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Twice as nice: Iowa women's wrestling wins National Duals (again)

by:Tanner Lafever•about 12 hours•

TannerLafever

National Duals team photo
Your 2025 NWCA National Duals champions, the Iowa Hawkeyes. (Photo Credit: Iowa Women's Wrestling Twitter)

One year ago in Cedar Falls, it took a second-period shot clock point in the final match for the Iowa women’s wrestling team to clinch a National Duals title against North Central College (IL).

The top-ranked Hawkeyes decided not to cut things nearly as close this time around.

In a rematch with the second-seeded Cardinals, Iowa jumped ahead and never looked back in a 28-13 championship beatdown.

The win gave head coach Clarissa Chun’s program its third national title in as many tries:

  • 2024 National Duals
  • 2024 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships
  • 2025 National Duals

Expectations may have been sky-high when Iowa announced the creation of its women’s program back in September of 2021. But somehow the Hawkeyes continue to meet and/or surpass them.

Saturday was just the latest such example.

Iowa took out a pair of women’s college wrestling powerhouses en route to this latest championship, winning 7/10 semifinal bouts versus #4 McKendree before upping the tally to 8/10 against North Central.

Now 13-0 in dual competition this season, the Hawkeyes also pushed their all-time program record to 29-0.

The numbers really don’t do it justice (though I’m clearly trying).

All 13 Iowa wrestlers who took the mat on Day 2 contributed at least one team point – including several unsung heroes.

Combine that with its stars shining like stars and nobody but the Hawkeyes was leaving the UNI-Dome as national champs.

Here’s how it all went down – in beautiful, gritty, dominant Black & Gold fashion.

#1 Iowa – 33, #4 McKendree – 11

The Hawkeyes actually trailed after their first match of the day.

(Gasps)

At 103 pounds, #2 Sterling Dias fell 6-2 in a tight battle against talented Bearcat freshman #3 Gabriele Tedesco.

The McKendree lead wouldn’t last long.

#5 Emilie Gonzalez rebounded from an early deficit to score 10-straight against four-time All-American Samantha Miller – then put an exclamation point on the comeback by getting a pin in the final seconds.

(That wouldn’t be the only impressive comeback of the day by an Iowa wrestler with the last name Gonzalez.)

Twin sister Brianna would follow with a 9-2 decision at 117 pounds to extend Iowa’s lead.

After McKendree got tough wins from #3 Shelby Moore and #2 Alexandra Szkotnicki at 124/131 to narrow the margin to 11-10 the Hawkeyes would emphatically respond.

#3 Nanea Estrella somehow found her way to a wild pin at 138 over a returning third-place All-American.

(I called the senior from Hawaii a magician on social media in the immediate aftermath, and I stand by that description.)

Combined with a 6-2 ranked win by #1 Reese Larramendy at 145 and Iowa led 19-11 with three bouts to go.

At 160/180 pounds, McKendree (impressively) sent out a pair of 2024 US Olympic Trials qualifiers.

Iowa sent out a pair of 2024 Olympic/World medalists in Kennedy Blades and Kylie Welker.

You can probably guess how that turned out.

For good measure, backup heavyweight #5 Alivia White got a pin of her own to close the dual.

McKendree’s lineup included a trio of top-three-ranked wrestlers, several other past All-Americans and two Olympic Trials qualifiers.

On this day, against these Hawkeyes, it just didn’t matter.

#1 Iowa – 28, #2 North Central – 13 (Grit and guts)

I wrote in my weekend preview article that this was the finals matchup I thought we’d see on Saturday afternoon.

What I didn’t envision was it turning out as lopsided as the one I witnessed mat side.

Rather than just a sheer display of physical talent – which it has plenty of – Iowa’s performance against North Central embodied so many other intangible wrestling factors that make the difference between winning and losing.

The Hawkeyes were gritty, stingy and relentless in the face of excellent opposition.

Only recently back from injury, #2 Sterling Dias got to a single leg and drove 2023 national champion Maddie Avila out-of-bounds for the match-winning step out point with just eight seconds remaining.

#2 Ava Bayless allowed the first score to #4 Kendra Ryan at 110 pounds. She’d respond with a pair of second-period takedowns against her budding rival to earn the 5-2 victory.

(Bayless had lost to Ryan 12-1 in their most recent meeting.)

And the coup de grâce for the most unflappable performance of the day goes to #1 Brianna Gonzalez – whose win at 117 pounds was equal parts beautiful and ruthless as a wrestling observer.

Down 7-1 at the break to #2 Sydney Petzinger, it looked for all the world that North Central was about to get a big win to swing some momentum back in its favor.

Instead, Gonzalez chased her down like an apex predator – stalking/scoring bit by bit until her ‘prey’ had nowhere left to run. Nine points later, the other half of the ‘Nightmare Twins’ (along with her sister Emilie) was the 10-7 victor.

