Iowa women's wrestling - How a stellar Class of '24 became Hawks
It’s pretty simple, the Iowa women’s wrestling program has brought in what can only be described as the best freshman/transfer class of any school in America.
One could even argue that description aptly extends well beyond the sphere of women’s college wrestling.
There may not be any program in any sport this offseason that added the firepower that Iowa head coach Clarissa Chun (and Company) did.
The Hawkeyes didn’t just bring in ‘blue chippers’ but also silver ones – as in World/Olympic silver medalists Macey Kilty and Kennedy Blades. It’s tough to find newcomers who will provide more of an immediate impact than that.
And those two headliners were actually the ‘icing on the cake.’ Kilty/Blades joined a fresh group of Hawks already made up of highly credentialed high schoolers and a pair of established, multi-time college All-Americans.
All of this for a program that was already set to return 12 starters and seven national finalists (including four NCCWC individual champions) from its 2024 national title-winning team.
Just as the title reads: this is one stellar class for Iowa women’s wrestling.
But how exactly did it all coalesce?
I spoke with each of the 11 members in hopes of getting answers to some version of the following three questions:
- When did being an Iowa Hawkeye women’s wrestler first become an idea in your mind?
- How did wrestling at Iowa become an actual possibility?
- What ultimately made it become a reality?
The stories for these young women vary in both their origins and journeys. But they also share some notable elements as well, not the least of which is a brimming excitement to get to call themselves Hawkeyes.
So, without further ado, this is how Iowa’s remarkable 2024 class came to be.
Getting close in any capacity
September 23, 2021.
That was the day (a little more than three years ago now) that the University of Iowa announced it would be adding a women’s wrestling program.
Before that moment there was no ‘conventional’ route for an aspiring women’s wrestler to take to become a Hawkeye.
And yet, long before the announcement was made there were at least a few little girls out there who were already determined to be around Iowa wrestling in some form or fashion.
Decorah (IA) native Naomi Simon – the first four-time undefeated girls state champion in Iowa high school history – had clear enough ambition that the mechanics of her plan didn’t so much matter.
“I was like, ‘Even if Iowa doesn’t have a team I’m just going to go to Iowa and join the club or something,’” recalls the recent Under-20 World Championships bronze medalist.
Fellow 2024 U20 World teamer Cadence Diduch had a similar mindset as a kid. The Freeport (IL) high school graduate thought perhaps she could be a team manager who also wrestled with the men’s team at Iowa – an idea/hope that waned as she grew older.
Upon the September 2021 announcement and the hiring of head coach Clarissa Chun shortly thereafter, dreams were suddenly rekindled and goals affirmed more strongly than ever.
As Diduch fondly remembered it during a Zoom interview back in August, “Once they announced they were having a program I was like, ‘I can actually wrestle at Iowa.’”
Unsurprisingly, Simon was pretty stoked about the news herself, saying, “Right before sophomore year they announced that they hired Coach Chun and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going there.’ There was almost no other question.”
“I’m going to wrestle on the boys’ team, just like I do now.”
Other members of the 2024 Class had no intention of just ‘getting close’ to the action.
Valarie Solorio (who goes by ‘Val’) drew inspiration from her childhood wrestling hero and was bound and determined to follow in his footsteps to Iowa City.
Growing up in Pennsylvania, Solorio was consumed with the rise of a decent wrestler by the name of Spencer Lee.
“Oh my gosh, he (Lee) was literally everything. I started wrestling in 2013 when he was in high school and we’d go to all the duals and stuff when I was a kid,” recounts the Iowa freshman.
“I just remember wanting to be like him. Whenever he ended up going to Iowa I remember telling my dad, ‘I’m going to go there one day. I’m going to wrestle on the boys’ team just like I do now.’”
Solorio, who’d eventually commit to the Iowa women’s program on her 18th birthday, was as clear-eyed about her intentions in early-August of 2024 as she remembers being nearly a decade ago when Lee announced his own decision to become a Hawkeye:
“That was my goal. I was going to wrestle at Iowa on the men’s team. I was going to be super good, and I was going to wrestle on the boys’ team just like I did in second grade.”
Similarly, nine-year-old Mia Goodwin (Virginia Beach, VA) – whose mom is originally from Iowa – dreamed of one day wrestling with the Hawkeye men. Her ambition was fueled by recurring childhood visits to campus in Iowa City.
That sentiment was echoed beautifully in her own commitment announcement – which made her the eighth and final high school member of the 2024 class back on May 10th.
Now (in her own words) she’s “been given the opportunity to do something better.”
The New York Yankees
On its surface the ‘Bronx Bombers’ might be an odd comparison to a sport and a school far better known for its rural Midwestern roots than the bright lights of New York City.
