Iowa women's wrestling earns one title, 11 placers at MoVal Open
After a grueling two days of competition the Iowa women’s wrestling program returns home with plenty to build on from this year’s Missouri Valley Open.
A total of 17 Hawkeyes stepped on the mat at the Burns Athletic Center in Marshall, Missouri. Nearly two-thirds of them (11) wound up placing at one of the toughest tournaments in women’s college wrestling – led by Brianna Gonzalez’s title-winning effort at 117 pounds.
All told, Iowa athletes tallied a 70-30 record on the weekend (incl. one head-to-head matchup). Of those wins, an impressive 57 came via bonus points.
And here’s the thing: One would imagine the Hawkeyes may be less-than-thrilled with their overall performance.
This is a program that’s won five and six titles respectively at its previous ‘MoVal’ appearances.
Regardless of the murders’ row of athletes the Hawkeyes left back in Iowa City (and goodness was it), the group in Missouri probably still left several matches on the table that could’ve earned Iowa some additional hardware.
(Such are the expectations for the top-ranked program in the country.)
And in a tournament as deep and talented as this one, nothing less than consistent, high-level performance will bring about the desired results.
Speaking of which, before getting more in depth on Iowa’s performance I’d like to provide some final context as to just how competitive the Missouri Valley Open is.
In truth, I kind of still can’t quite believe it.
A field unlike any other
For folks who didn’t catch my weekend preview article, what was originally expected to be a field of 700-plus wrestlers turned out to include ‘merely’ 610.
But fret not, that was still plenty to build out multiple brackets in excess of 80 athletes – meaning in some cases it could take as many as seven-consecutive victories to win an individual title.
Nearly a dozen top-10 ranked NCAA/NAIA programs made the trip. So too, did a quartet of elite Junior/Community College programs plus the fourth-ranked team in Canada (just for good measure).
All of that would’ve been more than enough to comprise an incredibly daunting tournament. And instead, it would only get tougher.
Some of the best high school talent in America was present – a trio of whom all reached the finals.
And finally, two other competitors of some significant note were a pair of credentialed senior-level athletes.
Xochitl Mota-Pettis (138 pounds) has finished as high as second on the US national team ladder in recent years. Meanwhile, Canadian Aleah Nickel (145) has already represented her country at three different Senior World Championships by the age of 23.
It truly is difficult to overstate just how tough this entire tournament was from top to bottom.
Gonzalez reigns supreme (again)
Brianna Gonzalez wins wrestling matches pretty much wherever she goes. That’s why the 2024 NCWWC runner-up holds the #1 ranking at 117 pounds. But she seems to really win a lot of matches when it comes to the Missouri Valley Open.
After finishing second to her teammate Nyla Valencia back in 2022 (Iowa’s blanket redshirt season), Gonzalez won it all in 2023. This time around she was even more dominant, scoring bonus points in 5/6 matches en route to a title.
A 7-1 quarterfinal decision against #4 Karissa Turnwall (Emmanuel) was her ‘closest’ bout of the tournament. And Gonzalez would follow that up with a pin and a 10-0 tech. fall over the NAIA’s #3 and #1 ranked wrestlers to close the weekend with authority.
We already knew Brianna was among the very best in women’s college wrestling – especially at the lower weights. But she clearly isn’t resting on her laurels whatsoever based on the results from this weekend.
Murphy/Simon taste first defeat as collegians
Two of Iowa’s early-season standouts (among many) have been Rianne Murphy (103 pounds) and Naomi Simon (180).
The freshmen roommates had yet to lose entering MoVal. And in fact, neither had wrestled a full six minutes over a combined 22 matches between them.
All those streaks would come to an end in Missouri, but not until both had reached yet another tournament final.
For #8 Simon, an 8-4 defeat against fellow blue chip freshman Sabrina Nauss (Grand Valley State) stopped an all-bonus run which included pins versus a pair of top-10 NAIA foes. In the final, a four-point throw early in the second period would prove decisive despite a game comeback attempt from the Hawkeye.
Murphy had her own tough test against a credentialed freshman – hers to reach the final at 103 pounds.
Trailing 8-0 at the break to McKendree’s #10 Gabriele Tedesco, Murphy showed why she’d already ascended to the #1 ranking. The Indiana native rattled off eight-consecutive points of her own to win by decision, smartly holding Tedesco on her back for the last 40 seconds knowing that she led on criteria.
A championship bout victory would prove elusive, however, as Murphy struggled to defend repeated single leg shots from high school star Makennah Craft in a 10-0 defeat.
Alas, while they may be undefeated no more, I’d expect both Hawkeye freshmen to continue to do a lot more winning as this season progresses.
Brooks makes much anticipated debut
Another freshman of note this weekend was Karlee Brooks – the #1 high school wrestler in the country at 120 pounds upon graduation this spring.
