This Week in Women's Collegiate Wrestling (1/9/2024)

Key Takeaways from NWCA National Duals

National Duals over the weekend were filled with nonstop exciting wrestling moments for fans of both NAIA and NCAA schools. Teams brought strong lineups to compete for a coveted team title, and these wrestlers showed out. Here are some big moments from the weekend across the two competitions.

NAIA

1. Life Reclaims Top Spot

The #1 Life University Running Eagles went on a run to claim the team title at the tournament winning over #2 Menlo in the finals. This dual had several exciting ranked matchups, including an upset at 101 lbs when Menlo’s #10 Kayla McKinley-Johnson took out #4 Devyn Gomez in a 4-1 decision. Life had a quick response at 109 lbs when Diana Gonzalez got a quick pin to cap off her impressive tournament showing. Fans also saw Menlo’s #11 at 123 lbs Ajayzee Zaballos, move down a weight for this dual and win a slow-starting match with three second-period takedowns to win against #6 Ariana Martinez at 116 lbs. A pin from Menlo’s #8 Alana Vivas at 123 lbs had the two teams tied after the first 5 bouts.

However, at 130 lbs, #2 Sarah Savidge continued her impressive tournament with a first-period pin. From there, the three McBryde sisters all earned impressive wins to lock up the dual for the Running Eagles. Not to be dismayed, Menlo ended their day with two ranked wins in the final two matches including freshman #3 Kalila Shrive getting the tech against #4 Margaret Graham and #1 Tavia Heidelberg-Tillotson getting the win over #6 Madeline Welch.

Throughout the day, we saw big matches at 101 lbs where #4 Devyn Gomez had a tough draw wrestling against the #1, #7, and #10 wrestlers at the weight and losing in each of these matches. Similar to the ups and downs of 125 lbs in men’s college wrestling right now, this 101lb weight class is anyone’s game. Gomez will certainly see these wrestlers again in March and could certainly change the results as she has previously - she beat #7 Quezaire at last year’s Grand View Open. Gomez is typically an aggressive and high-scoring wrestler with a number of tech falls over opponents. It seemed like a bit of an off day, but could also speak to the depth of talent at this weight.

The driving force for Life’s success over the weekend definitely came from the center of the lineup led by Sarah Savidge and the McBryde sisters. Savidge went 3-0 with two techs and a pin. The McBryde sisters won 10 out of 12 matches including winning all 3 ranked matchups they had against a tough Menlo team. 

2. Texas Wesleyan Battles Back

Texas Wesleyan earned the 3rd place finish at the tournament after being seeded at #6. In their second matchup in the tournament, they pulled the upset over the No. 3 seed Grand View. Starting with an upset win from unranked Julie Lucas for Texas Wesleyan over #13 Jalen Bets, the Rams followed it up with a fall and tech fall from #6 Jasmine Howard and #3 Camille Fournier. The Rams dropped their first match at 123 lbs, but #3 Elizabeth Duvall quickly got those points back and then some with a tech of her own. After dropping 136 lbs, the Rams’ #4 Mea Mohler gets another pivotal decision followed by the same from #6 Tayden Khamjoi. Even after dropping the last two matches of the dual, the Rams had the points to send them forward in the tournament. 

The semifinal dual between Texas Wesleyan and Menlo was possibly the most exciting dual of the entire weekend. Almost every matchup was ranked, with just one upset coming at 130 lbs when #4 Louisa Schwab of Menlo defeated #3 Elizabeth Duvall of Texas Wesleyan. This match truly came down to one more win for Menlo than Texas Wesleyan as they each exchanged pins, techs, and decisions. 

In the third-place match, the Rams won eight out of ten matches with seven pins and one tech fall to make the final score a dominant 39-10 victory over the University of Providence.

All that to say, Texas Wesleyan is showing themselves to be a force far beyond their powerhouse competitors like #3 Camille Fournier and #4 Mea Mohler. I expect to see most of the wrestlers they send to the individual tournament return as All-Americans. This is a team of individuals who have what it takes to compete at a high level throughout a tournament.

NCAA

Hawkeyes Crowned in Cedar Falls

The Iowa Hawkeyes claimed the NCAA Championship at this year’s National Duals over the #1 seed North Central with a 21-20 final team score. Iowa forged their path to the finals in dominant fashion with a 49-1 win over Adrian College, 39-4 win over #13 Presbyterian, and 31-8 win over #3 King University. 

In the finals, almost every matchup was ranked and the atmosphere when these two teams were competing was electric. #2 Sterling Dias got things started with a big tech fall 11-0 over #4 Madison Avila of North Central.

At 109 lbs, Jaslynn Gallegos got the start against #2 Ava Bayless instead of teammate Kendra Ryan, who has a recent win over Bayless. This match is one of the ones that could have easily swung the dual the other way, as it ended 5-5 with Bayless having criteria over her opponent. It’s unclear if Gallegos knew she needed to score or assumed she had the criteria instead. 

North Central returned in a big way with five straight wins at 116 lbs, 123 lbs, 130 lbs, 136 lbs, and 143 lbs. Probably the biggest win from these matches was Alara Boyd over #1 Reese Larramendy by a 9-4 decision. 

The Hawkeyes came back with a pin from #1 Marlynne Deede over London Houston at 155 lbs and a super exciting win from #1 Kylie Welker over the three-time champ Yelena Makoyed who is back for her final semester. In the final match at 191 lbs, Traeh Haynes had control of the match over Jaycee Foeller of Iowa, but gave up a shot clock point in the second period to give Iowa a single point in that loss. It is hard to say that any single match was the deciding factor, as Iowa scored at least one point in every single match. A tie would have gone to North Central given their total number of matches, but that just shows how important scoring points even in matches you lose can be for team score. It speaks to the discipline and grittiness of this new Iowa squad. While not the flashiest dual win as we’ve seen against other teams, they did exactly what they needed to do to get the win.

The North Central squad they competed against is so tough this season. They had a surprisingly lopsided semifinals match against former champs McKendree, and were so close to closing this gap and overtaking the Hawkeyes. You can see a pretty clear path where many of these matches could be finals matchups at NCWWCs in March.

#1 vs #1 Later This Month

Fans do not have to wait long to watch #1 Life vs #1 Iowa in a dual meet after their dominant performances over the weekend. The two will compete at the Iowa duals at Carver-Hawkeye on January 21.

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

NWCA National Duals  VIEW BRACKETS

NUWAY Combat Women’s Open VIEW BRACKETS

Upcoming Events

January 11: Central Methodist vs William Penn

January 12: Southern Oregon vs Menlo

January 12: Cumberlands vs Siena Heights

January 12: Cumberlands vs Lourdes

January 13: York Open

January 13: Golden Bear Open

January 14: Tornado Open

January 14: Presbyterian vs Campbellsville

January 14: Lakeland Scramble