On the case: Sam Sachs pursues every lead to become a Hawkeye

By her own admission, Sam Sachs didn’t exactly possess the most diverse skillset when her high school wrestling career began.

“I had, like, three moves that I used my freshman year,” says the now-17-year-old (whose full first name is Samantha).

Of course, the start of her high school career just so happened to coincide with her first-ever year in the sport itself.

And yet, barely three years later, Sachs has come so far that she’s now the latest elite recruit to pledge her future to the University of Iowa women’s wrestling program.

On December 14, the Glendora (Calif.) native announced her commitment to the reigning national champions. A few days later, she was officially a Hawkeye.

Made it official! 🐥

Welcome to Iowa, Sam! #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/edSIs4GDAE

— Iowa Women's Wrestling (@IowaW_Wrestling) December 18, 2024

With an inquisitive mind and outgoing personality, Sachs now embarks on her senior season in the most competitive state for girls’ high school wrestling.

Her goals?

Capture her first individual state title and continue the steady progression that originally helped draw the attention of her soon-to-be Iowa coaches.

That coaching staff clearly saw enough great traits in Sachs (both on/off the mat) to recruit her to Iowa City. Hopefully the words to come will do an equally compelling job showcasing what Hawkeye fans are getting when the nation’s second-ranked 130-pound prospect steps onto campus next fall.

“When you think of Iowa, you think wrestling.”

Well before she’d get a chance of her own to don the Black & Gold, Sam Sachs already had an impression of Iowa wrestling.

“Iowa’s obviously a big wrestling state…I knew that they had a good men’s team, and like Spencer Lee – a lot of good wrestlers competed through there,” she says.

“So, when they started building the women’s team, I think it definitely caught my attention – just because of how much success they have with their men’s team…and all the resources and support that they have.”

“I mean, when you think of Iowa, you think of wrestling.”

The appeal of becoming a Hawkeye herself steadily increased as she witnessed the women’s program build from the ground up. Not only was talent amassing in Iowa City, but a camaraderie developed that Sachs wanted to be a part of.

“I think just seeing the (team) dynamic – them posting and traveling together – you could tell from the beginning what a powerful team that was going to be and what they’re creating.”

Even from afar, the environment seemed like a great fit for what she was looking for.

“I think the way that I learn is being around people that are better than me and that I can learn from and continue to grow with,” says Sachs. “I want to rise to the room around me, and I think Iowa definitely has built a program that allows for that.”

But just believing Iowa would suit her needs/goals wasn’t enough. Recruiting is a two-way street, and the Hawkeyes are pretty darn selective with who they bring into the program.

The only logical next step(s) for the California teenager?

Be proactive and keep getting better.

“Sometimes you have to advocate for yourself.”

Rather than sit back and hope to get noticed, Sachs took the initiative in her own recruitment.

In the summer of 2023, the then-16-year-old emailed Iowa head coach Clarissa Chun to express her interest in the program.

“I hadn’t won a (Fargo) national championship yet. I hadn’t done a lot of the things that I’ve done now,” says Sachs. “But getting my name out there and reaching out, I think it’s super important, for anyone.”

“I think sometimes you have to advocate for yourself.”

That same summer, Sachs traveled to Iowa City to attend one of the annual Iowa women’s wrestling camps. A few months later, she was back on campus yet again, this time on an unofficial visit with her parents in tow.

All these initiatives were encouraged by her high school coach, David Hester, whom Sachs gratefully acknowledges for his role in her recruiting process.

“He’s the one who put me in contact (with Iowa),” she says of Hester.

“He supported me from the beginning…(saying) ‘If you keep working hard you can go wherever you want – whatever place you think fits you best, you can go.”

Each subsequent interaction between herself and the Iowa program helped to build a relationship that would be foundational to Sachs’ eventual signing more than a year later.

All the while, the wrestling neophyte continued to make major strides.

Becoming a wrestler

A daughter to two “outdoorsy” parents, Sachs and her younger brother Kai (a high school sophomore) were involved in plenty of sports/activities before she found wrestling.

Sam played soccer, basketball and ran track. She also did jiu jitsu, which served as a decent – though hardly apples-to-apples – introduction when she got on the mat.

California has long been known for its excellent wrestling tradition. And in 2011 it became the fourth state in the country to officially sanction a girls’ high school state championship.

