This Week in Women's Collegiate Wrestling (11/5/2024)

Top 4 Takeaways

1. Open Tournaments create exciting multi-division matchups

The collegiate women’s wrestling season started off with a slew of open tournaments where these athletes got some immediate competition both inside and outside their own conferences. Some tournaments included were the Luther Hill Open, Pointer Open, Maverick Open, Trojan Open, Tiffin Open, and SFU Open on Saturday, followed by the East Stroudsburg Open, Princeton Open, Menlo Open, and McMaster Open on Sunday. With so many tournaments for schools to choose from, we did not see some of the matchups we will see at later tournaments in the season where they almost act as a post-season preview, but there was still some awesome action nonetheless. 

#6 Campbellsville showed out at the Tiffin Open with 4 first-place finishes and 5 finishing in second. The competition included wrestlers from host school Tiffin University, (#7) Indiana Tech, and Adrian College among others.

Fans saw former King wrestler and 2x All-American (#5) Tiffani Baublitz make her East Stroudsburg debut by dominating the competition at her new school’s Open. After two pins in under 2 minutes in her first matchups, she won a close 4-1 decision against Olivia Pizano of Lehigh and a 12-1 tech fall in her semis match against (#6) Skylah Chakouian of Elmira. In the finals, Baublitz put a stamp on the day with a pin just past the 2-minute mark against Emily Sindoni also from Elmira.

Southern Oregon’s top competitors showed their impact at the Menlo Open with returning 3x NAIA champion (#1) Carolina Moreno secured first place at 131 pounds with 3 tech falls. Teammate (#3) Emma Baerlein also won in dominant fashion with 2 pins followed by a 9-4 decision against returning All-American Kayla McKinley-Johnson.

Iowa started their second season off with a bang at the Luther Hill Open with 6 title wins, including 3 weights with Iowa vs Iowa finals. Both Naomi Simon at 180 lbs and Kennedy Blades at 160 pounds made their Iowa wrestling debut at this tournament and both walked away with championship titles. Simon racked up 3 consecutive pins followed by a tech fall in the finals over LIndenwood’s Alana Duggan. Kennedy Blades had a predictably dominant showing as well with a 40-second pin and two tech falls to get her to the finals where she took down teammate Rose Cassipoppi with a 10-0 tech fall victory. 

The Luther Hill Open also saw one of the most exciting matchups between NAIA #1 Kelani Corbett of Missouri Valley vs NCAA #1 Jaycee Foeller of Iowa. Corbett had a narrow lead of 2-1 heading into the second period, but a 4-point move with just under a minute left secured her the 6-3 victory. It is always awesome to see top competition from NAIA and NCAA come together at tournaments to demonstrate the top talent in both conferences at programs across the country. 

2. College stars shine at Senior Worlds

Iowa wrestlers Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker both left Senior World Championships in Albania with some hardware after Bronze medal finishes at 65kg and 72kg respectively. Kilty’s bronze match was an electrifying come-from-behind win where Kilty scored 16 uncontested points after being down 5-0 early for the tech fall win. Welker’s 5-2 bronze win is a bit deceptive if you have not seen the match as she threatened turns and a possible pin at the end. Iowa fans should be looking forward to another year on the squad for Welker and the Hawkeye debut for Kilty as they chase another national team title.

3. Jason Moorman out at King just before start of the season

#1 ranked King University is starting their 2024-25 season without long-time head coach Jason Moorman. Moorman started with King in 2009 and since then has created a winning legacy for King within women’s collegiate wrestling, with the team finishing in the top 6 or higher at Nationals since 2011. Based on statements from both King and Moorman, it appears that he left on good terms and not due to any incident. 

In mid-September, King announced their new assistant coach Gracie Figueroa. Figueroa was a 4x California State Champ and has been on 5 age-level World Teams. In college, Figueroa competed for Menlo College and won a national championship at 116 lbs. It is unclear if King will elevate her position long term, or bring in someone new to take up the head coach mantle.

4. A first look at new college weight classes for women

As a reminder, in the offseason, changes to the weight classes for women’s collegiate wrestling were approved by the NCAA Women’s Executive Committee for the 2024-25 season. The changes were also voted to be approved for NAIA teams as well by their governing body. These changes came as a result of changing the minimum body fat threshold from 12 to 17 percent to help prevent injury to athletes.

Here are the new weight classes we got to see over the weekend:

101 lbs is now 103 lbs

109 lbs is now 110 lbs

116 lbs is now 117 lbs

123 lbs is now 124 lbs

130 lbs is now 131 lbs

136 lbs is not 137 lbs

143 lbs is now 145 lbs

155 lbs is now 160 lbs

170 lbs is now 180 lbs

191 lbs is now 207 lbs

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

ESU Open - VIEW BRACKETS

Princeton Open - VIEW BRACKETS

Menlo Open - VIEW BRACKETS

Maverick Open - VIEW BRACKETS

Tiffin University Open - VIEW BRACKETS

Luther Hill Open - VIEW BRACKETS

Women’s Trojan Open - VIEW BRACKETS

Falcon Open - VIEW BRACKETS

Simpson Women’s Duals - VIEW RESULTS

Central Methodist University 39 William Woods 6

Upcoming events for next week

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

Wednesday, Nov. 6: 

• (NCAA #3) North Central College vs Carthage College

Thursday, November 7: 

• (NCAA #13) East Stroudsburg vs (NCAA #9) Elmira
• (NAIA #5) William Penn vs (NAIA #13) Baker

Friday, November 8:

• (NCAA #2) Iowa vs (NAIA #1) Life
• (NCAA #5) Presbyterian vs (NAIA #6) Campbellsville
• Bill Farrell tournament
• Eagle Madness Duals

Saturday, November 9:

• Adrian Duals
• Eagle Madness Open
• Waldorf Open
• East Stroudsburg Tri-Dual
• Battle of the Rockies

Sunday, November 10:

• Adrian Invitational
• (NAIA #18) Central Methodist, Texas Women’s, and (NCAA #21) William Jewell Tri-Dual