2024 Women's Nationals Collegiate Recap

Anaya Falcon photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com

Just over a month after the conclusion of the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling season, many athletes showed out to claim a World Team spot at Nationals this past weekend. In addition to current collegiate athletes, many commits also competed and gave fans a glimpse at the talent they will be bringing to college lineups in seasons to come. For this overview, I will be focusing on U20 and U23 results.

U20 Women’s Nationals

In the finals at 50kg, future Life Running Eagle, Anaya Falcon, got two dominant wins over Iowa’s Nyla Valencia in their best-of-three series. Valencia was a runner-up at U20s last season wrestling unattached. Falcon is continually ranked in the top 25 pound-for-pound for her class and is a 3x California state champ. She will certainly be an exciting addition to Life’s roster.

Iowa’s first champ of the day was Brianna Gonzalez at 53kg. Gonzalez was the runner-up at NCWWCs this season after losing the finals match to Felicity Taylor. Gonzalez secured her top spot here with several dominant wins including two tech falls over King commit Clare Booe. Booe will be an immediate impact athlete for the King team with two Fargo titles, a Super 32 championship finish, and a first-place finish at last season's East Stroudsburg Open as a high school senior.

This season’s NAIA National Champ Cristelle Rodriguez of Doane put on another dominant performance at Nationals, winning her final series with two pins in under three minutes total.

Lexi Janiak of Aurora claimed the top spot at 59 kg over 2023 Fargo Champion Aubre Krazer with an 11-0 first match, and a closer 8-4 decision win in their second bout. Janiak finished third at NCWWCs this past season and is a 2023 U20 Bronze Medalist. 

62kg had one of the tightest matchups, with future Iowa Hawkeye Cadence Diduch dropping the first match to Skylar Hattendorf. However, match two was a shutout for Diduch. In the final bout, Diduch was able to hang on to a 2-1 lead to claim the top spot. Diduch is a three-time Fargo Champ and really showed some of the grittiness that the Hawkeyes team is already starting to be known for in this tournament. 

Sticking with Iowa’s team for the 65kg finals, we saw two Hawkeyes competing for the spot with Reese Larramendy coming out victorious over redshirt freshman Ella Schmit. The two actually both competed at U20s last season as well and while the two did not cross paths in that tournament, Schmit finished in second with Larramendy claiming the third place spot. The two wrestled one other time this past season at the Indiana Tech Warrior Open with Larramendy also getting the decision win in that matchup.

Southern Oregon’s 2024 National Champ Caitlyn Davis showed out again here to claim 1st place at 68kg. Davis beat out McKendree’s Destiny Rodriguez in two matches. In the first, Davis was able to shut down everything from Rodriguez to get a 9-0 decision. In the second, Rodriguez kept it a bit closer, but it was still Davis with the 4-1 decision.

Shannon Workinger of Menlo made an appearance in the finals at 72kg, improving on her fifth-place finish from last season. Unfortunately, she fell short in her matchup to Jasmine Robinson who was the champ in the U23 division as well.

Finally, at 76kg Iowa fans have another exciting wrestler to cheer for as Naomi Simon, who committed to Iowa earlier this season, gets two tech fall victories to claim the top spot over Menlo’s Kalili Shrive. Simon is also a 2023 Fargo champ and will fit right into the Iowa roster given the huge 4-point move she hit on the edge of her second match here.

U20 Women’s Final Results

50 kg: Anaya Falcon (Life Commit) over Nyla Valencia (Iowa)  14-6, 10-0

53 kg: Brianna Gonzalez (Iowa) over Clare Booe (King Commit)  6-7, 10-0, 12-2

55 kg: Cristelle Rodriguez (Doane) over Zao Estrada, Fall 1:25, Fall :55

57 kg: Carissa Qureshi (CA) over Everest Leydecker (AZ) 6-6, 14-1

59 kg: Alexis Janiak (Aurora) over Aubre Krazer (PA) 11-0, 8-4

62 kg: Cadence Diduch (Iowa Commit) over Skylar Hattendorf (NH) 0-10, 6-0, 2-1

65 kg: Reese Larramendy (Iowa) over Ella Schmit (Iowa)  12-1, 10-0

68 kg: Caitlyn Davis (Southern Oregon) over Destiny Rodriguez (McKendree)  9-0, 4-1

72 kg: Jasmine Robinson (TX) over Shannon Workinger (Menlo)  Fall :54, 13-2

76 kg: Naomi Simon (Iowa Commit) over Kalila Shrive (Menlo)  14-3, 12-0

U23 Women’s Final Results

At U23s, several current collegiate wrestlers made their way to the finals, including a few rematches from the collegiate season.

