CORALVILLE, IA — In her final year of eligibility for women’s wrestling, Iowa’s Katja Osteen is determined to keep making her mark on the program. In the case of Sunday’s inaugural For Her Duals, this took the form of a 3-0 showing at Coralville’s Xtream Arena, where the Hawkeyes claimed the title.
“She had three matches today, but she also had five yesterday,” Iowa head coach Clarissa Chun said. “To put [up] back-to-back days of great matches, it shows our women can do great and hard things.”
In Iowa’s first match of the day, slated against Ursinus, Osteen was absent from the Hawkeyes’ lineup, with the Bears forfeiting at 207 pounds. However, the redshirt senior got her chance to make an impact in Iowa’s second match, this one against William Jewell.
Osteen nabbed a 10-0 technical superiority at 207, securing four points for Iowa against William Jewell’s Desiree Hall. The Hawkeyes went on to win, 36-5.
“It’s a lot going from having a couple weeks off to this,” redshirt junior Kylie Welker said. “We really had to bring the energy and I think we did just that. We wrestled well and the energy was high, which was good.”
Iowa’s toughest match of the day came against McKendree, a team that previously placed ahead of Iowa at this year’s NWCA National Duals in January.
The two teams traded points and the lead for several bouts, with the Bearcats capitalizing on a decision win and a 3:36 pin to take a 14-13 lead.
After another 2:26 pin from the Bearcats, Welker got the Hawkeyes back on track with an 11-0 technical superiority, allowing Iowa to lead, 21-19. The outcome was to be finalized by Osteen’s match against Rylee Ferranti.
“Something we’ve been pushing a lot in the room this year is controlling the controllables, and that is something that I have absolutely no control over,” Osteen said. “I have control over how I wrestle, how I come out in that match, my mindset, and if I’m worrying about things outside, I’m not worrying about what I do.”
The Simi Valley, California, native snagged a 5-0 decision win over Ferranti, finalizing Iowa’s score as 24-19, moving the Hawkeyes to the battle for first place against William Penn.
In contrast to the slow burn of the McKendree matchup, Iowa loped to an early tie against William Penn after a pin from freshman Isabella Marie Gonzales at 124 pounds, before taking and strengthening the lead with technical superiorities from Larramendy and redshirt sophomore Karlee Brooks.
“I knew I had it tight,” Gonzales said. “I had her head fully lifted up, both boots in, and I knew that she was stuck. That felt really good, knowing that this wasn’t some luck, but I actually stuck her. That felt really nice.”
After another technical superiority, courtesy of Welker, Osteen stepped up for her final match of the day, this time against William Penn’s Phoebe Burt.
Three minutes and 54 seconds into the match, Osteen chipped in one last 10-0 technical superiority, extending Iowa’s lead to 30-13 and crowning the Hawkeyes outright champions of the inaugural event.
Having been sidelined earlier in the season out of injury concern, Osteen expressed gratitude for the chance to make a difference on a big level.
“Out of all the times in the year to take some time off, I guess it was best to be in the beginning,” Osteen said. “In a way, it lit a fire under me, that I’m not done. I have more to prove, and there’s only so much time to do it.”