Iowa women’s wrestling, 2024–25 season.

Iowa women’s wrestling continues to break down walls this season as the only major D1 university to have a women’s wrestling team.

Women’s collegiate wrestling is currently at a point where all participants compete in national competitions at the end of the season. The event is organized by a coalition of wrestling organizations. Women’s wrestling is expected to become an NCAA championship sport by winter 2026 following a vote taken during the NCAA Convention from January 15 to 18, 2025.

In their inaugural season in 2023-24, the Hawkeyes went 16-0 in doubles and won the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship (NCWWC). The team had six champions and 12 All-Americans.

The No. 2 Hawkeyes will now begin their season on Saturday, Nov. 2 in Indianola, Iowa, to compete in the 2024 Luther Hill Open at Simpson College. Other notable teams would be No. 21 William Jewell College and No. 24 Northern Michigan University.

*Rankings based on preseason NCAA Women’s Coaches Poll.

The Hawkeyes will begin their season on Friday, November 2, 2024 and conclude on Saturday, February 1, 2025 at the Grand View Open in Des Moines, Iowa.

No. 17 Lock Haven
Iowa will begin the 2025 college dual meet against Lock Haven in Albany, New York on Saturday, January 25, 2025. The bald eagles placed seventh at the 2024 NCWWC National Championships.

Last season, both teams met at the NCWWC National Championships, where Ava Bayless defeated Lock Haven’s Kaelani Shufeldt 2-1 in the 109-pound weight class.

According to past schedules, this is the first meeting between the two teams.

Presbyterian College No. 5
Iowa will take on Presbyterian College on Saturday, January 25, 2025 in Albany, New York.

In the previous matchup in January 2024, Iowa scored a decisive victory, beating Presbyterian 39-4 in Des Moines. The Hawkeyes lead the series 2-0 since their first meeting in November 2023, where they defeated the Blue Hawks 44-1. The Blue Hose and Hawkeyes met at the NWCA National Doubles Tournament in January, where Iowa defeated No. 9 New Jersey City 37-8 and No. 8 Lock Haven 24-21.

Presbyterian showed they can be formidable competitors, finishing last season with an eighth-place finish at the NCWWC Wrestling Championships. According to the preseason poll, six Blue Hose players are ranked in the top 10 in their weight classes this season.

No. 8 Sacred Heart
After Presbyterian, the Hawkeyes will face the Pioneers on Saturday, January 25, 2024 in Albany, New York.

Last season, Sacred Heart became Iowa’s first women’s home doubles match at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Sacred Heart was ranked 5th at the time and Iowa was ranked 8th. Because the Hawkeyes were new to the women’s league, their ranking was lower than expected.

However, they defeated the Pioneers 40–4 in a dominant event for fans and athletes. The only match they lost was at 191 pounds when Madeline Hodges (SH) defeated Alivia White 7-0.

No. 21 William Jewell College
The Hawkeyes will host the Cardinals in the Iowa Duals on Saturday, November 16, 2026 at 1:30 p.m.

In another first for the Hawkeyes, they look to beat the Cardinals after they went 1-3 last season and primarily competed in the invitational and open tournaments.

William Jewell placed tenth at the North Central Open, sixth at the Soldier’s Salute and fifth at the NCWWC Regionals.

This season, fans at home will be able to watch Hawkeyes on FloWresting and B1G+ Network, both streaming services.

Team results updates will be updated in Track Wrestling on the FloWrestling platform.

Last season, Iowa captured the national collegiate trophy in women’s wrestling after Welker defeated No. 2 Elena Mcoid of North Central 11-0 in a technical fall, earning national time for her and the team. Welker earned the most team points at the tournament with 28.5 points.

Following the championship, Coach Clarissa Chun was named the 2024 NWCA Coach of the Year.

The Hawkeyes hope to repeat their victory at the 2025 NCWWC Region VII Championships on Saturday, February 22, 2025 in Indianola, Iowa, and at the 2025 NCWWC National Championships on March 7-8 in Coralville, Iowa.

Last summer in Paris, France, junior No. 1 Kennedy Blades (160) was an Olympic silver medalist in the 76kg freestyle. Blades will begin his debut season with the Hawkeyes tomorrow.

In an interview with On 3, Blades said about her choice of Iowa:

Yes, I was just very happy. The process was quite simple. Just the fact that I didn’t even set foot on campus and they were already supporting me with the Olympics and everything—because I made a commitment before I even started wrestling.”

– Kennedy Blades in an interview with On3

Another addition to the team is multi-time World Team athlete and five-time No. 1 age group medalist Macy Kielty (145), who is currently with Iowa.

On 30 October 2024, Kilty and Welker won senior world bronze in Albania in their respective weight classes. Kilty beat Valeria Dondupova Suvorova 8-5 after trailing 5-0 in the first period. She scored eight points to secure the win by a 16-5 margin.

Welker defeated Alexandra Angel of Romania with a 3–0 lead and pinned her 5–2 to secure the victory.

Iowa also has No. 1 junior Emily Gonzalez (103), No. 2 junior Sterling Diaz (103), No. 2 junior Ava Bayless (110), No. 1 junior Brianna Gonzalez (117), No. 4 junior Nanea Estrella (138), No. 2 junior Reese Larramendi (145), No. 1 junior Kylie Welker (180) and No. 1 senior Jaycee Voller (207) return to the mat along with other top-10 athletes.

“…I try very hard so that our women do not think about the result. Yes, we want to win. That’s definitely the goal. That’s what we’re talking about – winning matches, national doubles, national championships. But at the end of the day, let’s just get better at wrestling.”

– Coach Clarissa Chun