ASHLAND – After celebrating three straight national championships as an assistant, Gabrielle Weyhrich has earned a new role as head coach of the Southern Oregon University women's wrestling team, SOU Director of Athletics Matt Sayre announced Tuesday.

Weyhrich, 27, is set to join the Raiders after four seasons on staff at McKendree University (Ill.), where she also competed as a student-athlete.

"Gabrielle comes to us from one of the best women's wrestling programs in the nation," Sayre said. "She gained extensive experience as a wrestler and coach. We know that her commitment to an intense and physical brand of freestyle wrestling will be balanced by her thoughtful rapport with the women on the team. She is a dynamic person and leader of young women, and we're eager to see their success under her mentorship."

At McKendree, Weyrich helped the Bearcats to team titles in the NCAA division of the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships in 2020, '21 and '22, and four top-three finishes at the WCWA National Duals. During that time, she completed a master's degree in business administration.

She was a team captain and WCWA national finalist during her undergrad days. Weyhrich has also been a Body Bar national finalist, a U23 national finalist, and a fourth-place finisher at the USA Wrestling 2018 World Team Trials. That year, she qualified for the Final X True Third Match.

"I am so excited and thankful for this opportunity," Weyhrich said. "I was very careful in deciding on which school was next for me and was looking for a program with the same vision, family atmosphere, and overall love for the sport that I believe in. SOU marked all of my boxes, and it quickly became clear that this was a place I needed to be."

Weyhrich will take over a position that Joel Gibson occupied for the last two seasons. Gibson is also the SOU men's wrestling team's head coach and will remain in that role exclusively.

"Coach Gibson, after leading both programs through the tough years of the pandemic, will focus solely on the men's team and bringing them back up to their historic prominence," Sayre said. "He, along with his top assistant Tucker Van Matre, made big strides in affecting positive culture change in both programs. With Coach Weyhrich now in place with the women's program, Joel will reinforce the expectations in recruitment, academic performance, character development and competitive excellence of our storied men's wrestling program."

In 2021-22, the Raider women capped the team's seventh season of existence with a program-best second-place showing at the NAIA National Invitational. They produced five All-Americans, including freshman national champion Carolina Moreno.

"The program will look very similar to what it does now; they already have a great foundation built," Weyhrich said. "I believe my job is to help implement new things into the program, while learning what they already do so well. My vision is to help produce amazing athletes and people to send out into the world. I want to use wrestling as a tool to guide these young women in becoming the best versions of themselves. If I do that, I believe that winning national championships will take care of itself."