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Pretty much perfect: #1 Iowa women qualify all 15 for Nationals

by:Tanner Lafever•about 13 hours•

TannerLafever

Nanea Estrella
Nanea Estrella was one of 10 individual champs in a dominant day for the Hawkeyes. (Photo Credit: Iowa Women's Wrestling Twitter)

The Iowa women’s wrestling team apparently had zero interest in dramatics at Saturday’s NCWWC Region VII Championships.

At least it sure seemed that way based on how the #1 Hawkeyes performed at Cowles Fieldhouse in Indianola, Iowa.

Head coach Clarissa Chun’s squad laid waste to a field of nine other opponents – and in the process punched 15 individual ‘tickets’ to next month’s National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (March 7-8 in Coralville).

Iowa crowned a champ at all 10 weights while taking second at half of them to their own teammate(s).

With 192 team points, the Hawkeyes far outpaced #11 Wartburg (128.0) and #24 Simpson (110.0) in a day that was largely defined by statistic after mind-blowing statistic.

I’ll cover several of those numbers throughout this recap, but above all else is the aforementioned 15.

This isn’t men’s NCAA wrestling with conference allocations and ‘wildcard’ selections for the national tournament.

On the women’s side there’s only one way to qualify for the national championships (NCWWCs). A wrestler must finish in the top four at their regional event.

Get pinned in a lucky headlock? Slip on a banana peel? Have a tough weight cut? Tough luck.

Even as heavily favored as each of the Hawkeyes were, one imagines some nerves exist somewhere in the back of their minds. Sure, you could eventually lose at the national championships – but at least you’d know the outcome. To never find out because you didn’t even qualify?

(I nearly broke into a cold sweat just considering the scenario.)

Of course, the best way to alleviate those nerves is to simply leave nothing up to chance. And that’s exactly what Iowa did – automatically qualifying with room to spare via 15 individual semifinal victories.

And that was just part of an almost-difficult-to-fathom display of dominance.

By the numbers

Iowa wrestlers went a combined 43-5 on Saturday, but if we’re being honest the record of note is 38-0 – which excludes the five Hawkeye-vs-Hawkeye matchups (all finals).

The top-ranked team in the country started fast and never once looked back.

After a more or less perfect run through the quarterfinals, things barely slowed down in the semis:

It wasn’t until Iowa’s 24th match of the day – a 7-0 win by #4 Cali Leng at 124 pounds – that a Hawkeye wrestled a full six-minute match.

(Shame on her, right?)

And it wasn’t until Match #27 that an Iowa wrestler allowed an opponent to score an offensive point against them.

#2 Reese Larramendy will have to own that ignominious distinction thanks to a mere 11-4 semifinal win over the #9 ranked 145-pounder in the country – Annelise Obermark (Simpson College).

By day’s end, in bouts against non-teammates the Hawkeyes were not only undefeated but won 33/38 of them via bonus points (25 tech. falls and eight pins).

And the total match point discrepancy? A preposterous 295-12.

Yes, Iowa is a fantastic team – quite possibly even better than the national title squad from a year ago, which won just six individual regional titles and even had the audacity to lose a few matches against wrestlers donning a different singlet than their own.

But as I mentioned in my preview article, Iowa’s 2025 regional setup was a bit more conducive to overwhelming dominance as several strong teams from 2024 were assigned elsewhere this time around.

(That certainly isn’t to minimize Saturday’s gobsmacking performance, just lend a bit of additional context, that’s all.)

As for the individual efforts put forth – 10 of the championship variety – here’s a quick summary before I wrap up with my most noteworthy results of the day:

Crown ‘em

103 pounds

1st place – #4 Sterling Dias (Iowa) won by dec. (8-2) over #1 Rianne Murphy (Iowa)

110 pounds

1st place – #2 Ava Bayless (Iowa) won by dec. (4-0) over #5 Emilie Gonzalez (Iowa)

117 pounds

1st place – #1 Brianna Gonzalez (Iowa) won by tech. fall (11-0) over #8 Shea Reisel (Dubuque)

124 pounds

1st place – #4 Cali Leng (Iowa) won by tech. fall (12-1) over Liannette Ortiz (Wartburg)

131 pounds

1st place – Emmily Patneaud (Iowa) won by dec. (5-2) over #4 Kylie Rule (Wartburg)

138 pounds

1st place – #5 Nanea Estrella (Iowa) won by tech. fall (12-2) over #10 Aniyah Kelly (Wartburg)

145 pounds

1st place – #1 Macey Kilty (Iowa) won by tech. fall (12-0) over #2 Reese Larramendy (Iowa)

160 pounds

1st place – #1 Kennedy Blades (Iowa) won by tech. fall (10-0) over #10 Keeley Kehrli (Simpson)

180 pounds

1st place – #1 Kylie Welker (Iowa) won by tech. fall (10-0) over #5 Naomi Simon (Iowa)

207 pounds

1st place – #1 Jaycee Foeller (Iowa) won by dec. (8-0) over #7 Alivia White (Iowa)

Patneaud prevails in win of the day

There were more dominant wins on Saturday than Emmily Patneaud’s 5-2 effort in the final at 131 pounds. There were even wins over more highly ranked opponents – though both came versus fellow Iowa wrestlers, of course.

But there was no more important victory than Patneaud’s over Wartburg’s fourth-ranked Kylie Rule.

The fifth-year senior – a two-time transfer during her college career – was the lone Iowa wrestler at the regional without a national ranking beside her name.