Nonetheless, that was among the early reference points of Iowa wrestling for Indiana native Rianne Murphy.
“I think the idea of being at Iowa existed in my mind since I was a little girl, honestly,” says the 2023 U17 World teamer and one of the top incoming freshmen in the country. “My dad likes to compare Iowa wrestling to the New York Yankees in terms of historic expectations, excellence, and being the place where everyone wants to be.”
That type of legacy (and polarity) would be reinforced by one of Murphy’s coaches as a kid – former Minnesota wrestler and current Purdue assistant Leroy Vega.
“I made the mistake of wearing Iowa shorts to his room and so he was giving me a hard time about it,” she recalls.
Vega even made Murphy – who may not yet have been in middle school – get on the phone with Minnesota’s coach and explain why she was wearing Iowa gear.
Moments like that helped engrain a respect for all that ‘Iowa wrestling’ was before the advent of the women’s program. It also makes one consider the future possibilities now that two programs – each with unrelenting championship expectations – train in the same room every day.
“Iowa wrestling has definitely been on my radar because I appreciate the legacy that they hold on the men’s side. And because of the huge history behind the men’s program, I have an appreciation for the history that’s going to be written right now for the women’s program,” says Murphy.
Coach Mayabb and the difficulties of math
Once the idea of being an Iowa wrestler was suddenly facilitated by there now being an Iowa women’s wrestling program the recruiting process itself could begin.
And one of the common components of several stories was Iowa associate head coach Gary Mayabb – in part due to a few math-related mix-ups.
Naomi Simon turned 18 just three days before her first fall semester at Iowa began (August 26th).
That relative youth compared to most kids in her grade – a common theme amongst many of the Iowa women’s wrestlers – originally had Mayabb believing she wasn’t far enough along in her high school career for him to legally recruit when the two first met at 2022 Preseason Nationals.
“I had just turned 16, so I think he thought I was still a sophomore,” reckoned Simon.
Cadence Diduch experienced an age misunderstanding of her own when a recruiting form error had Iowa waiting to reach out to her. Thankfully, family friend (and mom of two past/present Iowa wrestlers) Erica Cassioppi spoke with Mayabb to sort out the confusion and get the two parties into contact.
Diduch worked out at the Cassioppi’s barn during COVID – also a formative training space for former men’s heavyweight, Tony, and Diduch’s current Iowa teammate, Rose.
Meanwhile, Mayabb was also the point man in the recruitment of Val Solorio as well as Iowa’s other in-state signee, Waverly-Shell Rock’s Kiara Djoumessi.
A back-to-back undefeated state champion (94-0) as a junior/senior, Djoumessi left no stone unturned in her push to become a Hawkeye.
“I knew I wanted to be there, so I just worked hard and reached out to coaches and made sure I did what I needed to do on my end so that I could be a good fit,” states the crochet-enthusiast.
Volleyball visit seals the deal
Diduch, Simon and Solorio were among a group of official visitors on campus together early last fall.
One of their stops during a weekend in Iowa City was out in Coralville at Xtream Arena – where the Iowa women’s volleyball team was playing.
As Solorio remembers it, “I almost started crying at the fact that this could be a place where I go – this could be where I spend the next few years and where I wrestle, and people are going to be here watching me just like we’re watching the volleyball team play right now.”
“That was just a culture that I couldn’t replicate anywhere else – so I end up deciding that this was where I’m going to go.”
The takeaway from the game/weekend was similar for the others as well.
Diduch canceled the remaining visits she had scheduled – telling her parents that Iowa was the place she wanted to go.
Simon had also been sold that Iowa was meant for her and the next step of her wrestling journey.
“It really solidified that it was a place that I was going to fit in, that was going to welcome me and support me with my academics, athletics and with life. I pretty much decided on the way home from that (official) visit that (Iowa) was where I was going to go,” says the 2023 Fargo national champion.
‘Crossover at Kinnick’ captures more than just hoops attention
Another important weekend of visits just so happened to coincide with the largest women’s athletic event hosted in Hawkeye history.
On a mid-October afternoon 55,646 people packed into Kinnick Stadium to watch Iowa women’s basketball play a preseason exhibition game – an NCAA record.
Of the thousands of fans in attendance, two were in Iowa City for reasons other than marveling at Caitlin Clark no-look passes and logo threes.
Fellow elite prospects Karlee Brooks – ranked #1 nationally at 120 pounds – and Rianne Murphy – ranked #2 at 105 – each got the chance to take in the one-of-a-kind event as part of their official visit(s).
Like others from her class, Brooks’ on-campus experience solidified her desire to become a Hawkeye.
