This Week in Women's Collegiate Wrestling (11/12/2024)

Top 3 Takeaways and Highlights

1. Dual Spotlight: #1 NAIA Life vs #2 NCAA Iowa

A highly anticipated multi-conference dual matchup came early in the season this year as fans tuned in to watch the top-ranked NAIA team, Life University, take on the Iowa Hawkeyes, currently ranked #2 in NCAA competition, at the Eagle Madness Duals over the weekend. Both teams were undefeated in dual competition heading into their matchup with Iowa also defeating Hastings, and Life taking down Lindsey Wilson, Brewton-Parker, and Marymount.

This dual started with some real back-and-forth from the teams, with Life losing via pin in the match between Rianne Murphy (Iowa) and Brianna Funakoshi. However, the Running Eagles responded with a tech fall win from freshman Anaya Falcon (Life) over Valarie Solorio (Iowa) and a big 6-0 decision in the much-anticipated match between returning All-American Salyna Shotwell (Life) over returning champ Ava Bayless (Iowa), who was bumped up a weight class here. From there, things turned and points started adding up in Iowa’s favor. All-American Brianna Gonzalez was also up a weight for Iowa when she took out Life’s All-American Anna Krejsa in a surprisingly lopsided 12-3 decision.

From there, was the biggest surprise for me in this dual. The matchup at 131 lbs was between two heavy hitters for each team. Here, Life has Sarah Savidge who has made it to the finals of NAIA nationals twice. Iowa has returning All-American Skye Realin who has previously competed at Central Methodist and McKendree. Instead of the nailbiter I was expecting, Realin got a serious takedown against Savidge that took her to her back, getting the pin called in just 45 seconds. 

From there, we saw the return of Nanea Estrella for the Hawkeyes, taking out freshman Netavia Wickson via tech fall, and returning champ Reese Larramendy for Iowa then took out Christina Jaen with a tech fall of her own. These are two spots where we typically see McBryde sisters for Life.

Speaking of which, at 160 lbs we saw reigning champ Latifah McBryde who put some much-needed points on the board for Life with a tech fall over Iowa’s Rose Cassioppi. The rest was all Iowa with a pin for true freshman Naomi Simon over a freshman for Life Ugochi Anunobi. Things wrapped up with Iowa’s All-American Jaycee Foeller winning a close decision 3-2 over Margaret Graham for Life.

Overall, neither team sent out their full, most competitive lineups, but the depth of Iowa’s team with backups, including some true freshmen, shows just how lethal they can be even not at full strength. I’d love to see some more of those top-ranked matchups, and if they were to do so, I think you’d see a slightly less-lopsided team score. However, once again, Iowa cannot be discounted, and with some of the talent they have in their lineup like Kylie Welker and new additions Macey Kilty and Kennedy Blades, I feel there is not going to be much that can keep them from the top spot at NCWWC’s again this season. 

Final results:

103 lbs. – Rianne Murphy (Iowa) fall Brianna Funakoshi (Life), 1:33

110 lbs. – #2 Anaya Falcon (Life) tech. fall Valarie Solorio (Iowa), 12-2

117 lbs. – #6 Salyna Shotwell (Life) dec.#1 (at 110 lbs) Ava Bayless (Iowa), 6-0

124 lbs. – #1 (at 117) Brianna Gonzalez (Iowa) dec. #4 Anna Krejsa (Life), 12-3

131 lbs. – #10 Skye Realin (Iowa) fall #2 Sarah Savidge (Life), 0:45

138 lbs. – #5 Nanea Estrella (Iowa) tech. fall Netavia Wickson (Life), 12-2

145 lbs. – #1 Reese Larramendy (Iowa) tech. fall Christina Jaen (Life), 10-0

160 lbs. – #1 Latifah McBryde (Life) tech. fall Rose Cassioppi (Iowa), 10-0

180 lbs. – Naomi Simon (Iowa) fall Ugochi Anunobi (Life), 2:34

207 lbs. – #1 Jaycee Foeller (Iowa) dec. Margaret Graham (Life), 3-2

2. North Central Dominance at Adrian Duals

#3 North Central Cardinals cleaned up at the Adrian Duals with weekend with wins over #8 Sacred Heart, #4 McKendree, #11 Schreiner University, and finally #1 King University. I want to focus on the King dual, but there were so many impressive wins for North Central throughout the tournament.

