An NCWWC viewer's guide for Iowa wrestling fans

Just four short months after the 2024-25 Iowa women’s wrestling season began, championship week is officially upon us.

This Friday/Saturday (March. 7-8) Xtream Arena in Coralville (IA) will play host to the top-ranked Hawkeyes and a plethora of other NCAA programs for the 2025 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCWWCs).

In preparation for the weekend ahead, I wanted to give folks everything they might need to follow the tournament (and the Hawkeyes) with as little confusion as possible.

So, allow this to be your guide.

The who/what/when/where/how – it’s all in here.

As for the ‘why’? Well, let’s start with women’s wrestling being an (increasingly) awesome product.

These athletes are gritty, technical and fearless – and they’re only getting better.

That’s in large part because the sport’s participation continues to surge at warp-speed across both the high school and collegiate ranks – the latter of which will finally propel it into official NCAA Championship status next season.

Women’s wrestling is already in a great place, which you’ll see firsthand in the days ahead. But in many ways, it’s also still on somewhat of the ‘ground floor’ of what it can ultimately become.

What I’m saying is, why not hop aboard now – if you haven’t already – before everyone is doing it?

Are there perks for early entry? Nope. Will this raise your ‘Q rating’ in any appreciable way with the people you care about? Probably not – unless you’ve got a daughter/sister/friend who wrestles, then perhaps!

But what I can guarantee is that jumping on the bandwagon now means you won’t miss out on a ton of great wrestling that’s already going on in the women’s space.

And for those who love this sport, what better reason could there possibly be than that?

The Who

For the first time in the event’s history, 320 women will vie for NCWWC titles/honors in one setting.

(This comes just one year after the tournament expanded to 240 athletes for the very first time.)

10 different weight classes will each be contested by 32 wrestlers – all qualifying from regional tournaments held 1.5 weeks ago.

Those regionals (eight in total) encompassed nearly 100 NCAA programs – 63 of which will be represented this weekend.

Only the top four finishers in each weight class at each regional earned a berth at NCWWCs. No wildcard bids, no ‘at-large’ selections. All 320 athletes (listed here) had to win to get in.

In total, teams from 27 different states and two different countries will converge upon Coralville.

(Historical power Simon Fraser University hails from British Columbia, Canada.)

As for the Hawkeyes, they’ll send a full allotment of 15 athletes to NCWWCs following their dominant performance at Region VII.

Our rankings heading into Nationals 🤩#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/o41Db99i9J

— Iowa Women's Wrestling (@IowaW_Wrestling) February 28, 2025

Only one other program – rival North Central (IL) – qualified a full 15.

McKendree (IL), Presbyterian (SC) and Sacred Heart (CT) each have 14, while teams like Colorado Mesa, East Stroudsburg (PA), Emmanuel (GA), Grand Valley State (MI), King (TN), and Lock Haven (PA) boast double digit qualifiers as well.

*A reminder that a team can qualify up to two wrestlers per weight class (15 in total) – but only one may count toward that team’s score.

The What

This is the fun part – the wrestling.

It’s also the part that novice women’s wrestling fans may be most familiar with, particularly if they’ve got experience following the men’s national tournament.

32-person brackets mean an NCWWC individual title is just five wins away from any athlete in the field.

As for how each win and each spot higher up on the podium contributes to the total team score, this handy graphic provides a great summary:

*You can ignore the tidbit on ‘advancement points for a bye’ as the new 32-person field(s) no longer includes ‘byes.’

Another helpful resource for (some of) you may be a reminder as to the different match scoring rules for freestyle wrestling – which the college women compete in as compared to their (folkstyle) men’s counterparts:

*Not listed on this graphic are a couple of less common scoring methods – one of which (a five-point throw) Iowa star Kennedy Blades has made shockingly customary with her incredible skill on the mat:

Oh my, Kennedy 🤯@kennedyblades x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/YsyuJ3jK9D

— Iowa Women's Wrestling (@IowaW_Wrestling) January 19, 2025

(You can probably expect Blades to score lots of match/team points for the Hawkeyes this weekend.)

The When/Where

As for the tournament itself, I’d highly encourage fans to check out the NCWWC home page for information (and associated links) on everything from hotels to tickets and more.

Xtream Arena (capacity of 5,100) is the host site of this year’s championships.

For those who haven’t previously been, it’s well-versed at accommodating a variety of sporting events – including University of Iowa volleyball and gymnastics as well as the Iowa Heartlanders minor league hockey team.

Even more notable, it’s no stranger to wrestling.

Over the past month alone, each of the Iowa Girls High School State Wrestling Championships, the Iowa Boys State Dual Team Tournament and a Hawkeye-centric FloWrestling exhibition event have been put on to great success by the folks at Xtream Arena and the Iowa City Area Sports Commission.

I wouldn’t expect anything different this weekend.

Meanwhile, the current schedule listed for the tournament is as follows (all times Central):

Friday, March 7^th

Session 1:

• 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
• Championship 1^st round, Championship 2^nd round, 1^st wrestleback

Session 2:

• 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
• Championship Quarterfinals, 2^nd wrestleback, 3^rd wrestleback

Saturday, March 8^th

Session 3:

• 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• Championship Semifinals, 4^th wrestleback, 5^th wrestleback, Consolation Semifinals and 3^rd/5^th/7^th place matches

Session 4:

• 6:00 p.m.
• Championship Finals

The How (to watch)

For anyone who can’t make it out to Coralville to catch the action in person, fret not!

Not only will I be providing up-to-the-minute reports/results on social media throughout the weekend – as well as daily recaps here on Hawkeye Report – but NCWWCs will also be streamed in its entirety on FloWrestling (subscription required).

You should also be able to catch plenty of NCWWC-related content from Flo on both their Instagram and YouTube accounts.

Meanwhile, TrackWrestling will be your go-to source for brackets/mat assignments/team scores and everything in between.

Short time

Well, there you have it.

I made no bones about my objective with this piece – to make you all an informed/prepared audience heading into NCWWCs.

Time will tell if I’ve accomplished that goal, but as I lean back from my keyboard, I’ve gotta say…I feel pretty good about it right now.

(Famous last words, I’m sure.)

Now comes your part. If there’s anything, anything you feel I’ve left out or would like further clarification on please do not hesitate to let me know.

I’ve covered pretty much every major aspect I could think of, but given its still only officially Year 2 of the Iowa women’s program I realize there’s still a learning curve for plenty of folks out there (myself included) on how this all works.

My goal is for your viewing experience – either in person or from afar – to be as straightforward as possible. That way, there’s no reason for your attention to be distracted from the awesome wrestling going on by both Iowa and the 62 other teams in attendance.

I’ll be back in a few days with my not-to-be-missed, wall-to-wall NCWWC preview extravaganza.

There, you’ll get my predictions for all 10 weights and all 15 Hawkeyes – including bracket breakdowns and synopses of the top competitors to know.

I’ll also examine the team race, where Iowa enters as a heavy favorite – in stark contrast to a year ago.

So, get your affairs in order and your schedule cleared. Because championship week is officially upon us.

I can’t wait for Friday’s opening whistle, nor to help guide you guys through what promises to be an amazing few days of wrestling.

Thanks as always for reading, and I’ll talk to you again real soon.