Starting at 50kg, Iowa’s Sterling Dias finished in second place, dropping both matches to Heather Crull, a U17 Bronze Medalist, who also competed in the U23 division this weekend. Dias finished 2nd at NCWWCs this season and continues to show out in both domestic and international competitions for the Hawkeyes.

At 53kg, North Central’s Jaslynn Gallegos gave up a late fall to Elena Ivaldi after being up 10-2 earlier in the match, and lost another early lead in the 10-6 decision loss in their second match. Gallegos finished in 5th at NCWWCs to help the Cardinals to a runner-up finish at NCWWCs for her senior season.

55kg was a rematch from this season’s NCWWC semifinals between Amani Jones of North Central and Montana Delawder of King. While Jones got a pin in that match earlier this season, Delawder kept it closer here. Jones still had the more dominant offense and won that matches 5-1 and 8-1 respectively. 

At 59kg, Central Methodist’s Skye Realin won the three-bout battle over Yele Aycock of North Central. Realin won a back-and-forth match 9-5 with Aycock claiming the second 5-3. In the third, Realin struck first, but Aycock rallied back with two pushouts of her own. At the very end of the period, the call on the mat was a takedown on the edge for Aycock, but Realin’s corner challenged for a push-out point instead and the call was reversed after review. Realin started her collegiate career at McKendree before transferring to Central Methodist, and was not a starter for the Eagles, but did compete at a few open tournaments. Aycock is a 2x All-American and 2x NCWWC finalist for the Cardinals.

Adaugo Nwachukwu is considered the best pound-for-pound collegiate wrestler and she showed her dominance here in this tournament as well, giving up one point the entire weekend while scoring 65 to win the title at 62kg. As a champ for William Penn this past season, she also has the opportunity to compete in the Olympic Trials next weekend. In post-match interviews, Nwachukwu discussed using this opportunity to prepare even further for the trials, which is her ultimate goal.

In another NCWWC semifinal rematch, Aine Drury of King met up with Alara Boyd of North Central. Similar to their prior match, Drury was able to get the two close decisions 6-1 and 5-3 respectively to win here. Boyd competed as a graduate student last season, and I am unsure about remaining eligibility or her desire to use it if she has it here. Boyd was also a 4x age-group World Team member prior to this season. Drury was in her junior season last year and should be back to try again for the top spot at NCWWCs after finishing in second this past season.

68kg was a battle of the Auggies with former Augsburg wrestler Brooklyn Hays taking on current Auggie and, the winningest wrestler in school history Nina Makem, who is coming off an All-American eighth-place finish. Makem took the first bout, winning a 3-2 decision. However, it seemed as though Hays figured things out by their next match, scoring a few times on her offense before getting a late pin. The 3rd match was all Hays as well, capping it off with another pin. A viral clip of the two shows Hays raising Makem’s hand after the match and the two hugging after what was a very exciting back and forth.

Finally, at 76kg, McKendree’s Tristan Kelly, who finished third at NCWWCs for the Bearcats this season, made quick work of her finals opponent, Bo Giebe, with 2 pins in under 2 minutes. Giebe wrestles for Sienna Heights and was the school’s first NAIA All-American for women’s wrestling after her 5th-place finish last season.

50 kg: Heather Crull (IN) over Sterling Dias (Iowa)  10-3, 10-0

53 kg: Elena Ivaldi (CA) over Jaslynn Gallegos (North Central)  Fall 5:18 10-6

55 kg: Amani Jones (North Central) over Montana DeLawder (King) 5-1, 8-1

57 kg: Sofia Macaluso (NY) over Carissa Qureshi (CA) Fall 5:31, Fall 4:36

59 kg: Skye Realin (Central Methodist) over Yele Aycock (North Central)  9-5, 3-5, 3-2

62 kg: Adaugo Nwachukwu (William Penn) over Marisol Nugent (MA) 8-1, 12-0

65 kg: Aine Drury (King) over Alara Boyd (North Central)  6-1, 5-3

68 kg: Brooklyn Hays (UT) over Nina Makem (Augsburg)  2-3, Fall 5:12, Fall 3:49

72 kg: Jasmine Robinson (TX) over London Houston (North Central)  Injury Default

76 kg: Tristan Kelly (McKendree) over Bo Geibe (Siena Heights)  Fall :34, Fall 1:00

Olympic Team Trials take place this coming weekend beginning April 19. Many collegiate wrestlers will be competing for those spots as well.