Iowa crowns four champs at USMC Women's National Championship
You could say that it was a pretty good weekend for the Iowa Hawkeyes out in Spokane, Washington at the 2024 Women’s National Championship.
The event, featuring freestyle competition across eight separate tournaments ranging in age from 8U to U23, serves as the most prestigious, age-level fixture on the domestic wrestling calendar.
Simply put, it’s a melting pot for the most talented young women’s wrestlers in America to test themselves against one another – the reward for coming out on top being an opportunity to represent the United States on an age-level World Championship team later this year.
And in a not-so-shocking development based on all the early returns from the Iowa women’s program since it welcomed its very first athletes onto campus a little more than a year-and-a-half ago, the Hawkeyes once again showed out in incredibly impressive fashion.
A total of 15 wrestlers with Iowa ties (including a quartet of incoming 2024 recruits) took to the mats this weekend out in the Pacific Northwest – 13 in the Under-20 division and two in the Under-23 division.
In the unfortunate circumstance that you couldn’t watch any of the action with your own eyes, don’t worry, the raw numbers alone paint a pretty accurate picture of what was a dominant all-around performance put on display by these Hawkeyes:
- Excluding a 2-1 record in ‘uncontested’ matches due to forfeit, Iowa’s contingent concluded three days of high-level competition with a combined record of 65-23 – winning nearly 74 percent of its contested bouts.
- 50(!) of those 65 wins (~77 percent) came via bonus points (tech. fall or pin).
- Meanwhile, five of their 23 losses came against teammates.
Another way to quickly (if crudely) gauge success is to look at the brackets and the final podium for each weight class. Turns out, Iowa fares pretty well in that respect too:
- 12/15 Hawkeyes (80 percent) reached at least the quarterfinal round in Spokane, and all 12 of them would finish as All-Americans (top eight in their bracket), including 11 who’d end the weekend in fifth place or better.
- 10 advanced into the semifinals.
- Seven of them (nearly half of Iowa’s 15 total athletes) made it to the finals.
- Four of those finalists would go on to become national champions.
And finally, just in case you still haven’t quite grasped the scope of the weekend that was, the story of a wrestler’s tournament can oftentimes be told nearly as well by the caliber of performer(s) that it took to beat them.
As it pertains to the Hawkeyes in the field at the Women’s National Championship, that ‘caliber’ just so happened to be very, very high:
- Only two of Iowa’s 23 defeats (both by Cali Leng at 57 kilograms) came against opponents who failed to go on to earn All-American honors.
- Of those 21 losses to eventual All-Americans, 19 of them came to opponents who’d finish in fourth place or better, and 15 of those came against foes who’d finish the tournament as either a champion or runner up.
- Leng was also the only one of the eight Hawkeyes that failed to reach the finals whose first loss of the competition (sending them to the consolations) was to a non-finalist at that weight. In other words, more than 93 percent of Iowa’s entries (14/15) either made the finals or lost first to someone who did.
Are we all on the same page now as to just how preposterous this weekend’s performance was?
I certainly hope so because it still kind of blows my mind to think about.
But let’s move away from the numbers and get into the action. After all, it was the young women who made these results happen, not the statistics that reflect them.
Crown ‘em
Four different Hawkeyes on the upcoming 2024-25 roster will be members of the latest edition of the United States’ Under-20 women’s national team courtesy of winning individual titles this weekend in Spokane.
As such, they’ll have a bit of a ‘dry run’ as teammates at a major competition – making up 40 percent of Team USA heading to Pontevedra, Spain in early-September – before returning to the states for the collegiate season that’ll ensue two months later.
In terms of naming a ‘most outstanding’ performer of the weekend, I’m hesitant to single out just one Hawkeye from the bunch. So instead, we’ll begin with the athlete whose performance earned her not the first, but the second U20 World team berth of her burgeoning young career – Reese Larramendy.
(The Reno, Nevada native won the 65-kilogram spot back in 2022 before finishing third a year ago.)
This time around it took six matches for Larramendy to add another 65kg national championship to her trophy case, all of which shared something in common: total dominance by the Hawkeye redshirt freshman.
Larramendy tallied tech. fall wins in each of her half-dozen bouts, outscoring her opponents by a combined margin of 71-9. That run included two victories over Iowa teammate Ella Schmit in the best-of-three finals, leaving Schmit as the runner up at this weight for the second year in a row – a serious accomplishment in its own right.
I feel like a broken record at this point in my description of Larramendy. She seems to wrestle well in every position, is a threat to score at all times – be it from her attacks or yours – and has such an air of confidence about her that comes through both on and off the mat.