Against, Sacred Heart, #9 Tiera Jimerson got the upset win via tech fall in a high-flying match against #3 Love Daley. At 180 lbs, North Central’s #5 Brittyn Corbishley got the pin over #6 Madison Sandquist of Sacred Heart as well in just under 2 minutes. 

In the dual with McKendree, freshman Gabriele Tedesco (McKendree) had a huge win over #3 Maddie Avila. Tedesco was a huge add for the Bearcat lineup and I would not be surprised to see her break into the rankings after her wins this weekend. The other win to point out at this dual was #6 Kendra Ryan (North Central) with a pin over #4 Samantha Miller (McKendree), which did take almost 4-minutes, but shows off the danger Ryan poses throughout the match regardless of opponent.

Finally, against #1 King, North Central got things started with a win from #3 Madison Avila. Then, #3 Samara Chavez of King got the decision over #6 Kendra Ryan to put King on top. From there, things went back and forth and got close a few times. Each team had ranked wrestlers in the lineup against unranked opponents, but North Central was able to capitalize in a lot of the matches with two ranked wrestlers head-to-head. At 124 lbs #1 Amani Jones showed the level she is at with a decisive 10-0 tech fall over #3 Montana DeLawder (King). King won three in a row at 138, 145 and 160 pounds. #1 Claire DiCungo got a tech fall against her unranked opponent, #2 Aine Drury got a pin over Iowa transfer, #5 Bella Mir (North Central), and #1 Chey Bowman (King) won by a 6-3 decision against #9 Tiera Jimerson. Now, with the dual score separated by 1 point (King 17 - NCC 16), King had to forfeit at 180 lbs against North Central’s Brittyn Corbishley, and then #2 Traeh Haynes of North Central put a definitive stamp on it with a pin in 2 minutes.

Similar, to the Iowa/Life dual, you did not have a full lineup for King, but the win for North Central is still very impressive, and could easily bump them up in the rankings.

3. Delaware State adds Women’s Wrestling

The first-ever Division 1 women’s wrestling program at an HBCU is coming for the 2025-26 wrestling season at Delaware State University (DSU). DSU is located in Dover, Delaware and made this announcement in coordination with HBCU Wrestling who made a $1.25 million gift to start the program. HBCU Wrestling is an organization whose mission is to establish and/or restore men’s and women’s wrestling to historically black colleges and universities.

Results this week in major NCAA, NCWA, and NAIA competitions

• Colorado Mesa 37 over (NAIA #21) William Jewell 9
• Colorado Mesa 41 over Texas Woman’s University 6
• (NAIA #21) William Jewell 34 over Texas Woman’s University 13
• (NCAA #3) North Central College 41 over Carthage College 0
• (NCAA #9) Elmira 29 over (NCAA #13) East Stroudsburg 18 
• (NAIA #13) Baker 29 over (NAIA #5) William Penn 14 
• (NCAA #5) Presbyterian 23 over (NAIA #6) Campbellsville 21

Bill Farrell tournament VIEW RESULTS

Eagle Madness Duals VIEW RESULTS

Adrian Duals VIEW RESULTS

Eagle Madness Open VIEW RESULTS

Waldorf Open VIEW RESULTS

East Stroudsburg Tri-Dual VIEW RESULTS

Battle of the Rockies VIEW RESULTS

Adrian Invitational VIEW RESULTS

Upcoming events for next week

Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of all collegiate women’s competitions.

Wednesday, Nov. 13: 

(NCAA #3) North Central College vs Augustana

(NCAA #4) McKendree vs (NAIA RV) Missouri Baptist

Thursday, November 14: 

• (NAIA #1) Grand View vs (NAIA #20) Central Methodist

Friday, November 15:

• (NAIA #1) Grand View vs (NAIA #16) Wayland Baptist

Saturday, November 16:

• Trailblazer Duals
• Grand Valley State University Home Duals
• UWO Titan Duals
• Blue Hose Open
• Lindenwood Duals

Sunday, November 17:

• Lindenwood Duals (Day 2)
• Albion Open
• Blue Hose Challenge