Iowa Women's Wrestling 2025 Final Notes

ON THE MAT

The University of Iowa women's wrestling team finished the 2024-25 season going 19-0 in duals and captured its second straight NCWWC National Championship. The Hawkeyes had three individual national champions and 15 all-Americans. The program had 11 NWCA Scholar All-Americans.

RECAPPING 2025 NCWWC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The University of Iowa women’s wrestling team finished the 2025 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Tournament with three champions and 15 All-Americans. The Hawkeyes brought home their second straight team title with 201.5 total points, finishing 20.5 points ahead of North Central College.

Top-ranked Macey Kilty (145), Kennedy Blades (160) and Kylie Welker (180) brought home individual national championships at their respective weight classes. Blades was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler.

ALL-AMERICAN HAWKEYES

The Hawkeyes finished the NCWWC tournament with all15 national qualifiers earning all-American honors.

101 - Rianne Murphy (3rd), Sterling Dias (4th), 110 - Ava Bayless (4th), Emilie GOnzalez (5th), 117 - Brianna Gonzalez (5th), 124 - Cali Leng (7th), 131 - Emmily Patneaud (6th), 138 - Nanea Estrella (3rd), 145 - Macey Kilty (1st), Reese Larramendy (3rd), 160- Kennedy Blades (1st), 180- Kylie Welker (1st), Naomi Simon (3rd), 207 - Jaycee Foeller (2nd), Alivia White (4th)

THREE HEADED BEAST NAMED KILTY, BLADES AND WELKER

The Hawkeyes had three undefeated wrestlers in the 2024-25 season. Senior Macey Kilty is 28-0 at 145 pounds with 20 victories via tech. fall. At 160, Kennedy Blades was 25-0 with 23 tech. falls. and two pins. Redshirt-sophomore Kylie Welker was 28-0 at 180 pounds and did not surrender a point all season. She had 21 victories by tech. fall and six pins.

Going a combined 80-0, Blades, Kilty and Welker outscored their opponents 693-18 and only eight matches went into the second period.

All three of wrestlers were named finalists for the USA Wrestling’s Women’s College Wrestler of the Year.

BLADES OF GLORY

Junior Kennedy Blades took the collegiate wrestling scene by storm in her first season at Iowa. Coming off of a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she put on a show for the Iowa fans going 25-0 with a 100% bonus rate.

Blades was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the 2025 Soldier Salute and the NCWWC National Championships.

The junior brought home women’s wrestling top honor by being named the 2025 USA Wrestling Women’s College Wrestler of the Year award.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Hawkeyes hosted The Iowa Duals in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Nov. 16. They defeated Cornell College, 47-0, and No. 25 William Jewell, 43-3. Iowa played host to Augustana and No. 4 Grand Valley State on Jan. 18. The Hawkeyes picked up two wins defeating the Vikings 44-1 and the Lakers 35-7.

Iowa is a perfect 9-0 inside of Carver-Hawkeye Arena since the start of the program in 2023.

UNDEFEATED ON THE MAT

For the second straight season, the Hawkeyes went undefeated in dual competition going 19-0 during the 2024-25 season. Iowa had 11 wins over ranked opponents. In the program’s two seasons they are 35-0 in duals.

FRESHMEN MAKING AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT

The Hawkeyes brought in a highly-touted freshman class for 2024. Rianne Murphy (103 lbs) and Naomi Simon (180 lbs) secured titles in back-to-back weekends to start the season. Val Solorio (110 lbs) reached the finals at the Luther Hill Open but fell to teammate and No. 1 ranked Ava Bayless. She went on to capture third at the Eagle Madness Open. Cadence Diduch captured the 138 lbs. title at the Soldier Salute to close out 2024.

Simon and Murphy finished the season ranked in their respective weight classes and were the only two freshmen in the postseason lineup for the Hawkeyes. In duals the freshmen duo went 18-0. Both earned all-American honors after third place finishes at the NCWWC National Championships.

REGION VII CHAMPIONS

The Hawkeyes had all 15 regional participants qualify for the nationals. Iowa claimed the Region VII title, racking up 192 team points. Iowa had 15 student-athletes reach the finals, finishing with champions at all 10 weight classes. On the mat, the Hawkeyes went 43-5, with the five losses being head-to-head matchups in the championship round. Iowa didn’t surrender a single match point through the quarterfinal round.

Region VII champions include Sterling Dias, Ava Bayless, Brianna Gonzalez, Cali Leng, Emmily Patneuad, Nanea Estrella, Macey Kilty, Kennedy Blades, Kylie Welker and Jaycee Foeller.

ROSTER BREAKDOWN

• The Iowa roster is comprised of 32 student-athletes with 21 of them being returners and 11 newcomers.

• The breakdown of the roster is nine freshmen, 15 sophomores, three juniors, three seniors, one fifth year and one graduate student. Each class does include redshirt designations

• The Iowa reach is nationwide as 17 states are represented on the roster. The most represented state being California with six. Four Hawkeyes hail from Iowa.

• Iowa graduates Allie Baudhuin, Nanea Estrella, Jaycee Foeller, Macey Kilty and Emmily Patneaud from the 2024-25 roster.

THE SUMMER OF THE HAWKEYES

Iowa will continue to be represented on the national and international stage this summer at the following events:

USMC Women’s National Championships

2025 U23 Pan American Championships Team - Ava Bayless (50kg)

2025 US Open - April 22-26 - Las Vegas, Nevada

2025 Senior World Team Trials Challenge - May 16-17 - Louisville, Kentucky

Final X - June 15 - Newark, New Jersey

2025 U20 Pan American Championships - July 10-12 - Lima, Peru

2025 U20 World Championships - August 18-24- Sofia, Bulgaria - Naomi Simon (76kg)