Larramendy will look to carry her incredible momentum into the Olympic Trials this weekend, where she’ll compete at 68 kilograms.
Another (soon-to-be) Hawkeye who never once wrestled a full six minutes out in Spokane was Decorah (IA) senior Naomi Simon.
The Class of 2024 signee had finished sixth in 2022 (at 73kg in the U17 division) and seventh in 2023 (at 76kg in the U20 division) in her previous two appearances at the Women’s National Championship. This time around, she appeared to be content with nothing less than the very top spot on the podium at 76 kilograms.
Simon actually trailed by six points in her quarterfinal and by four in her semi before coming back to win both via fall – the latter of which came against future Iowa teammate Rose Cassioppi.
That set the stage for her best-of-three final with Kalila Shrive – a third-place finisher at this year’s NAIA National Championships for Menlo College – which the future Hawkeye kept up a relentless pace throughout to sweep via a pair of tech. falls (14-3 and 12-0).
All told, Simon’s run to a U20 title at 76kg consisted of three tech. falls and three pins.
Yeah, that’ll work.
Meanwhile, the third and final Hawk to traverse a U20 championship ‘route’ via bonus point wins only – Brianna Gonzalez (53kg) – did so with one slight detour along the way.
The 2024 NCWWC runner up at 116 pounds rolled into the quarters with a tech. and a pin, where she’d run into some trouble upon finding herself down 6-0 after a little more than a minute of action against Paige Morales. Not to worry, Gonzalez had regained the lead (7-6) by intermission, then scored another six points in-a-row to open the second period before securing the fall.
A forfeit win in the semis set the redshirt freshman up with a best-of-three final against Clare Booe, the second-ranked recruit in the Class of 2024 by FloWrestling, and the #10 pound-for-pound prospect in America.
Bout #1 of the series appeared set to go the Hawkeye’s way, before a late four-point throw by Booe turned the match in her favor.
Undeterred, Gonzalez would respond with authority in the pair of win-or-go-home matches to follow – posting back-to-back tech. falls to secure her spot on the U20 World team.
The coolest part of Bouts 2-3 from an observer’s perspective was that the opening defeat seemed to merely embolden Gonzalez as opposed to making her risk-averse with the knowledge that another loss would end her tournament.
She consistently stalked and moved the taller, longer Booe to the edge, scoring multiple one-point step outs. In the meantime, she was able to defend against the big move that her opponent was clearly looking for and finished quickly and cleanly to stay out of danger on attacks of her own.
This was yet another outstanding performance by Gonzalez – something she’s made a habit of over the past six months. We’ll see if she can keep it going at the Olympic Trials in a few days.
And last but not least, the fourth and final champ of the weekend was incoming recruit Cadence Diduch (62kg).
A third and second-place finisher at her last two World team trials (both in the U17 division), Diduch’s path to the finals was far from an easy road.
In her second bout of the tournament, the Illinois native locked up a second-period leg lace to blow open what had been a previously nip-and-tuck match against future Iowa teammate Lilly Luft (a fifth-place finisher at 2024 NCWWC’s at 136 pounds).
Things got really dicey in the quarterfinals, as Diduch trailed a credentialed foe in SaVannah Cosme by four points with barely a minute left. A quick takedown would shrink the deficit to two, and Diduch would get back to a leg with 20 seconds remaining, doggedly pursuing a finish that finally came with just 0:05 on the clock to give her an 8-8 victory on criteria.
That clutch comeback was followed by sweet revenge in the semis – where Diduch would flip a 6-2 loss to Alexandra Szkotnicki (McKendree) from seven days prior at the Last Chance Olympic Qualifier, this time rolling to a 10-0 tech. fall thanks to an early four-point takedown and three-consecutive leg laces.
A 4-0 Saturday set up her own best-of-three final the following morning – a showdown with Skylar Hattendorf, the #8 pound-for-pound recruit from the Class of 2022, and a third-place finisher at 62kg in 2023.
Match 1 couldn’t have gone much worse, as Diduch gave up multiple go-behind takedowns after either shooting or being pulled into a front headlock position. The end result, a 10-0 tech. fall loss, didn’t appear to portend a positive series outcome.
Showing what little I apparently know about wrestling, she’d completely flip the script just a short while later, scoring a trio of varied counter-takedowns in a 6-0 win to force a third and decisive match.
In the last contested bout of the U20 finals ‘Clutch’ Cadence would show up one more time with everything at stake, winning a tactical 2-1 match thanks to one shot clock and step out point each.
