North Central coach Joe Norton recently addressed the issue of Kaelani Shufeldt’s disqualification at the NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships due to biting allegations. The coach, in his recent statement, defended his wrestler, claiming the allegations were not true.
The first-ever NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships took place from March 6 to 7 at the Xtreme Arena, Coralville, IA. It witnessed a major controversy involving the North Central wrestler, Shufeldt, who was accused of biting her opponent, Chloe Dearwester, in their 110-pound quarterfinal bout on the first day of the championships.
Amid the showdown, Dearwester screamed in pain and grabbed her arm, allowing Injury Time to analyze the situation. While reviewing, the officials noticed bite marks on Dearwester’s arm. Shufeldt was disqualified for brutality from the match, with her opponent advancing to the semifinal.
Shortly after this shock disqualification, the North Central coach, Norton, issued a statement, reasoning why his wrestler hadn’t bitten her opponent. He highlighted that initially Dearwester held her right hand in pain, but the bite marks were found on the left hand.
Along with this, the marks found were a perfect circle of teeth marks, which wouldn’t have been possible if Shufeldt bit her, as she wears a mouthpiece. Calling the biting allegations untrue, he said:
“Kaelani wears a mouthpiece, so from what we saw with the bite mark, she wouldn’t have been able to leave that kind of ring — at least not with the top of her teeth. I thought it was curious, but the last thing you want to do is accuse the other athlete of biting (herself), so I assumed one of them bit her incidentally in the action,” said Joe Norton.
Multiple users online accused the Presbyterian wrestler, Dearwester, of biting her own hand.
Joe Norton opened up about how the officials decided to disqualify Kaelani Shufeldt on brutality
After the incident occurred on day 1 of the NCAA women’s wrestling championships, chaos and confusion surrounded the mat. During an interview with FloWrestling, the North Central coach, Joe Norton, said that the three officials on the mat weren’t initially sure of calling it brutality. Revealing how the officials decided on disqualifying Kaelani Shufeldt, he said:
“So they weren’t sure what to call on the mat — the three officials on the mat. They were talking about calling brutality, and Brian said, ‘Hey, we can just take a caution and one, I don’t think we have to call it brutality and take it that far.’ Sammy Julian, head official, said to Danny (Blackshear), the official with the whistle, ‘If you three (officials) call brutality, then I review it and it comes to me. That was the call they made,” said Joe Norton.
Following this, he opened up about him questioning the officials, adding:
“(Julian) watched the wrestling action and came back and called the brutality. When I questioned it, he told me there was no point at which Chloe’s own mouth went near enough for to left wrist for her to bite herself, so it must’ve been us, which I questioned. I said, ‘Did you see (Shufeldt) bite her?’ He said, ‘No.’ I thought that was interesting that if you don’t see a bite that you’re going to call a bite.”
The opponent team’s coach, Brian Vutianitis, also expressed disappointment over the situation, stating that he wished that it was handled in the right way.
Read More:
Biting Brutality Shocks NCAA: North Central Wrestler Kaelani Shufeldt Disqualified Amid Fury
McKendree and Iowa Separated by Mere 2.5 Points in Landmark NCAA Women’s Wrestling After Day 1
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