Establishing a culture for a college athletics program is one of the most difficult things to do in sports. Sitting in the upper echelon of programs, any given year is a challenge in and of itself. But reloading and repeating that same success year in and year out separates the good programs from the great — the very task Iowa women’s wrestling head coach Clarissa Chun faces during her second year at Iowa. 

Chun couldn’t have scripted a better start in the program’s inaugural season last year for the Hawkeyes. Year one of the Chun era at Iowa saw more accomplishments than anyone could have predicted. The Hawkeyes had an undefeated dual record of 16-0, won the 2024 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships, and totaled six individual champions and 12 All-Americans. 

Not too shabby for year one in program history. 

But what defines a coach and their team is not the individual seasons of success. It’s the ability to return to the same national spotlight on an annual basis. This consistency is what turns one-year wonders into collegiate “blue bloods” of their respective sports — an even taller task in the name, image, and likeness era college athletics is entering. 

Chun and her coaching staff found some work left after some key departures entering the new season. Felicity Taylor and Marlynne Deede — a pair of national champions with significant impact on the wrestling room — both spent their final years of eligibility as Hawkeyes last season.

Taylor competed in the 116-pound weight class and wrestled at McKendree University for three seasons. She competed as an unattached athlete in her senior campaign before using her final year of eligibility to transfer to Iowa. 

Taylor thrived with the Hawkeyes and showed the women’s collegiate wrestling world just how talented she was, going 31-2, winning two dual competitions, and taking home a title at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships, or NCWWC, in 2024. 

Deede was a 155-pound wrestler who also took advantage of her fifth year of eligibility. Deede amassed All-American honors in all four seasons at Augsburg University and capped off her career with the Eagles by winning a national championship in 2023.

Such accomplishments made it easy for Chun and her coaching staff to pursue Deede via the transfer portal. As a Hawkeye, Deede recorded one of the more impressive single seasons in collegiate women’s wrestling history, going 13-0 and winning both the NCWWC Regional and National championships. 

And Bella Mir was poised to be the next woman up after having an impressive first season with Iowa.

Mir, daughter of UFC legend Frank Mir, made a name for herself wrestling unattached in the 2022-23 season, earning runner-up honors in the 2022 Soldier Salute, placing third at the 2023 Bearcat Open, and winning the 2023 U20 World Championships. 

Her success made it easy for Chun to recruit her to the program, where she would continue her dominance while representing the Black and Gold. Mir went 21-3 in her rookie year with the Hawkeyes.

She notched first-place finishes in the 2023 Soldier Salute and 2024 Grand View Open Championship. Her runner-up finish in the 2024 NCWWC Regional earned her a spot in the championships, where she finished in fifth. 

Many fans were excited to see how much improvement Mir could make going into her second year — but just this past August, Mir decided to take advantage of the transfer portal in college athletics and took her talents to North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. 

“You never want one of your own to take off to another team, especially a team we battled neck-and-neck in both the national duals and national championships,” Chun said. “But we love Bella and want what is best for her. We are cheering her on until we step across the mat from her.”

These departures have forced Chun to bring in athletes to accommodate for the team’s losses. While Chun believes both the transfer portal and regular recruitment have advantages, she finds there is a time and place for when they should be utilized. 

“It’s a puzzle, and we are still figuring it out,” Chun said. “I feel like there is no one formula. Everyone is so different, and it has to be the right fit for them and our program.”

Indeed, thus far this season, Chun has used a talented group of recruits to step up and continue their predecessors’ success. 

Chun added an abundance of talent to this year’s recruiting class. Seven first-year newcomers were welcomed into this season’s roster, but highlighting the class is a trio of athletes who have especially impressed so far in their early collegiate careers. 

Valarie Solorio and Rianne Murphy have made immediate impacts in the lighter weight classes. The pair have been consistent in the lineup as the coaching staff has given both athletes the utmost confidence to compete at a high level. 

“There is this raw authenticity that comes from the coaches that feels like a genuine belief that they have in you to achieve,” Murphy said. “It spreads a good culture and energy on the team.”

Solorio made a name for herself at the Iowa season opener in the Luther Hill Open. Here, she started her collegiate career off by winning her first three matches at 110 pounds before losing in the championship to fellow teammate and former national champion Ava Bayless. 

Since then, Solorio has consistently been in the lineup. She has posted an 8-2 record and has rotated between the 110 and 124-pound weight classes.

Murphy, on the other hand, has been perfect in her debut season for Iowa. She has gone 10-0 with first-place finishes in the Luther Hill and Eagle Madness Open, both in the 103-pound weight division. 

Capping off the impressive freshman class is Naomi Simon. Simon became a household name in the state of Iowa after winning four consecutive Iowa High School State Championships for Decorah. 

She has continued this same success for the Hawkeyes while anchoring the 180-pound division. Similar to Murphy, Simon has yet to lose a match in her young collegiate career, earning top finishes in Luther Hill and Eagle Madness Open. 

These three have been staples of the Hawkeye roster and have competed in nearly every competition thus far in the season. 

“The three — you are seeing immediate success; their mentality coming into this program was ‘Why not them?’” Chun said. “They are going to be fighting for a spot and are not going to back down to anyone that is in front of them or in their way.”

While it has been just one season, Chun’s ability to recruit so many talented first-year athletes is an ode to the program she has built thus far as head coach. That’s especially with the draw of big-name transfer Kennedy Blades.

Blades, from Chicago, enrolled at Arizona State while wrestling at the Sunkist Kids wrestling club before winning silver at the 2024 Summer Olympics and making the jump to Iowa City to join Chun’s program of progress.

“We work on things that I don’t even think about,” Blades said. “The one thing that surprised me, but in a very good way, was that we actually work on getting off our backs. I don’t remember the last time I did that. The fact that we are practicing small things, thinking about being a huge impact, is what makes it really special.”

A lot of the culture established at Iowa has been attained from Chun’s ability to find success in year one of the program. But along with winning and recognition, the University of Iowa has prioritized and promoted women’s athletics altogether. 

“Iowa specifically is the birthplace of Title IX, and I think it shows how much they value women’s sports,” Murphy said. “The fact that they are trying to give us an equal playing field in terms of having an amazing facility and all the resources the guys have — I think it’s special.”