Again, I’m far from an expert on wrestling, much less the ins and outs of an athlete whom I’ve probably watched compete on no more than 30 occasions. But if you were to ask me to give a scouting report on Diduch, it would be that she’s a volume shooter who likes to live on her opponent’s legs.
If accurate (a big IF), that makes her turnaround in the best-of-three finals even more impressive, as Diduch seemingly went against her nature in order to adjust to an opponent against whom it had been ineffective – and booked herself a spot on the U20 World team in the process.
Huge props should go out to both Diduch and her coaching corner – helmed by former Northern Iowa four-time NCAA qualifier Josh Alber and current Iowa assistant Tonya Verbeek – which the 18-year-old discussed a bit in her post-finals interview with USA Wrestling.
Hawkeye fans should be absolutely thrilled with what Diduch is set to bring to the Hawkeye roster beginning this fall.
53kg – Brianna Gonzalez – 1st Place (U20)
WIN Jalynn Goodale (IA) (TF 10-0)
WIN Akeelah Moore (TX) (Fall 0:35)
WIN Paige Morales (MT) (Fall 4:37)
WIN Emma Albanese (NV) (FF)
LOSS (Rd. 1) Clare Booe (FL) (Dec 7-6)
WIN (Rd. 2) Clare Booe (FL) (TF 10-0)
WIN (Rd. 3) Clare Booe (FL) (TF 12-2)
62kg – Cadence Diduch – 1st Place (U20)
WIN Audrey Villalon (CA) (TF 10-0)
WIN Lilly Luft (IA) (TF 10-0)
WIN SaVannah Cosme (CO) (Dec 8-8)
WIN Alexandra Szkotnicki (MD) (TF 10-0)
LOSS (Rd. 1) Skylar Hattendorf (NH) (TF 10-0)
WIN (Rd. 2) Skylar Hattendorf (NH) (Dec 6-0)
WIN (Rd. 3) Skylar Hattendorf (NH) (Dec 2-1)
65kg – Reese Larramendy – 1st Place (U20)
WIN Paige Jackson (WV) (TF 12-2)
WIN Kimberlynn Fowers (UT) (TF 10-0)
WIN Alexandra Lopez (CA) (TF 12-1)
WIN Faith Bartoszek (WI) (TF 15-5)
WIN (Rd. 1) Ella Schmit (IA) (TF 12-1)
WIN (Rd. 2) Ella Schmit (IA) (TF 10-0)
76kg – Naomi Simon – 1st Place (U20)
WIN Grace Leota (FL) (Fall 2:52)
WIN Jessica Mendieta (CA) (TF 12-0)
WIN Bo Geibe (MI) (Fall 4:34)
WIN Rose Cassioppi (IL) (Fall 3:50)
WIN (Rd. 1) Kalila Shrive (CA) (TF 14-3)
WIN (Rd. 2) Kalila Shrive (TF 12-0)
A trio of almost’s
Three other Iowa women advanced as far as the finals this weekend, each finishing as runners up at their respective weights in 2-0 series losses.
I already mentioned Ella Schmit at 65kg – a final that was always going to result in one Hawkeye ‘loser’ given the matchup with Larramendy. Up until that point, however, Schmit cruised through her half of the bracket via three bonus point victories and a controlled 5-2 semifinal decision.
On the other hand, another pair of Hawkeyes that would reach finals at the same weight did so in different divisions.
Both Sterling Dias (U23) and Nyla Valencia (U20) won four-consecutive matches en route to the 50kg finals – the latter doing so with all bonus point victories, including a tech. fall over teammate Emilie Gonzalez in the U20 quarterfinals thanks to a mean gut wrench.
Unfortunately for Dias/Valencia, their championship pursuits would each be stymied by a highly touted prep (Indiana’s Heather Crull and California’s Anaya Falcon respectively) residing in the top 16 of Flo’s latest pound-for-pound rankings.
In all likelihood, the out of bounds line saved Falcon from a quick Match 1 tech. fall after Valencia scored the opening takedown and locked up a leg lace for four more points. Alas, they’d restart on their feet and Falcon was able to come out on top of a few 50/50 sequences to help her get the comeback win before comfortably winning Match 2 to secure the series victory.
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Dias, wrestling up nearly 10 pounds in weight from her norm (101) during the college season, had trouble holding center against the bigger, more powerful Crull – which is never ideal, particularly when it comes to freestyle wrestling.