Said teammate (and Olympian) Kennedy Blades of Gonzalez post-dual, “I told Coach Chun I’m so happy I’m not at that weight – that’s a bulldog and I’m not trying to mess with it.”

Iowa/North Central cont. (A dice roll gone wrong)

A sign of how things were going (or perhaps how they’d expected them to), North Central made a lineup move, bumping up a pair of #1 wrestlers from 124-to-131 and 131-to-138 respectively.

Presumably, the Cardinals thought they could still win 124 just fine by sending out backup Janessa George.

If they and/or George – ranked a respectable seventh nationally at 124 – did hold such a belief, it was quickly dispelled by Iowa’s Cali Leng.

The sophomore continues to come through for the Hawkeyes, and on this afternoon picked up the first ranked (NCAA) win of her career in a one-sided 3-0 decision.

North Central’s gamble failed to pay dividends at 131 as well, as Emily Frost lost 15-3 to star 124-pounder Amani Jones, but scored several match points in a game effort to add a team point to Iowa’s tally.

The final domino fell at 138, where #3 Nanea Estrella weathered a pair of four-point, first-period throws by top-ranked 131-pounder Sara Sterner before running away with a 13-8 win.

Through six weights, the Cardinals had their chances, tried some tricks and faced a 16-8 deficit anyway.

That’s not the place you want to be when a dual against Iowa reaches 145 pounds…

Iowa/North Central cont. (Putting the hammer down)

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the Hawkeyes have a trio of World/Olympic medalists on their roster.

North Central had assuredly heard the news as well, but that doesn’t mean it could do anything to stop it.

In succession:

  • Macey Kilty prevailed 11-6 over former Hawkeye, #4 Bella Mir, in a match that was nearly a tech. fall before a late scoring sequence by Mir
  • Kennedy Blades blasted through #7 Tiera Jimerson (11-0) in just 1:17
  • Kylie Welker did Blades one better, rag-dolling #5 Shenita Lawson to her back for the 0:41 fall

Somewhere in that mix (I believe with Blades’ win), Iowa had clinched the dual and thus, the national title.

So yes, the Hawkeyes’ biggest stars still shone brightly. But they were set up on a platter to do so thanks to the yeoman’s work done by their teammates in the lineup before them.

Hear from the head Hawk

“This is what wrestling is about,” said Clarissa Chun in the wake of her team’s title-winning performance. “We want that competitive excellence.”

The third-year Iowa coach lauded North Central, as well as McKendree, for the deep, powerful lineups they put out to challenge the Hawkeyes on Saturday.

“It’s those hard-fought matches that you learn so much more about yourself.”

Asked post-final about several of her own wrestlers, Chun’s comments reflect the well-rounded nature of the team she has built in Iowa City.

“That’s the standard,” she says of the Kilty/Blades/Welker triumvirate and their impact on the entire room around them. “That’s elevating each other, to see the work that they do.”

As for someone like Cali Leng – one of the least heralded prospects among the 32 currently rostered Hawkeyes – the Iowa head coach is equally thrilled to have her in Black & Gold.

“She works. She works every day. She’s very intentional about the things that she’s working on (be they) technically, tactically, mentally, emotionally,” says Chun of the scrappy sophomore.

Pictured right, Iowa head coach Clarissa Chun embraces sophomore Cali Leng in the aftermath of a 2025 National Duals championship.

“She leads with a lot of gratitude and a lot of love. And she’s always going to fight for herself and for the team.”

“It was so good for us to see her believe in herself, to trust herself, and just compete like she does.”

“I’m just so proud of her and where she’s headed.”

Short time

Speaking of where things are headed, I wouldn’t dare limit what heights the Iowa women’s wrestling program might reach next.

This is still a young program and a young 2024-25 team (and a not-yet-full-strength one at that).

This was not easy what the Hawkeyes accomplished this weekend in Cedar Falls, nor what they’ve accomplished over the past 1.5 years of official collegiate competition.

I sincerely hope Iowa fans out there recognize that – on top of hopefully tuning in at every possible chance to watch these wrestlers do some amazing things on the mat.

The program’s second-and-final home dual(s) of the season is next Saturday (Jan. 18) against Augustana (IL) and #4 Grand Valley State (MI). It’d be pretty cool if a heck of a crowd was there to welcome home the back-to-back National Duals champions.

Next, attention turns toward the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships in early March – hosted down the road at Xtream Arena in Coralville, no less.

There – with this weekend’s dual championship now in hand – Iowa will pursue its second title repeat of 2025.

But enough about the future and back to the present.

Iowa women’s wrestling is National Duals champions yet again, all because it’s made up of competitors who will do whatever it takes – pretty or gritty – to win for both themselves and for their Hawkeye teammates.

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