Iowa Women’s Wrestling Recap

It is an exciting time of year for wrestling in Iowa and we are coming down to the final weeks of the college and high-school seasons. The college women are done with the regular season competition and are preparing for nationals. At the high school level, conference finals are complete and we look forward to districts, sectionals, and the state championships at Wells Fargo Arena.

College Women:

The Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) is the national governing body for women’s wrestling at the college level and oversees the sport regardless of NCAA, NJCAA or NAIA division. The WCWA College Nationals will be held in Oklahoma City, February 12-13 and will determine the National Champions and All-Americans. The top 3 finishers in each weight class will also qualify for the Olympic Team Trials to be held April 8-10 in Iowa City.

Missouri Valley College vs. Ottawa University-Ottawa, KS

At the collegiate level, the only Iowan competing this week was Anna Poyner of New Hartford who wrestled at 130 pounds Wednesday night for Missouri Valley College (Marshall, MO). Poyner pinned Marissol Arrendndo to help propel MoVal to a 31-16 dual victory over Ottawa University (Ottawa, KS). There will be no additional collegiate-level competition until the upcoming WCWA College Nationals.

High School Girls:

With the record-setting number of girls wrestling in Iowa we are starting to see some exciting firsts. This week we saw what is believed to be the first-ever varsity dual in Iowa that had two sisters wrestling two brothers. The dual took place at Ballard High School in Huxley and featured Nicole Watters, a 138 pound sophomore from Ballard wrestling Jaden Kampen, a junior from Humboldt. The next match included 145 pound senior, Rachel Watters taking on junior, Jaxen Kampen (Jaden and Jaxen are twin brothers). The Watters-Kampen rivalry ended with a Kampen victory by pin at 138 pounds and a Watters victory by decision at 145 pounds.

Later in the week another exciting first took place in the Upper Iowa Conference. Felicity Taylor a sophomore from South Winneshiek claimed 1^st place at 106 pounds in the conference championship. Taylor’s victory marks the first-ever female wrestling champion in the Upper Iowa Conference.

Felicity Taylor of South Winneshiek-Upper Iowa Conference, 106 Pound Champion (Photo Courtesy of Christa Taylor)

High school highlights since our last update include the following varsity performances:

106:

Felicity Taylor, a sophomore from South Winneshiek picked up 2 pins, a 9-7 decision and a forfeit to go 4-0 for the week. This improved her overall varsity record to 27-17 and her JV record of 1-1 remained the same. Taylor placed first in the Upper Iowa Conference.

113:

Shelby Blake, a freshman from Osage picked up 2 pins to go 2-2 for the week bringing her varsity record to 9-29 for the season.

120:

Athena Moad, a junior from West Burlington/Notre Dame/Danville is a newcomer to the featured varsity performances. Moad worked a first period pin to go 1-2 for the week bringing her varsity record to 7-20 while her JV record remained the same at 1-2.

145:

Rachel Watters, a senior from Ballard picked up a pin, an 18-3 tech fall, a 4-2 OT decision, and her first forfeit of the season to go 4-3 for the week. This improved her varsity record this season to 17-16. Watters placed 5^th in the Raccoon River Conference.

Here are the complete results since our last update:

