DES MOINES — After winning the 2024 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling championship, Iowa second-year women’s wrestler Ava Bayless couldn’t have drawn up a better start to her 2024-25 campaign.
Bayless again established herself as one of the best 110-pound wrestlers in her season debut at the Luther Hill Open, going 4-0 and besting first-year teammate Valarie Solorio to earn her second career open championship as a Hawkeye.
But after this amazing start, Bayless didn’t find the same success in her next two tournaments. The junior fell in the championship bout of both the Missouri Valley Open and the Soldier Salute, leaving a sour taste in her mouth.
But that poor taste was washed away during Saturday’s Grand View Open in Des Moines. Bayless entered the event with the goal of using her past mistakes to motivate herself and take home one more first-place finish before postseason play.
Right off the gate, Bayless used her aggressive attitude and discipline to mow through the opening two rounds of competition, quickly winning both matches in just over two minutes.
“My mentality has always been to just stay in a good stance, stay in a good position, and control the center of the mat,” Bayless said. “Slowly chipping away at the points and constantly trying to score.”
She continued to chip away at points in her quarterfinal and semifinal matchups between Fort Hays State’s Josiah Ortiz and Life’s Dianna Gonzalez. Bayless again won both matches convincingly. She overcame both opponents via technical fault and secured what would be her fourth consecutive championship appearance of the season.
But just like earlier in the season, Bayless would face another similar opponent in Solorio for the championship match.
Facing teammates is often quite common in the world of college women’s wrestling, especially in open competitions. While Bayless and Solorio have trained and competed against one another hundreds of times in the wrestling room, going against an opponent on this stage is never that simple.
“It’s tough and not easy,” Bayless said. “Definitely, you know, just go out there and have fun and the results will happen and take care of themselves. We just wrestle hard and we are just getting better every single day.”
Bayless made the contest a dogfight during the pair’s first official action in November. She muddied up the match and chipped away at points throughout the competition, using the full-time to secure a 5-0 decision victory.
Bayless followed a similar pattern this time to nullify any chance of the upset. Using the same strategy, Bayless made Solorio bring the fight to her while simultaneously collecting points throughout both rounds.
After six grueling minutes, Bayless, again topped Solorio and secured her second open championship of the season.
“She stalks her opponents and takes it one takedown at a time,” Iowa head coach Clarissa Chun said. “That’s Ava. Being able to stack those points up and just wrestle what’s in front of her.”
Even after breaking her first-place drought, Bayless knows these results will have little impact on her and the team’s goals as they approach the 2025 NCWWC Regionals on Feb. 22 in Indianola.
While earning the victory was a nice morale boost, Bayless was more excited to get in extra practice and preparation as she seeks out her second consecutive national championship in the 110-pound weight class.
“It was great to get this tournament right before regionals in a few weeks,” Bayless said. “Just preparing for the postseason and getting some good mat time today was great.”