Iowa women’s wrestling claims multiple national championships

· Yahoo Sports

On the second and final day of the two-day inaugural NCAA Women's Wrestling National Championships at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, the Iowa Hawkeyes had three wrestlers claim national titles and one finish as a runner-up.

For the Hawkeyes program, which entered the competition with 10 wrestlers competing across the 10 weight-class divisions, Iowa's Valarie Solorio (103 pounds), Kennedy Blades (160 pounds), and Kylie Welker (180 pounds) were all crowned national champions, while Reese Larramendy (165 pounds) finished as runner-up.

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At 103 pounds, No. 2 Valarie Solorio claimed her first national title by way of two decisive wins to close the tournament. The 5-foot-2 sophomore from Panama City Beach, Florida, pinned No. 6 Trinity Pendergrass (Quincy) in 40 seconds in the semifinals before claiming the championship with a 13-1 technical fall over No. 4 Rayana Sahagun (Grand Valley State).

In the 160-pound division, No. 1 Kennedy Blades claimed her second straight national title on Saturday. The 5-foot-11 senior defeated No. 4 Stella Steigler (King) in a 9-1 decision in the semifinals, before pinning No. 3 Tiffani Baublitz (East Stroudsburg ) in 1:19 to claim the championship match. 

Closing out the trio of national championship-winning Hawkeyes was No. 1 Kylie Welker, who won her third straight national championship at 180 pounds. In her journey to the title, she pinned No. 4 Shenita Lawson (North Central) in 1:53 during the semifinals before earning an 11-0 technical fall over No. 2 Destiny Rodriguez (McKendree) in the finals.

Top-ranked Reese Larramendy finished second at 145 pounds, where she advanced to the finals with a 13-1 technical fall over No. 5 Alexandra Szkotnicki (McKendree), before being defeated by second-seeded and former Hawkeye Bella Mir (North Central) by fall. The 5-foot-7 redshirt-junior is now a three-time All-American, a national title-winner in 2024, and a third-place finisher in 2025. 

As for the five other Hawkeyes wrestlers who participated in Day 2 of the event, No. 5 Nyla Valencia finished fifth in her national tournament debut at 110 pounds, No. 5 Brianna Gonzalez earned third-place at 117 pounds, No. 4 Karlee Brooks finished seventh at 131 pounds, No. 4 Lilly Luft finished fourth at 138 pounds, and No. 5 Katja Osteen earned fourth at 207 pounds.

As a team, the No. 2-ranked Hawkeyes came up just short of claiming the outright team national title, as No. 1 seed McKendree's 171 points finished five points higher than Iowa's 166.

Provided that this is the first year of the NCAA Women's Wrestling National Championships, it is safe to say that the Hawkeyes are well set up for dominance across the sport for years to come under head coach Clarissa Chun.

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