“When me and my parents went on my visit, we all knew that Iowa was where I was meant to be right away. It was kind of just a feeling that all three of us had,” shares one of four native Hawaiians to join Iowa women’s wrestling – including Coach Chun and teammates Nanea Estrella and Skye Realin.
“It was a no-brainer that I was going to commit to Iowa. And I was supposed to take more visits after (that one), but there was no point because I already knew where I wanted to be for the next four years and committed as soon as I could.”
Murphy’s eventual commitment wouldn’t come for another six months, but the ‘Crossover at Kinnick’ still left its mark.
“It was really cool to see the Iowa fanbase – how they showed up for that women’s team in particular and filled up that stadium,” says Murphy.
“To imagine myself as a part of it – not just on the outside looking in but as someone among them – felt like I was tapping into something special.”
Missing that “zhuzh”
It wasn’t only incoming freshmen who found what they were looking for in Iowa City.
Two-time NCWWC All-American Katja Osteen (pronounced Cot-yuh OH-steen) would’ve happily stayed at Simon Fraser University – located just outside of Vancouver, Canada – had the Iowa women’s wrestling program not come into existence.
But in Osteen’s words it was that very existence “That’s really what lit the fire under my butt to think I can be more.”
The ‘fire’ continued to burn throughout a circuitous route that took the Simi Valley (CA) native from Canada to Colorado Springs before arriving on campus at Iowa.
Osteen spent months at the US Olympic Training Center between her two college stops. That was thanks (in no small part) to the generosity of US women’s national team head coach Terry Steiner – himself a former Hawkeye.
Having visited other “awesome programs” like North Central (IL) and McKendree (IL), she finally made it to Iowa City during finals week this past May.
“I was like, ‘this is it,’” declares the redshirt junior heavyweight. It turned out that Iowa had that very sort of missing “zhuzh” that she’d been searching for.
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Wanting to take some time post-visit for the butterflies to settle before making a final decision – Osteen relented roughly 24 hours later and called Coach Chun.
(When you know, you know.)
A near ‘heart attack’ and a phone call from a computer lab
Rarely does the ending of a journey turn out exactly how one might have imagined it.
That was certainly the case in the recruiting process for now-roommates Cadence Diduch and Kiara Djoumessi.
The former inadvertently made an otherwise celebratory occasion far more unnerving for her future coaching staff. Diduch committed a cardinal sin of modern-day communication, telling the Iowa coaches during an RTC (Regional Training Center) practice that she “wanted to talk to them in person.”
(I know, right??)
Sure, the reasoning behind it was so she could announce her commitment. But the coaches didn’t know that.
Instead, that particular phrasing had Hawkeye assistant coach Tonya Verbeek on complete edge until she discovered the true reason behind the conversation.
“Coach Tonya said that I almost gave her a heart attack,” recalls Diduch – a sentiment I’m sure most who’ve ever been faced with the ‘talk in person’ proposition can relate to.
Djoumessi’s commitment turned out to be far more unconventional than it was unnerving (i.e. her roommate’s).
Rather than set a time/place to announce her decision there was simply no time (or place) like the present.
Per Djoumessi’s recollection of events, “I think I was in my second-period class, and I was like, ‘Well, I kind of just want to commit right now.’”
The then-17-year-old did just that, stepping into an empty computer lab to call Coach Chun.
And don’t worry, the class in session that Djoumessi stepped out of was for the school’s yearbook (she thinks).
The waiting game
In other instances, a commitment can rest in the hands of the coach rather than the athlete.
That was the uneasy position that lifelong Iowa fan Mia Goodwin found herself in as summer drew closer.
With roster spots at a premium, Goodwin told the Iowa coaches that she was 100 percent committed so long as they could find a place for her. Then she waited 2-3 nerve-wracking months to receive a final answer.
“A lot of people around me were telling me that I should just commit to North Central, that I should stop waiting. I was like, ‘No, I have to hear an answer otherwise this would all be for nothing.’ So, I was willing to wait forever honestly,” shares Goodwin.
In the meantime, other schools reached out and various deadlines passed. And if that weren’t stressful enough, a move back to Iowa for Goodwin’s parents was more or less contingent on her becoming a Hawkeye.
Finally, the waiting would come to an end.
“I think it was early May when I got a phone call from Coach Chun and she was like, ‘We have a lot of faith in you, we see your potential and we want you to be a Hawkeye,’” remembers Goodwin with noticeable pride in her voice.
Now she can live out her dream as a member of the Iowa women’s wrestling program.
It doesn’t get much better than that.
Better late than never
The final three additions of Iowa’s 2024 class all became Hawkeyes within an 11-day span back in July. None of them – all transfers – took a ‘traditional’ route to Iowa City, much like previously mentioned (fellow) transfer Katja Osteen.