Brooks had yet to compete through three weeks of action as she recovered from a preseason illness. The Hawaii native would get thrown right into the fire at MoVal – and up a weight class no less.
The expectation is that she’ll eventually make it down to 124 pounds, but 131 was the call for her Black & Gold debut.
For the most part, it didn’t seem to matter this weekend. Brooks registered bonus points in 5/7 matches on her way to a seventh-place finish. Her only defeats came via fall – once on a throw from a top-five NAIA opponent and the other in a tricky par terre situation against a seasoned college veteran.
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As she continues to regain her health/strength it shouldn’t surprise anyone if Brooks is a major contender come March – especially down at 124.
Keep an eye on her, Hawkeye fans.
Trio of 110-pounders fall to U23 World champ
There is no deeper group of lightweights than in the Iowa women’s wrestling room. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other great lightweights scattered around the country.
This weekend showed as much as three different Hawkeye 110-pounders lost to the same elite foe.
#2 Sage Mortimer (Grand Valley State) – a U23 World champion as of late October – defeated each of Val Solorio, #5 Emilie Gonzalez and #1 Ava Bayless from the quarterfinals onward in Missouri.
All three Hawkeyes were able to earn points of their own against one of the top three or four Americans at 110 pounds/50 kilograms. But Mortimer is both relentless and unfazed by being scored upon. In each instance, she continued to attack and was rewarded for her efforts.
Solorio impressively battled the full six minutes in a 15-3 tech. fall at the buzzer. Bayless was pinned late in the first period of the finals shortly after a big feet-to-back throw. And it was Gonzalez who fared best, losing an 11-5 semifinal decision.
As good as these Hawkeyes are, it was no surprise to see someone like Mortimer have the upper hand in mid-November. She (and others around the country) are as good or better than quite a few of the women wearing Black & Gold.
But March is still a long way away…And the Iowa room is a pretty good place to make the necessary improvements for subsequent matchups down the line.
Other Hawkeye placers/results of note
Ava Rose (8th at 117), Cali Leng (6th at 124), #8 Emily Frost (5th at 131), #7 Katja Osteen (5th at 207) and Alivia White (4th at 207) rounded out the 11 Iowa place winners from the weekend.
Each reached at least the quarterfinal round before dropping their first match of the tournament.
Some of their notable wins/statistics include:
- A. Rose via 10-0 TF over NAIA #8 Icart Galumette (Campbellsville)
- C. Leng via 10-7 dec. over #10 *131-pounder* Alexandra Fitzgerald (Sacred Heart)
- #8 E. Frost went 5-2 (all wins via bonus, incl. four falls) and reached the semifinals
- #7 K. Osteen reached the semis with an 11-1 TF over #4 Jayleen Sekona (Colorado Mesa)
- A. White beat teammate #7 Osteen in an uneventful 2-1 consolation bout
Three other Hawkeyes deserve mentioning as well despite failing to earn top-eight finishes at their respective weights.
At 145, #5 Ella Schmit lost a tight 6-2 quarterfinal to one of those senior-level athletes I mentioned earlier – Canadian Aleah Nickel. A match later, she was countered to her back by #8 Elleni Johnson (Grand Valley State) to end her tournament.
#9 Rose Cassioppi would injury default her Day 2 consolation match at 160 pounds. The redshirt freshman went 3-1 on Friday, including a wild 14-13 loss in the championship bracket.
Samantha Calkins – making her college debut at the highest NCAA-sanctioned weight class (207 pounds) – picked up a pair of victories over ranked NAIA opponents. The best of those came against #3 Naomi Duenas (Cumberlands) in a 5-4 decision.
Every Hawkeye match result from this weekend can be found on TrackWrestling.
Short time
If you guys aren’t already exhausted from this recap, A) I don’t believe you and B) too bad because I’m about to crash after what’s been an exhausting weekend of Iowa women’s wrestling coverage.
(I say this tongue-in-cheek of course, as the Hawkeye wrestlers had an infinitely tougher task in front of them than I did trying to merely watch all 100 matches.)
I do hope this proves to be an informative breakdown, however. The Missouri Valley Open figures to remain a staple of Iowa’s schedule for years to come. And that should excite Hawkeye fans as it figures to continue attracting ridiculous fields of talent like the one we saw this weekend.
Friday and Saturday were also a reminder (to those who need it) that Iowa will not go untested, much less unbeaten at every tournament it shows up at.
Nobody in women’s college wrestling is lying down to let the Hawkeyes waltz right over them. In fact, many are quite eager (and vocal) when it comes to knocking off the new, big bad bully on the block.
That’s a good thing too. It’s good for the sport as a whole and it’s good for Iowa women’s wrestling.
This may not have been the ‘best’ showing we’ve witnessed from the Hawkeyes in recent memory. And the fact that it wasn’t means folks should be anticipating their next competitive outing even more.
Why? Because the greatest champions relish a challenge and respond to adversity.
And if this star-studded Iowa team does that…look out.