As a past All-American – 5th for McKendree in 2022 – it wasn’t that Patneaud’s ability was in question. Simply put, she’d hadn’t faced/beaten the requisite NCAA competition to earn such a ranking this season – until now.

Saturday’s win against #4 Rule could do wonders for Patneaud’s seed at NCCWCs in two weeks. And while you’ve still got to wrestle the matches, we all recognize that a higher seed typically means a more advantageous path at the biggest tournaments.

In this match, the Hawkeye trailed 2-0 at intermission needing to swing things to her advantage.

She’d do precisely that, coming out of the break with a notable increase in physicality and forward pressure. Patneaud’s reward was a pair of snap-down, go-behind takedowns as part of a five-point second period, and thus, the biggest win of her season to date.

“Kylie Rule is a tough competitor and opponent,” said Coach Chun after the tournament. “It really is a testament to exactly what we tell our women – to make it their match and wrestle what they do best.”

“It was a great outcome for Emmily, and (great) that she stayed the course throughout that match.”

Saturday’s win for Patneaud only ‘officially’ counts for Saturday. But let’s earmark this one and check back in a few weeks to see if its overall impact wasn’t a bit bigger than that.

Sterling Dias is looking like herself again

Entering this season, Sterling Dias boasted a career record of 42-4. Of those exceedingly rare defeats only three came against collegiate competition – all to her own teammate, 2024 NCWWC champ Emilie Gonzalez.

Dias’ 2024-25 record prior to Saturday’s regional? 15-8.

Now to be fair, four of those matches were injury defaults – including an opening weekend ‘loss’ to freshman teammate Rianne Murphy.

That said, upon returning from her nearly two-month absence Dias had yet to look like her old self.

Not anymore.

The fourth-ranked sophomore defeated #1 Murphy, 8-2 in their finals match at 103 pounds – a stark reversal of a meeting just three weeks prior, won by Murphy, 5-0.

On Saturday, Dias looked sharp as ever, building an early lead she’d never relinquish.

Asked post-match about finding that old version of herself again Dias said, “There was a lot of preparation – not just for that specific match – but just finding light within the sport and trying to remember who I am and focus on what I can do and who I can become and prioritizing myself before anyone else.”

“Even with the (injury) setback I still kept improving and I think that’s the glory about this sport.”

“Obviously I was struggling at the very beginning (of her return from injury) because I was constantly getting beat. But now that I’ve found my confidence, and I finally trust myself even more I just keep wanting to get better.”

Her head coach offered a similar sentiment.

“If anyone’s followed Sterling’s career that was something that looked more like her,” said Chun.

“I will say, it seems that a lot times your hardest opponent is yourself. So, if you can get past what is stopping you from being able to bring out your best self then a lot of great things can happen.”

Others of note

Before I wrap up, there are a couple of other results from today that I wanted to highlight briefly.

At 110 pounds, #2 Ava Bayless defeated teammate #5 Emilie Gonzalez – a match that said nothing of their respective prospects at NCWWCs but was interestingly quite different from their lone previous meeting.

Bayless won a fairly exchange-heavy bout (8-4) when the two returning NCWWC champs met at the Soldier Salute in December. This time, scoring opportunities were much more limited. Bayless converted a single leg takedown in the first, then beautifully timed a go-behind off a Gonzalez shot in the second.

Otherwise, it sure looked like a match between two wrestlers who know each other very well.

(Imagine that?)

Up at 124 pounds, #4 Cali Leng continues to impress as her sophomore season comes to a close.

On Saturday, the Ohio native allowed just one point across four matches. And that point came during a 12-1 tech. fall in the finals over Liannette Ortiz (Wartburg) – a foe whom she’d beaten 6-6 on criteria only six weeks ago.

Meanwhile, it was a semifinal bout that was most impressive for 138-pounder Nanea Estrella.

The fifth-ranked senior had been in a bit of a late-season funk – losing 3/7 matches after a 16-0 start. But in Saturday’s semis she showed all of her skills in a hotly contested 5-2 defeat of Nina Makem (Augsburg) – a two-time All-American whom Estrella narrowly bested 3-3 on criteria in their previous meeting.

And finally, Iowa fans can rejoice that #1 Jaycee Foeller was back like she’d never left following a nearly two-month absence from competition.

The senior went unscored upon Saturday, notching two tech. falls before a dominant 8-0 decision in the final at 207 pounds over teammate #7 Alivia White.

Short time

Not that you need to hear it again, but this truly was a dominant display from the top-ranked Hawkeyes.

The competition will be far stiffer at NCWWCs in two weeks (March 7-8 in Coralville), but no one in the Iowa lineup offered any indication (on or off the mat) that they won’t be primed and ready for it.

Sterling Dias was asked what Saturday’s 10 individual champs and overall dominance says about the Iowa program. Her response was telling of a group that not only expects great things from itself, but expects itself to put in the work required to earn them:

“Obviously, that we work hard,” said Dias of the success. “(But) It doesn’t come easy to us. There’s a lot of practice and preparation (physical and mental) that goes into that. We kind of have this persona of us knowing that we can do a lot of great things, not only individually but as a team.”

It’s with that attitude and focus that Iowa will enter NCCWCs as a significant title favorite.

And it’s that same attitude/focus that qualified the Hawkeyes – all 15 of them – for a chance to become national champions for the second time in the program’s brief two-year history.

(Full Region VII results can be found here on TrackWrestling)

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