50kg – Sterling Dias – 2nd Place (U23)
WIN Isabella Cruz (TX), Fall 0:27
WIN Mandy Gavares (NJ), TF 10-0
WIN Nizhoni Tallman-Olney (WA), Dec 9-1
WIN Makenize Smith (IN), Dec 8-4
LOSS (Rd. 1) Heather Crull (IN), Dec 10-3
LOSS (Rd. 2) Heather Crull (IN), TF 10-0
50kg – Nyla Valencia – 2nd Place (U20)
WIN Jasmine Luedtke (IA), Fall 2:28
WIN Mi Amada Lanphear Ramirez (WA), TF 10-0
WIN Emilie Gonzalez (CA), TF 12-1
WIN Makenize Smith (IN), TF 10-0
LOSS (Rd. 1) Anaya Falcon (CA), Dec 14-6
LOSS (Rd. 2) Anaya Falcon (CA), TF 10-0
65kg – Ella Schmit – 2nd Place (U20)
WIN Rihanna Venegas (MI) (Fall 1:28)
WIN Ava Collins (OR) (TF 10-0)
WIN Grace Stem (PA) (Fall 4:27)
WIN Marisa Angelos (WI) (Dec 5-2)
LOSS (Rd. 1) Reese Larramendy (NV) (TF, 12-1)
LOSS (Rd. 1) Reese Larramendy (NV) (TF, 10-0)
Podium placers
Though not finalists or champs like each of the teammates chronicled before them, another five Hawkeyes also earned a distinctive honor last weekend, finishing as All-Americans (top eight) in their respective weight classes – and doing so for the most part, with plenty of room to spare.
2024 NCWWC 101-pound national champion Emilie Gonzalez made the same jump in weight that we discussed with Sterling Dias, and for all I know she may have advanced just as far in the championship side of the bracket if not for running into Nyla Valencia in the quarterfinals.
That loss sent E. Gonzalez to the consolations, where she’d go 2-1 to close her tournament with a seventh-place finish.
At 55 kilograms incoming recruit Karlee Brooks was hoping to make her second-consecutive World team after winning the U17 spot at 53kg a year ago. Instead, she’d fall just short in her efforts thanks to a semifinal opponent who’d ultimately go on to accomplish the very same thing – returning 57kg champ Cristelle Rodriguez, a sophomore at Doane University (NE) who was both a 2019 U17 World silver medalist and a 2024 NAIA national champion.
Three of Brooks’ four wins in a loaded bracket came via shutout tech. fall, though she’d forfeit her lone match on Sunday morning to finish fourth.
Freshman Emily Frost would also close her U20 World team trials with a fourth-place finish – doing so in back-to-back years at 59 kilograms.
The New York native’s lone defeats of the weekend were to athletes who’d go on to stand second and third on the podium. Conversely, all five of her wins were by bonus (three techs and two pins).
Jumping back to the U23 division, Emmily Patneaud continued her impressive post-injury progression that we witnessed late in the 2023-24 college season – reaching the semifinals at 62 kilograms where she’d narrowly miss out on a spot in the best-of-three final courtesy of a tight 6-4 defeat to the dangerous Marisol Nugent.
Another nail-biting loss would relegate the two-time transfer to one last bout for fifth place. Patneaud wouldn’t let the opportunity go to waste, besting North Central’s Niya Gaines – a 2022 NCWWC runner up at 130 pounds – on criteria, 4-4, to end her tournament on a strong note.
And at 76 kilograms, Iowa’s final All-American placer was Rose Cassioppi, who redshirted during her first season in Iowa City.
As previously mentioned, Cassioppi met her end on the topside of the bracket thanks to future teammate Naomi Simon. But up to that point the younger sister of longtime Iowa men’s heavyweight Tony had been on a roll of her own – notching two pins and a tech. fall to reach the semifinals.
Dropping to the consolation semis, a second-consecutive defeat left Cassioppi to just the fifth place match the following morning, which she’d be awarded via injury default.
