Iowa women’s wrestling is gearing up to start its second season in program history after a booming first campaign last year.
Head coach Clarissa Chun made a name for the program in its inaugural women’s collegiate wrestling season across 2023 and early 2024. Their, the Hawkeyes went 16-0 in dual matches and won the 2024 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship — with multiple individuals taking first place in their respective weight classes.
Following up an impressive season like that can be stressful on the athletes. Chun reminds the team not to focus on the overarching accomplishments but rather improve on the essence of the sport itself.
“How can we continue to get better and do the same [as last season]?” Chun said. “I really try have our women not think about the outcome … Yes, we want to win. That’s definitely the goal. That’s what we talk about is winning those matches, national duals, national championships. But at the end of the day, let’s just get better at wrestling.”
The Hawkeyes are returning a slew of talent from last year’s undefeated national championship team. This includes four national champions and nine All-Americans.
Second-year Kylie Welker is one of those talented returnees for Chun and her coaching staff. The 2024 Open Mat NCAA Women’s Wrestler of the Year is coming off of a season in which she went 25-1 and was consistently ranked in the top three nationally in her class.
Welker isn’t satisfied with just one year of success and realizes just how much talent this Iowa team was able to retain for another go.
“It’s just how much better we can get,” Welker said. “Those girls, we are all pushing towards the same thing. We are all on the same level. It’s a very competitive room, and we are all competitors.”
Chun said the team has welcomed in seven new freshmen this season and that they are “very hungry.” Entering an intense environment like this is often difficult for many young athletes, but Chun has seen only competitiveness from her newcomers.
“I definitely feel like [the freshman] know our team, who the upperclassmen are, or the sophomores and juniors,” Chun said. “They knew that coming in and wanted to be a part of a program where iron sharpens iron. They wanted to be a part of a program regardless if they were a starter or not. They weren’t going to sit back.”
Such freshmen include national champion Rianne Murphy, seventh-ranked Kiara Djoumessi, and World Team member Cadence Diduch.
Along with the incoming freshmen, Chun has welcomed in four new transfers to the roster.
Highlighting the transfer class is third-year Kennedy Blades, who just came off of snagging silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 76-kilogram event.
Blades was originally a recruit that Chun tried to sign back in 2022; but ultimately, she decided to attend Arizona State and compete on their club team.
What brought her back was simple. The success and buzz that this Iowa program generated made the decision easy for Blades, seeing how much potential she and the team could have with her joining.
“Being champions within one year, that’s got to tell you something,” Blades said. “I knew that there was something right here, and I want to be apart of it … That swayed me even more. ‘Coach, I want to be on that roster when we win the next championship.’”
Chun is excited for more opportunities to wrestle in front of the team’s Iowa City fans, with last year hosting only a handful of competitions at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“I don’t know any other place where over 8,000 people come to watch women’s wrestling at our first home dual meet or a quad — that was special,” Chun said. “I continue to hope that people will still come out and continue to support our women.”