Iowa women's wrestling adds (another) elite 2025 California commit
Mere hours after the Hawkeye men added an elite 2025 recruit on Saturday, the Iowa women’s wrestling program secured a commitment from one of its own.
Per her Instagram, Samantha Sachs is officially committed to the Black & Gold – landing head coach Clarissa Chun and the Hawkeye women another elite California prospect in less than a month.
The nation’s second-ranked wrestler at 130 pounds, the Glendora (Calif.) prep is also considered the #11 pound-for-pound high schooler in the country (regardless of age/weight class).
She joins fellow Californian Isabella Gonzales in a small, but mighty 2025 class for the Hawkeyes.
What they’re getting
Sachs has a somewhat unconventional timeline for an elite wrestling prospect.
The 17-year-old (who goes by ‘Sam’) didn’t pick up the sport until her freshman year of high school. Since then, it’s been a steady upward trajectory that now has her among the nation’s best for her age.
As a sophomore, she finished third at the prestigious single-class California (CIF) State Wrestling Championships. That result was followed by subsequent fifth and third-place finishes later that summer in freestyle at U17 World team trials and Fargo (16U division)
A year later, Sachs took a step forward at all three events – first, finishing runner up at state and then improving to fourth place at the U17 trials. But her true breakout performance would come this past July at Fargo.
Seeded third, she won seven-consecutive matches – outscoring her opponents by a combined margin of 47-5 – en route to a Junior national title at 130 pounds.
That result helped to vault Sachs up the rankings, where she remained one of the country’s most coveted prospects prior to Saturday’s commitment.
In an interview with Hawkeye Report following her official visit, Sachs mentioned having narrowed her list of schools to Iowa, Lehigh and Colorado Mesa.
Most recently, she won 2024 Preseason Nationals – a major folkstyle tournament held annually in Des Moines.
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Travis Hunter
Heisman goes to Colorado 2-way star
- 2Hot
Final Heisman votes totals
Closest result since 2009
- 3
Miller Moss
USC transfer QB to the ACC
- 4
CFP Expansion
Cam Ward weighs in
- 5Trending
Ref salute
Official honors vets in-game
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
At Iowa, Sachs likely projects to compete at the 131-pound weight class. There, she’d contend with a senior Skye Realin and junior Emily Frost for a spot in the lineup – the two of whom are currently ranked #6 and #9 respectively in the latest NCAA Coaches’ poll.
The second domino from a stacked official visit weekend
Another shared element between Sachs and the aforementioned Isabella Gonzales – besides both being elite 2025 recruits from California – is that the two officially visited campus on the same weekend back in late September.
For those few days in Iowa City, they were joined by a trio of fellow blue-chip prospects:
- Piper Fowler (#4 pound-for-pound, #1 at 170 pounds)
- Bella Williams (#7 P4P, #1 at 140 pounds)
- Tirza Twoteeth (#22 P4P, #1 at 235 pounds)
Fowler is a 2023 U17 World champion from Tennessee, Williams a 2024 World team member from Oklahoma and Twoteeth a back-to-back Junior Fargo runner-up from Montana.
It’s unknown exactly how many recruits the Hawkeyes can bring in with their 2025 class given expected roster caps next season.
(Iowa projects to have just three available spots – two of which have now been filled.)
Regardless, anyone whom Coach Chun manages to sign from that incredible official visit weekend will bring impressive credentials to the Iowa women’s wrestling room.
Sam Sachs is now the latest to do so with her commitment.
The reigning national champions have already established themselves as the (Black &) Gold standard in women’s college wrestling. But with each new addition like Sachs, Iowa continues to reinforce that this program is driven to continue improving.
From the Golden State to the Hawkeye State.
Welcome to Iowa City, Sam.