50kg – Emilie Gonzalez – 7th Place (U20)
WIN Sarah Perez (AZ), TF 10-0
WIN Aroma Marrufo (MO), TF 10-0
WIN Deandra Meza (CA), Dec 6-0
LOSS Nyla Valencia (CA), TF 12-1
WIN Perez (CA), Dec 10-8
LOSS Rianne Murphy (IN), Fall 3:41
WIN Deandra Meza (CA) (TF 10-0)
55kg – Karlee Brooks – 4th Place (U20)
WIN Yianna Foufas (NY) (TF 10-0)
WIN Ella Jauregui (CA) (Dec 7-1)
WIN Aspen Blasko (MN) (TF 11-0)
LOSS Cristelle Rodriguez (CA) (Fall 1:40)
WIN Alexandra Waitsman (CA) (TF 12-0)
LOSS Janessa George (CO) (FF)
59kg – Emily Frost – 4th Place (U20)
WIN Faith Vondy (CO) (TF 10-0)
WIN Mason Harsch (CA) (TF 11-0)
LOSS Aubre Krazer (PA) (Dec 5-0)
WIN Joelle Scott (PA) (Fall 0:18)
WIN Larissa Kaz (WI) (TF 13-3)
WIN Persaeus Gomez (CO) (Fall 2:13)
LOSS Sarah Savidge (CO) (Dec 13-4)
62kg – Emmily Patneaud – 5th Place (U23)
WIN Apollonia (Apple) Middleton (CO), TF 10-0
WIN Bridgette Sotomayor (AZ), Fall 1:56
WIN Emma Grimm (IA), Dec 5-2
LOSS Marisol Nugent (MA), Dec 6-4
LOSS Alexandra Szkotnicki (MD), Dec. 4-3
WIN Niya Gaines (IL), Dec 4-4
76kg – Rose Cassioppi – 5th Place (U20)
WIN Ivana Elliott (AR) (TF 11-0)
WIN Lila Bloomer (NE) (TF 12-0)
WIN Love Daley (MD) (Fall 4:33)
LOSS Naomi Simon (IA) (Fall 3:50)
LOSS Clarissa Wangen (WA) (Dec 9-2)
WIN Katie Law (UT) (Inj. 0:01)
The final three
Not to be forgotten, a few more current/future Hawkeyes let it fly in Spokane as well.
Freshman Cali Leng went 1-2 at 57 kilograms, picking up a fall in her first consolation match.
Meanwhile, Class of 2024 in-state commit Kiara Djoumessi (Waverly-Shell Rock) fell just two wins shy of the podium in her first appearance at U20 trials, going 4-2 at 62 kilograms with losses to the eventual runner up and eighth-place finishers respectively.
At the same weight, 2024 NCWWC All-American Lilly Luft ran into her own treacherous path, missing the podium by a single victory thanks to a consolation defeat to eventual third-placer Hanna Errthum – at one time the top-ranked 132-pound prospect in the country.
Of course, that loss only proved ‘fatal’ due to Luft’s earlier defeat to Diduch – who’d go on to win the whole damn thing.
(This sport can be a bit cruel sometimes, huh?)
55kg – Cali Leng – DNP (U20)
LOSS Presley Anderson (CA), Fall 1:34
WIN Samantha Rivera (CA), Fall 1:53
LOSS Ellabelle Taylor (WA), TF 17-7
62kg – Kiara Djoumessi – DNP (U20)
WIN Sophia Smith (AZ) (TF 10-0)
LOSS Skylar Hattendorf (NH) (TF 10-0)
WIN Laisha Rios (TX) (TF 14-4)
WIN Malie Kehne (AR) (Fall 4:46)
WIN Sydney Park (IA) (Dec 8-5)
LOSS Julianna Kilroy (WA) (Fall 1:06)
62kg – Lilly Luft – DNP (U20)
WIN Malia Kehne (AR) (Dec 8-0)
WIN Sierra Wangen (WA) (TF 12-0)
LOSS Cadence Diduch (IL) (TF 10-0)
WIN Daniella Nugent (MA) (TF 11-1)
WIN Margaret Buurma (MI) (Dec 4-1)
LOSS Hanna Errthum (WI) (Dec 11-5)
Short time
I know I’ve gone long (yet again), but this really was a phenomenal weekend of wrestling that left me feeling almost compelled to do so.
And heck, I’d like to hope that if I can spend upwards of 20 hours over three days mainlining all the aforementioned action, I’d then be able to put something together in written form about it that just might capture your interest for a slightly briefer period of time.
Either way, it was an absolute blast for me to follow along, particularly when the athletes I’m primarily covering just so happen to not only wrestle their tails off but be endlessly entertaining while doing so.
You know the numbers now, as well as more of the context behind the individual results.
That said, if you take just one thing away from all of this, let it be that the Iowa women’s program continues to impress and excel at every turn.
These athletes and their coaching staff are not only producing but improving – and the young crop of incoming talent appears primed to only raise the standard even higher.
But don’t just take my word for it. Tune in and see for yourself, starting this coming weekend when nine Hawkeye women – including seven age 20 or younger – will test themselves against the best senior-level competition this country has to offer at the 2024 US Olympic Team Trials.
I’ll be back later this week to preview the wrestling extravaganza set to take place in State College, Pennsylvania on Friday and Saturday (April 19-20). Until then, I sincerely hope you’ve learned/enjoyed a thing or two about the young women who will don the Black & Gold singlet once again this fall.
Thanks as always for reading, and I’ll talk to you again real soon.
