Iowa Wrestling - Kilty and Welker make Senior World Team
After a weekend of action at the 2024 Senior World Team Trials Iowa wrestling is now set to be represented by a pair of Team USA athletes at next month’s Senior World Championships in Albania.
All it took was five wins, zero losses, and a combined margin of victory of 46-4 (including three tech. falls and a pin).
Now Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker are 43 days away from wrestling to become world champions.
And not only that, but both will return to Iowa City afterwards (win or lose) and suit up for the Black & Gold this season.
The two Wisconsin natives highlighted what was unquestionably a successful few days for the Hawkeyes out in Omaha.
Another pair of (former) Hawkeyes – Austin DeSanto and Felicity Taylor – took to the mats as well, and I’ll recap their performance(s) in turn.
But first let’s break down the champs.
Macey Kilty (Women’s Freestyle – 65 kilograms)
Sitting out until the best-of-three finals by virtue of her silver medal performance at last year’s World Championships, Kilty had to wait a little more than 24 hours to make her debut at the 2024 Trials.
It would take far less time for her to conclude her stay.
Two wins via first-period tech. fall was ‘all she wrote’ for Iowa’s incoming transfer in the 65-kilogram final. Kilty faced off against red-hot #2 seed Aine Drury – a 2024 NCWWC runner up (to Iowa’s Reese Larramendy) – who’d been wildly impressive throughout the Trials up until that point.
Drury’s last win just to reach the final came against 2023 World bronze medalist (at 59 kilograms) Jennifer Page.
None of it mattered one bit against Kilty.
She was too strong, too sharp and too slick from all positions, including par terre – where she racked up multiple turns from the top position to break open each match.
A 10-0 tech. fall in Match 1 took just two minutes and ten seconds. A 12-1 victory in Match 2 only 2:53, capped by a cradle for the bout-ending two-point move.
Kilty was just as advertised (and more) in her first official competition as a member of the Iowa wrestling program.
Now, she’ll look to take this momentum over to Albania at the end of October where she’ll compete in both the U23 and Senior World Championships over the course of seven days (as will Welker).
You can hear more from Kilty in this post-Trials interview (courtesy of USA Wrestling):
Kylie Welker (Women’s Freestyle – 72 kilograms)
An aggressive, point-scoring Kylie Welker is a dangerous Kylie Welker.
That’s always been my opinion watching the 20-year-old compete and it hasn’t changed after the weekend she just had.
After waiting around all Saturday to wrestle her lone match of the day, Welker cruised to a 12-1 win over third-seeded Skylar Grote – an Olympic Trials qualifier and past Pan-Am champion.
That left the renewal of a long-standing rivalry with three-time NCWWC champion Yelena Makoyed (North Central) in the best-of-three final.
As I detailed in my preview of the weekend, when Welker is at/near her best this matchup has gone convincingly in her favor (see 11-3 and 11-0 victories during last year’s college season). When she’s not, Makoyed has been able to clip her – one of those being a 6-4 decision at April’s Olympic Trials.
Iowa wrestling fans will be glad to know that Sunday’s matchup(s) proved to be an instance of the former.
The early portion of both bouts would unfold in strikingly similar (cagey) fashion with Welker leading 1-0 at the break thanks to a shot clock point amidst an opening period that didn’t have much in the way of threatening action beyond that.
And in both matches the Hawkeye would turn things up quickly after the intermission.
A powerful reattack in Match 1 exposed Makoyed for two points just 30 seconds into the second period. It took Welker barely six more seconds in Match 2 to extend her lead to 3-0 when she blew through Makoyed for a takedown near the edge of the mat.
The opening bout of the series wouldn’t make it the full six minutes allotted, as Welker countered a double leg attempt with a vicious lefty headlock and secured the fall with 57 seconds left on the clock.
Match 2 would ultimately run until its natural conclusion. Welker built her lead to 5-0 with a lightning fast go-behind and nearly tacked on two more with a gut wrench that Makoyed countered at the last moment to score two points of her own.
The final 1:25 would pass by with the North Central grad never once threatening the Hawkeye with an attack, and a 2-0 series sweep (and spot on the 2024 World team) belonged to Welker.
All things considered the weekend was an excellent result for the redshirt sophomore-to-be.
Not only did she make her second-ever Senior World Team – doubling up on her appearance back in 2021 as a 17-year-old – but she did so against two quality opponents, including twice versus a (worthy) rival against whom Kylie expressed she’d let one get away back in April at the Olympic Trials.
As previously mentioned, Welker will join Macey Kilty on the United States’ U23 team (alongside fellow Hawkeye Skye Realin) next month in Albania before the pair of Wisconsinites double back a few days later in pursuit of Senior World titles.
You can check out Welker’s full post-tournament thoughts below (thanks to USA Wrestling):
#3 Austin DeSanto (Men’s Freestyle – 61 kilograms)
This weekend also marked the return of Austin DeSanto.
If you’re a fan of Iowa wrestling, you know that means fast-paced action is in store. And given that an injury forced him to miss out on April’s Olympic Trials it felt like a safe assumption that DeSanto would be even more raring to go in Omaha.
His return became even more intriguing when previous results meant his opening opponent would be high school superstar Jax Forrest.
The second ranked pound-for-pound recruit in America (according to FloWrestling), Forrest – a Pennsylvania native – took fourth place at the Olympic Trials (57 kilograms) a few months ago.