Ever since then, the state has continued to produce elite prep talent on a yearly basis. So, Sachs was stepping right into the ‘deep end’ as she made her debut in the sport.

“At that time, I think I had no idea what my capabilities were,” recalls the now-senior of her then-freshman self. “I knew that making it to state for me was a big deal. It definitely wasn’t expected (given her inexperience).”

The unseeded Sachs would go 2-2 in her first state tournament foray, falling two wins shy of the podium. The first of her defeats came in the opening round to fellow freshman Isabella Gonzales – with whom she’d later become friends and pending Iowa teammates as Gonzales committed and signed with the Hawkeyes herself in late-2024.

“Obviously, that match (a first-period pin) didn’t go my way,” says Sachs with a laugh. “But it was the start of a long, successful journey ahead.”

“Making it to state definitely was the start of me realizing that I can compete with these girls.”

Looking back, it very much was just the start of things. But even so, just because you’re improving doesn’t necessarily mean you’re always winning.

Growing from defeat(s)

As a sophomore, Sachs took her wrestling to another level.

A third-place medal at the state tournament was followed by top-five freestyle finishes at both U17 World team trials and Fargo (16U division).

The upward trajectory would continue right into her junior year at Glendora High School. That April (2024), she improved at U17 trials yet again (taking fourth). But in truth, it was a result two months earlier that set the stage for her breakthrough to come.

Sachs had powered her way to her first-ever state final match – one she was favored to win. But late in the second period, she was reversed to her back and pinned by an opponent whom she’d beaten 6-3 the week prior.

Now, looking back on that disappointment, rather than wallowing in despair, she’s used it to become better than ever.

“I think it was essential for me to lose in the state finals,” says Sachs. “It was (definitely) the hardest loss of my career so far…but looking back I think it was essential for me to lose that match in order to get where I am now.

“It just drove me to become better…and want even more to be on top.”

As she reflected on her many close calls at big tournaments, Sachs decided she’d had enough.

“After a while, I was like, ‘OK, I’m right there. But I don’t want to be second (or third) on the podium anymore.’”

“So, I think I had to flip a switch mentally just knowing that I’m up there with those people, and I deserve to be there – and why not get to the top of the podium?”

There was just one thing left to do.

Reaching the top

There is no easy path to winning a Fargo national championship.

The largest wrestling tournament in the world welcomed a record 8,062 total entries across six separate divisions this past July.

Brackets can be more than 100 wrestlers deep as top high school competitors assemble from around the country. Many of them arrive at the Fargo Dome with one goal in mind – to leave with a ‘stop sign’ for winning an individual title.

Sam Sachs was one of those such competitors this past July. And over two days she proved to both herself and everyone else that she could not only contend with the very best but beat them when it mattered most.

Entered in a field at 130 pounds with 99 total entries, Sachs ‘ate the elephant’ the only way a person can – one bite/match at a time.

The Californian defeated seven opponents hailing from seven different states en route to a Junior national title. She outscored them by a collective margin of 47-5, the last of which came against a returning champion from Oklahoma.

The opportunity and environment – including a nervy pre-championship match walk down the stadium stairs through the crowd – struck a particular chord in her.

“Seeing how many people were there to watch and being able to display what you do best out on the mat – just you and another person…” Sachs reminisces.

“For me, winning was probably the best experience of my life…being in front of all those people and knowing how hard I worked to get there.”

But though her Fargo title may have been a capstone achievement on her young wrestler career to date, the coaching staff at Iowa had already been impressed by the strides she was making.

Making it official (visit)

As Sachs continued her steady improvement on the mat, her relationship with the Hawkeye coaches had similarly strengthened.

Check-ins before/after major tournaments helped to establish more regular contact. Finally, in between her state championships (February) and World team trials (April) the subject of an official visit was broached.

Six months later – on the weekend of September 20 – Sachs flew several hours across the country by herself. Upon landing in Iowa City, she’d join a quartet of fellow blue-chip recruits on a visit as star-studded as any you’ll find in college athletics.

The group hit all the usual benchmarks of a typical recruiting weekend – touring facilities, observing practice and being treated to a taste of the town at several fine local restaurants.

(A slice of cheesecake particularly stood out to Sachs during our conversation following her visit.)

But perhaps her biggest source of focus was on the team itself.

“My high school doesn’t have a (full) girls’ team – there’s like four of us, I think,” says Sachs. “So, I think that’s going to be a big change being on an all-women’s team (in college).”

