CEDAR FALLS- The Iowa Women’s Wrestling team competed at the NWCA National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Friday, claiming dominating victories in both duals against Aurora and Wartburg.
Iowa began the day by facing Aurora and easily defeated the Spartans 35-10.
Sterling Dias led off the day for the Hawkeyes, defeating Genesis Ramirez by a 3-2 decision at 103 pounds. Emilie Gonzalez and Brianna Gonzalez each picked up wins at 110 and 117 pounds before Ava Rose fell via fall to Bethany Regione at 124 pounds.
Emily Frost looked to get Iowa back on track at 131 against Natasha Markoutsis and did just that, defeating Markoutis 10-1. Following a slow-moving two minutes, Frost grabbed a 2-0 lead with a takedown and extended her lead to 6-0 before Markoutis got on the board. That early surge was all Frost needed, and she pulled away for the easy win.
First-year Cadence Diduch fell via tech fall to Alexis Janiak at 138 pounds, but Reese Larramendy got the Hawkeyes back in the win column with an 11-0 tech fall victory at 145 pounds. Iowa fan favorite Kennedy Blades followed by taking care of Antonia Phillips, winning 12-0 by tech fall at 160 pounds.
At 180 pounds, Hawkeye first-year Naomi Simon took an early lead over Mackenzie Konanz and ran with it, leading to an 8-0 victory by fall to extend Iowa’s lead over Aurora to 30-10. Samantha Calkins wrapped up the first dual for the Hawkeyes with a win via forfeit, locking up the dual victory for Iowa.
Wartburg
The Hawkeyes faced off with the in-state foe Wartburg Knights in the second round. Iowa dominated the Knights by a score of 42-1, winning each match and allowing only one Wartburg wrestler to score.
Dias again led off the dual for the Hawkeyes at 103 pounds, where she claimed victory by forfeit to give Iowa a 5-0 lead. Redshirt second-year Ava Bayless also claimed a forfeit win at 110 pounds, and the Hawks were off and running.
Next, Brianna Gonzalez faced Danielle Silva in the 117-pound bout. Gonzalez jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with two takedowns, leaving Silva with no answers. Gonzalez secured a quick 8-0 fall victory, moving the Iowa lead to 15-0.
Cali Leng faced off with Liannette Ortiz at 124 pounds, and Leng quickly gained a 4-0 lead before Ortiz responded with an escape to get on the board. Ortiz then executed a takedown to cut Leng’s lead to 4-3 going into period two. Following the break, Ortiz tied the match at four before securing another takedown to take a 6-4 lead, but Leng responded with a takedown to knot the match up at six and claim the victory by tiebreaker.
Fifth-year Emily Patneaud defeated Khylie Wainwright 7-0 by fall at 131 pounds, followed by a dominating triumph from Nanea Estrealla to push Iowa’s lead to 27-1.
Macey Kilty quickly defeated Dana Cleveland 10-0 by tech fall at 145, and Blades returned to the mat for her second match of the day for the Hawkeyes at 160 pounds, where she faced Rachel Schauer. Blades took a 6-0 lead in just under 15 seconds and steamrolled through the match to claim an 11-0 tech fall win in just under 30 seconds.
Kylie Welker made her first appearance of the day for Iowa at 180 pounds, where she faced Kami Senlycki. Welker dominated from the first whistle, taking an early lead and never looking back as she won 10-0 via tech fall. Sophomore Alivia White finished day one for the Hawkeyes with a win over Rewa Chaboba at 207 pounds after taking an early 4-0 lead, closing out yet another dominant performance by the Hawkeyes.
“The thing that I love about duals is that we get to see how we can support each other as a team,” head coach Clarissa Chun told Hawkeye Sports. “We had a couple of hard losses in the dual against Aurora but we did a good job of being able to move forward and lift each other up.”
Up Next
Iowa women’s wrestling will compete again tomorrow morning in a semifinal dual against McKendree University. The bout is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.
“We fought hard today and were able to build momentum and saw it pay off in the second dual against Wartburg,” Chun said. “We are looking to carry that into tomorrow against a very good McKendree team.”