Wt	First	Last	Gr	School	Class	Weekly Varsity Record	Weekly JV Record	Weekly Results	Overall Varsity Record	Overall JV Record
106	Myla	Mayo	So	Sioux City East	3A		1-3	JV win by 4-3	2-2	3-7
106	Chloe	Krebsbach	Fr	Osage	2A				6-10	1-12
106	Maiah	Williams	Fr	Glenwood	2A				1-0	1-7
106	Mykenzi	Brinkman	Jr	Westwood	1A				11-0
106	Emily	Reis	Sr	Regina	1A	1-4		V win by forfeit	6-18	1-5
106	Felicity	Taylor	So	South Winneshiek	1A	4-0		V wins by F 1:11, F 3:32, 9-7 and forfeit	27-17	1-1
106	Corby	Webb	So	Hudson	1A				3-3
106	Rylee	Zobac	Fr	Starmont	1A				6-5	0-3
113	Britany	Flockhart	Fr	Keokuk	3A		1-1	JV win by F 2:01	2-0	4-7
113	Morgan	Lawson	So	Ottumwa	3A					0-10
113	Courtney	Six	Fr	Fort Madison	3A		2-0	JV wins by F :14 and F 3:55		6-4
113	Shelby	Blake	Fr	Osage	2A	2-2		V wins by F 2:55 and F 1:13	9-29
113	Emma	Cornelison	Fr	Nodaway Valley	1A				4-5	0-2
113	Kendra	Felder	So	Panorama	1A				3-10	0-3
113	Makayla	Patterson	Jr	South Central Calhoun	1A				3-1
120	Grace	Massier	So	Des Moines Roosevelt	3A				1-10	1-7
120	Alanah	Vetterick	So	Norwalk	3A				5-2	4-3
120	Aubrey	McIntryre	Fr	Glenwood	2A				0-1	0-10
120	Athena	Moad	Jr	West Burlington/Notre Dame/Danville	2A	1-2		V win by F 1:00	7-20	1-2
120	Dakota	Selby	Fr	Albia	2A		0-2			1-10
120	Cheyenne	Sedlacek	Sr	WACO	1A	0-3			0-11
126	Kaia	Graham	Fr	Oskaloosa	3A	1-2		V win by forfeit	6-9	1-6
126	Anne	Gadient	So	Cascade	2A				1-4	0-1
126	Soledad	Castaneda	Jr	Riverside	1A	1-0	0-3	V win by forfeit	3-9	0-5
126	Keagan	King	Fr	South Central Calhoun	1A	4-2		V wins by forfeit	18-24	1-2
126	Kaitlynn	Thoreson	Fr	Woodbine	1A				3-12
132	Jolynn	Harris	So	Des Moines Lincoln	3A		0-3		0-6	2-8
132	Karleigh	Shuff	Sr	Indianola	3A					0-5
132	Samantha	Back	Fr	Lisbon	1A				0-2	0-12
132	McKinna	Faulkenberry	So	OA-BCIG	1A				10-15
132	Brittany	Shumate	So	Woodbine	1A	0-3			6-19	0-3
138	Laura	Arroyo-Ganona	Fr	Muscatine	3A					2-7
138	Alisha	Smith	So	Pleasant Valley	3A	0-1	0-3		2-17	2-7
138	Dominique	Mosier	Fr	Clear Creek-Amana	2A				1-3	1-6
138	Brooke	Silence	Sr	Shenandoah	2A					0-4
138	Tammy	Vaughn	Sr	Columbus Community	2A				1-5	0-1
138	Nicole	Watters	So	Ballard	2A	0-3	2-1	JV wins by 10-2 and 1-0	0-3	6-13
145	Jesse	Lorano	So	Denison-Schleswig	3A					0-5
145	Kyla	Devilbliss	Jr	Perry	2A					0-3
145	Ariel	Hellman	Jr	Sheldon/South O’Brien	2A				1-0	2-9
145	Ciana	Sonberg	So	Charles City	2A				1-8	12-6
145	Rachel	Watters	Sr	Ballard	2A	4-3		V wins by F 1:49, TF 18-3, 4-2 OT and a forfeit	17-16
145	Julia	Eshelman	Fr	Nodaway Valley	1A				2-0
145	Alley	Gray	Fr	Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont	1A		0-3		0-4	0-12
145	Larissa	Moore	Jr	North Cedar	1A	0-2			1-18
152	Gabriela	Castillo	Jr	Perry	2A					0-4
152	Tate	Hughes	Fr	Clarinda	2A					1-8
182	Haley	Snyder	So	Northeast Community	2A					0-6
182	Melinda	Collins	Jr	Tipton	1A				3-0	1-18
182	Erica	Halferty	Jr	Wayne	1A					0-2
220	Sadie	Durnan	Fr	Oelwein	2A					0-3
220	Kali	Zufall	Jr	Estherville Lincoln Central	2A		0-3		0-1	0-19

Be sure to follow us on Twitter: @watters_ia and @FEWTeamIowa.

Know of high school, college or senior women’s wrestling info that was missed? Email me at: matt@femaleelitewrestling.org.

Interested in the benefits of wrestling at any age level? Contact Charlotte Bailey of Female Elite Wrestling (FEW) at: coach@femaleelitewrestling.org to find out more.