The headliner of the bunch – 2024 Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades – along with her sister Korina, were the first two athletes to ever take a recruiting visit for Iowa women’s wrestling way back in early-2022.
And while they ultimately elected to take a different path then, the idea of Iowa never left Kennedy’s mind:
“My best friend Reese (Larramendy), we’re like this basically (crosses fingers). And we were roommates throughout all of Wyoming Seminary (prep school). So, we would always keep in contact – pretty much every day. And she would always tell me how great the program is and stuff, and I was like, ‘Man, I would love to go there.’”
After a change in her club/training situation earlier this year, Blades reached out to Coach Chun and decided to make the move sight unseen – at least since that early-2022 visit.
Says the Chicago native regarding her decision, “Yeah, I was just really happy. The process was pretty easy. Just the fact that I didn’t even step foot on campus, and they were already supporting me with the Olympics and stuff – because I committed a little before I wrestled.”
Blades’ move capped a mid-summer recruiting surge led off by two other newfound Hawkeyes – each of whom went from considering to committing to enrolling in fairly short order.
To stay or go
U23 World teamer Skye Realin and 2023 World silver medalist Macey Kilty each had tough decisions to make.
Realin – a two-time NCAA/NAIA All-American – had considered pursuing a transfer to Iowa earlier in her college career. Instead, she elected to stick it out where she was.
That changed after not seeing the growth that she wanted last year, and the Hawaii native decided to make a switch.
“I reached out to Chun. We had a few conversations. Transferring is tricky, so I had to work around a lot of things. And then when I qualified for the U23 team it kind of really opened the doors – like, ‘OK, let’s get the ball rolling and be a part of this team,’” says Realin.
“I think it took until July for me to be like, ‘OK, this is the school that I want to go to.”
Kilty needed less of an introduction given her previous ties with Chun at USA Wrestling.
“She was my coach prior to her taking the job here, so we’ve always stayed in touch in that way,” states the 23-year-old Wisconsinite.
Kilty – who has never competed collegiately – evaluated her options after April’s Olympic Trials and eventually broached the subject with her old coach during lunch in Colorado Springs:
“I hadn’t seen her (Chun) in a while…and I was like, kind of jokingly but kind of not, ‘Do you think it’s possible for me to maybe come to Iowa and go to school and train?’”
After the two discovered she still had one year of eligibility left a decision then needed to be made.
Says Kilty, “As soon as I was good to go, I was like, ‘This is what I want to do.’”
Now that they’re here
Even after the long and winding journey these young women underwent to become a part of the Iowa women’s wrestling program the larger story remains far from over.
Now that they’re officially Hawkeyes, what’s next?
To let them tell it – a whole lot of excitement (for both themselves and Iowa fans).
“I keep talking about feeling grateful and excited, but this (Iowa) is the place to go when you want to be the best,” says Rianne Murphy – who won just about everything possible as a prep.
Her anticipation extends toward the notion of walking out of the tunnel at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to thousands of Black & Gold clad supporters.
“I think my heart has been racing just imagining it,” gushes the freshman 103-pounder.
For some of her teammates, their thoughts reach even further toward performing on the stage itself.
Val Solorio was the first-ever sanctioned girls’ high school state champion in both Florida (2022) and Pennsylvania (2024).
“I make history of my own and I’m going to a school (Iowa) that makes history of its own,” pronounces the long-time Spencer Lee admirer – who currently wrestles with a partially torn ACL of her own, no less.
“More than anything I want to step into that arena, and I want to make it my playground. I want to hit highlights every single match. I want to make a statement. And I want to put on a show.”
That sentiment will sure sound pretty ‘Spencer Lee-esque’ to Hawkeye fans.
Let the season begin
Regardless of how/why these young athletes found their way to Iowa City, Saturday is the real reason they all do what they do.
Iowa women’s wrestling opens its 2024-25 season tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. with the Luther Hill Open in Indianola. Once the opening whistle blows it’ll be the same as it ever was for these new Hawkeyes.
Wrestle as hard as they can for as long they can. Score first and keep scoring. Never give up.
There’s no need to do anything otherworldly in order to ‘justify’ the Tigerhawk logo that now adorns their singlet. They’ve long since proven to be enough just by merely being themselves.
It’s why Coach Chun & Co. recruited them in the first place.
It’s how they’ve already become the wildly credentialled wrestlers that they are.
Being at Iowa doesn’t change any of those things.
What it does do is provide an ecosystem of similarly talented, driven individuals (athletes, coaches and more) who possess the collective abilities to make one another even better than they’ve ever been before.
And if I had to guess, this remarkable 11-woman Class of 2024 is more than ready to take advantage of the opportunity.
