KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The NAIA announced that University of Providence women's wrestler Ashley Gooman was named the NAIA National Wrestler of the Week for her performance at the Maverick Open two weeks ago.

Gooman was previously named the WVT Laboratory Cascade Collegiate Conference Wrestler of the Week on Nov. 15. The NAIA announced the first two National Player of the Week awards on Tuesday.  

"It's cool to get the award," head coach Matt Atwood said. "It's special to Ashley for sure and it's special for me. It's really cool for our program overall. We still got a lot of work to do for the rest of the year but it's a really cool honor."

Gooman, who is currently ranked 5^th nationally in the 116 lb. weight class, cruised through the competition en route to winning her weight class at the Maverick Open, hosted by NCAA Division II school Colorado Mesa. She defeated three NCAA wrestlers, including one from Division 1 school Fresno State. Of her four matches, she recorded one pin and three technical falls. She followed up her performance in Grand Junction with a 7^th place finish at the Missouri Valley Invite this past weekend.

The coaching staff hopes the National award is the first of many accomplishments of the season for the Gooman.

"I have high really high goals for Ashley," Atwood said. "I think she's potentially a National Champion. There's a lot of work we have to do to get there but she's that caliber of an athlete. She's super coachable. She has a heavy workload in classes but she does very well in all aspects, both on and off the mat."

Gooman and the Argos will take the week off for Thanksgiving. They'll return to the mat on Dec. 3 for the Battle of the Rockies.