Iowa women's wrestling loses key wrestler

Earlier this afternoon Iowa 136-pounder Nanea Estrella confirmed the worst fears of Iowa wrestling fans, announcing on Instagram that she will be out for the remainder of the season due to a lower leg injury.
A Hawaii-native, Estrella transferred to Iowa as a part of the program’s inaugural recruiting class following a 2022 NAIA National runner-up finish in her first season on the mat at Menlo College (CA).

Unfortunately, this is far from the only adversity she has endured in recent months.

Estrella is one of a few current Hawkeye women with Hawaiian ties – including head coach Clarissa Chun – and in fact, attended high school in the very same Lahaina community that was ravaged by the devasting wildfires in Maui this past August.

I’d encourage you to read more about her story here, including the incredible fundraising efforts she has made through her new Iowa community in order to help send much-needed resources and aid back to her native home.

On the mat her absence will be felt significantly.

Ranked second in the most recent NCAA Women’s Coaches poll, Estrella was undefeated against collegiate competition this season, including a pair of technical fall victories over #10 Zoe Gress of East Stroudsburg and #3 Paige Wehrmeister of Presbyterian.

She also won a convincing 9-0 match against current #1 Yele Aycock (North Central) at last month’s USA Senior Nationals – where she’d later sustain her injury – making Estrella the reasonable title favorite at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCWWC’s) in March.

So, where does Iowa go from here?

Luckily for the Hawkeyes they would seem to have a capable replacement at the ready in redshirt freshman Esther Han.

Han, tabbed eighth in the most recent coaches’ rankings, spectacularly bonus’d her way through the prestigious Missouri Valley Open last November to win the individual title at 136 pounds. Her path to said title included victories over fourth and fifth-ranked NAIA opponents (both by fall) plus two more bonus point wins over a pair of potential All-Americans from NCAA powerhouse McKendree University.

What her exact ceiling for this season might be is unknown, though the small sample size would suggest it could be quite high.

In order to get a clearer picture of that ceiling, however, Hawkeye fans will want to see Han on the mat – which she hasn’t been in official competition other than during the aforementioned 5-0 run through the Missouri Valley Open.

We don’t know what circumstances have kept her from making any additional appearances to date, so that will be something to monitor going forward.

If for some reason Han was unavailable, the next logical option at the weight would be true freshman Lilly Luft. The Charles City, IA native is listed at 130 pounds on the official Iowa roster and wrestled there to start the season. However, she has been up at 136 post-Estrella’s injury, finishing runner-up at the recent Soldier Salute tournament in Coralville and then gamely filling in again at National Duals this past weekend.

Those efforts at National Duals included an admirable 6-2 defeat to #1 Aycock of North Central that played a major role in Iowa’s championship dual victory.

Meanwhile, Luft isn’t completely bereft of experience at the weight class having finished fourth in the 62-kilogram division (136.7 pounds) at last April’s USA Under-20 World Team Trials.

With all of that said, the best course of action for the lineup moving forward is more than likely Han at 136 and Luft at 130 – where she projects as the best option at what has been Iowa’s ‘weakest’ of 10 weights so far this season.

The Hawkeyes will have just under two months to solidify things before they go for a national title (collectively and individually) come March.

Unfortunately, Estrella will have to miss out on that pursuit this go around. But with roughly 10 months to rehab and recover in time for the 2024-25 season she’ll hopefully have her own opportunity soon enough.