to eventual champion Jessie Lee of Tiffin. Guerrero would finish her day with another fall, taking 38 seconds in her second go-around with Erin Murray of Delaware Valley to take third.

NJCU will next compete at the NCWWC National Championships.