Fortunately, the more she observed the team dynamic at Iowa up close, the more confident she grew in her original hunch that it’d be a great fit for her.

“Seeing them together in the facility, outside of the facility was super cool – just to see a team so close and all driven to be the best.”

And speaking of hunches, not to mention a keen eye for the evidence at hand, Sachs’ visit also fulfilled a potential future career interest – one inspired by the work her father does every single day.

Agent Sam Sachs(?)

Charlie Sachs has served the United States in various military/law enforcement capacities for more than 30 years.

An Army veteran, the latter portion of that period has been spent as a law enforcement officer in Southern California.

For his daughter, Sam, that example has helped to spur on her own curiosity in the field.

“My dad has definitely inspired me,” she says. “I think it’s super cool what he does and how the system works.

On her official visit, Sachs learned more about how her academic/athletic schedules would intertwine if she went down the criminal justice route as an undergrad at Iowa. Now, fewer than eight months from stepping onto campus, that remains her desired path – albeit one with a yet-to-be-determined destination.

“There are a few different pathways that I’m thinking about – whether it’s working for the state or working for the FBI. But I think that will just come with learning the different areas of where I can go and what I enjoy,” says Sachs.

Family background aside, her ‘prep work’ hasn’t stopped there. Asked her favorite cop movie/TV show and she immediately identifies Law and Order SVU.

And this isn’t some casual fandom either.

“I watched all the seasons that are on Hulu – so I think it was the first 25,” she says of an only recently completed journey. “Yeah, it’s a lot. And then I need to start watching the current ones.”

Some quick research confirms that seasons 1-25 encompass a staggering 551(!) total episodes.

It’s an ongoing tally that draws slight concern from her mother, Courtney, but one the future Hawkeye is happy to deal with.

“If I had a day where I wasn’t doing anything, I could just watch it all day long,” says Sam. “She thinks I’m weird for that, but it’s OK.”

Case closed

Like any good ‘investigator’ would, Sachs did her due diligence on the Iowa program and ultimately concluded that there was no better place for her to be.

“It had been a while – like a few months – since I visited, and ever since the visit I had a feeling,” she recalls. “Just as time went by, I think I realized more and more that I’m going to thrive in an environment like that. (And) I need to do what’s best for my athletic and academic career.”

About a week after arriving at that verdict herself, she’d learn Iowa felt the same way.

On a December Zoom call with both her parents and the entire Iowa coaching staff, Sachs was presented with her official offer to become a Hawkeye. She verbally committed right on the spot.

Perhaps no one was more thrilled than Iowa associate head coach Gary Mayabb, who “threw his hands up in the air” upon hearing the good news.

Sachs credits Mayabb as a key figure in her recruitment dating all the way back to her 2023 unofficial visit. There, he served as tour guide to the whole Sachs family, building the foundation of an increasingly strong relationship.

“He’s one of those people that is easy to talk to. And it feels like he’s really listening, and he really cared, which I think was a big thing for me and my parents,” says Sam.

“On that (unofficial) visit, it felt like someone that my parents would be comfortable with coaching me and being a part of my life if I was going to Iowa.”

Corroborating evidence

In the (highly) unlikely scenario that folks remain unmoved by this latest blue-chip addition to Iowa’s 2025 recruiting class, allow the head coach of the program to present a closing argument.

In her first public comments on this year’s signees, Clarissa Chun echoed Sachs’ own recollection of events:

“Really, Sam came to our (summer) camp two years ago and she put herself on notice,” says the Hawkeye head coach. “And then we followed her through the Fargo tournament, and it was so great to watch her develop throughout the past couple years.”

As for that self-advocacy Sachs mentioned as being critical to her recruiting process? Let’s just say she couldn’t have possibly been more correct – not as a then-16-year-old, nor now, some 18 months later.

“They (Sachs and fellow 2025 signee Isabella Gonzales) made sure to come up and introduce themselves and make sure that we were watching,” says Chun.

“They put it out there that they’re ready to do whatever it takes to be a Hawkeye, and we love that. We love the grittiness of who they are and what they bring to our program.”

Come next season, Iowa fans will have their own opportunity to appreciate all that Sam Sachs brings to the Hawkeyes.

But between now and then, she’s got more goals to reach and improvements to make.

And based on her rapid progression these past three years, who’s to say what all she’ll accomplish going forward.