This Week in Women's Collegiate Wrestling (1/14/2025)

Over the weekend, dozens of teams competed in the NWCA Collegiate Duals tournament. Here is a breakdown of takeaways from the eventful competition.

Iowa and North Central meet again in the finals - Iowa Separates

#1 Iowa claimed their second NCWA Collegiate Duals championship in two appearances after a 28-13 win in the finals over the 2-seed #3 North Central. The Hawkeyes won 8 of the 10 bouts and only dropped seven total matches over the entire weekend. North Central also had a dominant run, winning every match in their first two duals, before running into a tough #2 King team in the semifinals where they won 26-15 after dropping the first three matches.

Last year, Iowa and NCC met in the finals and it was a nail-biter: 21-20 final team score with Iowa getting a single passivity point in a loss in the finals match to give them the edge over the Cardinals. This year, the team made a statement of separation with their results.

The match at 103 lbs between #2 Sterling Dias (Iowa) and #10 Madison Avila (NCC) tightened from their matchup last year when Dias teched Avila. Instead, it was a close 3-2 decision similar to their match in the semis of last year’s national championship. #2 Ava Bayless got a decision for the Hawkeyes at 110 over #4 Kendra Ryan. At 117 lbs, #1 Brianna Gonzalez tipped the previously 1-1 record with #2 Sydney Petzinger in her favor with a tough 10-7 decision, and Cali Leng kept things rolling with a win over #7 Janessa George. At 131, #1(at 124 lbs) Amani Jones finally put one in the win column for North Central by bumping up to get the tech fall win over Emily Frost, 15-3. At 138, the Cardinals also bumped up #1 (at 131 lbs) Sara Sterner, who ended up losing a close one to Iowa’s Nanea Estrella. From there, the winningest part of Iowa’s already talented lineup put up three more wins for the Hawkeyes with #3 Macey Kilty winning 11-6 over former Iowa wrestler #4 Bella Mir followed by a tech fall from #2 Kennedy Blades and a 41-second pin from #1 Kylie Welker. With the team score out of hand, North Central did manage one more win with Traeh Haynes getting a dominant tech fall over #5 Alivia White to close things out.

Life claims another title

#1 Life was the other team to claim their second consecutive NWCA title with a resounding win over #2 Grand View winning 30-12. 

To get things started, Katherine Hernandez got tough in a win over #6 Judy Sandoval winning 8-5. #1 Anaya Flacon continued her stellar season with a decision for the Running Eagles over #6 Lita Cruz. At 117, #4 Salyna Shotwell continued the win streak with a pin over the #2 Cailin Campbell for a signature win on her record book. 

Grand View battled back at 124 with #2 Maya Davis securing a tech fall over #6 Anna Krejsa of Life. However, #2 Sarah Savidge answered back with a tech fall of her own against her ranked opponent. Starting at 138, the McBryde sisters do what they do best with three consecutive tech falls over their opponents. 

In one of the most exciting matches of the tournament, unranked freshman Reka Busa of Life took out #1 Abby McIntyre in a close 6-3 victory. This match had the whole Life crowd and bench on their feet. While Grand View’s #1 Olivia Brown got a resounding 9-0 win over #3 Savannah Isaac, it wasn’t enough to stop the dominant performance from Life.

Another thing to note, earlier in the weekend Coach Ashley Flavin secured her 100th career dual win against #9 Campbellsville.

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

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

Boxer Open VIEW RESULTS

West Liberty Women’s Open VIEW RESULTS

NWCA National Duals VIEW RESULTS

Women’s Yellow Jacket Open VIEW RESULTS

Upcoming events for next week

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

Wednesday, February 15

• Life Duals

Thursday, January 16

• NCC Vs Elmhurst
• CMU vs Chadron State College
• Aurora vs Carthage

Friday, January 17

• Missouri Baptist Duals

Saturday, January 18

• MoBap Open
• Iowa Duals including Iowa vs #4 Grand Valley State
• King Tri-Meet

Sunday, January 19

• Tornado Open
• Alma Open
• Spartan Mat Classic