He’d lead DeSanto 1-0 at the break of Saturday’s quarterfinal bout following a relatively non-descript first period (especially by DeSanto standards).
That wouldn’t last, however, as the Hawkeye grad went ahead on criteria (1-1) less than 10 seconds after the restart thanks to a reattack that he drove out of bounds for the step out.
10 seconds after that DeSanto found a leg again – eventually popping Forrest head over heels for a four-point score.
A proceeding review would tack on two points for a Forrest exposure and one for a DeSanto reversal (6-3).
DeSanto continued to live on the legs thereafter, though his scrambly opponent made finishing those attempts an elusive chore.
With just over 30 seconds left on the clock Forrest narrowed the gap to 6-5 via a slick exposure on the edge and suddenly the match was squarely in the balance with short time to go.
DeSanto would capably defend multiple shots from the prep phenom before falling into a leg and planting Forrest on his butt to re-extend the lead (9-5 after a failed challenge from the opposing corner).
A last-second step out was purely academic and DeSanto moved into the semis with a 9-6 win.
(The entirety of the match is available below):
Awaiting DeSanto in the semifinals was longtime nemesis Daton Fix (of Oklahoma State fame).
This was the latest opportunity to crack a thus far unsolved ‘riddle’, but unfortunately things wouldn’t go the Hawkeye’s way yet again.
DeSanto was largely passive for most of the first period – at least until a late step out point for Fix (on which DeSanto miraculously avoided giving up two or four points instead) seemed to kick him into another gear.
He’d have a great opportunity to take the lead after getting to a single leg a minute after intermission but Fix managed to scramble his way out of danger and then create some of his own with a two-point exposure to extend the margin to 4-0.
DeSanto continued to gamely chase for the final 80-90 seconds but could never secure a score to pull himself back into the match.
That would end the weekend for the three-time NCAA All-American as he’d forfeit out of the following day’s consolation semifinal.
Look, a losing note is never a fun one to end on – especially when it comes to Iowa wrestling. But having said that, in my opinion DeSanto’s freestyle game/savvy only continue to grow and will make him a threat to plenty of the top contenders moving forward.
#3 Felicity Taylor (Women’s Freestyle – 55 kilograms)
The final Iowa wrestling representative (and lone Iowa native) of the bunch was recent women’s graduate Felicity Taylor.
Seeded third at 55 kilograms, Taylor was bumping up from her ideal weight (53kg) to pursue the first Senior World team of her young career.
A fourth-place finish meant that she ultimately fell short of that goal. However, there was still plenty of good to draw from the experience.
A come-from-behind quarterfinal victory was punctuated by a pair of clutch scores in the final minute of the second period.
Trailing #6 Elena Ivaldi 2-4, Taylor pancaked her opponent to her back to even the score but still trailed on criteria. She quickly transitioned to a successful leg lace to take the lead and held on for the 6-4 win.
A 5-0 semifinal defeat to #2 Areana Villaescusa largely exemplified the challenges for Taylor in bumping up the extra 4.4 pounds to the 55-kilogram weight class.
The two-time college national champion (incl. in 2024 for the Hawkeyes) was able to get in deep on a couple of shots only for an obvious ‘horsepower’ difference between her and Villaescusa to foil the attempt(s).
Taylor would return on Sunday morning to compete in the consolations, starting with a dominant first-period fall over #9 Mateah Roehl after having built a 9-0 lead.
A 9-0 lead wouldn’t prove to be quite so fortuitous in her next match, however.
Wrestling #6 Elena Ivaldi for the second time in as many days – this time for third place – Taylor was able to get to her ties in the early going and build a 4-0 lead before locking up a trap-arm gut wrench on the edge of the mat.
A pair of two-point exposures made the score 8-0 with another appearing all but inevitable to end the match in a tech. fall, but the official ruled that Ivaldi’s head was out of bounds and whistled for a restart.
It was nearly over yet again just seconds into the second period when Taylor got to rear-standing position needing to merely bring Ivaldi down to the mat to earn the winning takedown. Instead, the out-of-bounds line saved her opponent for the second time and only a one-point step out went up on the board.
From that moment onward it was Ivaldi who completely turned the tables.
Save for a step out and a go-behind takedown to try to stem the tide, Taylor couldn’t stop her opponent’s underhook and upper body ties and Ivaldi was able to rack up the points on her way to taking a 12-12 lead on criteria with less than 30 seconds remaining.
One last push from the Hawkeye would prove unsuccessful and she’d leave Omaha fourth at 55kg.
Short time
As I said in the open, this weekend was unquestionably a success for Iowa wrestling as a whole.
Secure half of the four spots on the women’s freestyle team? Check.
A promising, albeit disappointing return from injury for Austin DeSanto? Check.
A game performance from Felicity Taylor despite a clear size disadvantage wrestling up at 55 kilograms? Check.
Other than the U23 and Senior World Championships next month this marked the final major competition for any past/present Hawkeyes between now and the start of the college season in November.
So, we’re not there quite yet, people. But with each passing day the ‘official’ return of Iowa wrestling draws closer and closer.
(I can already picture the lines for Carver Cones in my head.)
And in the interim it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if some Hawkeyes added World Championship hardware to their respective trophy cases.
We’ll get to that in a few weeks though. For now, that does it for my recap of the 2024 Senior World Team Trials.
I hope many of you were able to watch the action this weekend, and if not, that my coverage here (and on social media) has been at least a passable substitute.
Thanks as always for reading and I’ll catch you guys again real soon.
