In very few places across the country is wrestling more important and more a part of the popular culture than right here in Iowa. It is an exciting time of year with wrestling in full swing, but it is especially exciting to see the rapid growth among the ranks of our female athletes.
With the addition of two wrestlers to the rosters since our last update, Iowa is up to 91 girls wrestling on their High School teams with at least one more getting weight-certified this coming week. At 91 wrestlers, that is a 38% increase over last year’s record of 66 female participants!
We are looking forward to the day when IAwrestle can report that we have surpassed 100 wrestlers competing on high school teams, in the state of Iowa. Regardless of when that day comes, we will continue to bring you timely updates throughout the season.
College & Senior Women:
U.S. Senior Nationals, December 17 – 18, Las Vegas, NV
Three Iowa women competed December 17th & 18th at the U.S. Senior Nationals in Las Vegas with two seeking to qualify for the Senior World Team Trials to be held April 27th-29th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
58 kg/128 pounds
Megan Black of Batavia is a Junior wrestling for McKendree University of Lebanon, IL. Black is a 2014 WCWA All-American and is ranked #2 at 123 pounds in the WCWA College Rankings (December 6). Black is also ranked #5 at 55 kg/121 pounds in the USA Wrestling Senior Women’s Freestyle Rankings (November 16).
Black, who was seeking to qualify for the Senior World Team Trials, opened the tournament with a 7-11 loss by decision to #4 ranked (USA Wrestling-60 kg/132 pounds) Areana Villaescusa of Army-WCAP. She followed that up with an 8-0 win over Charline Hagemaster of Emmanuel College/LWC. In her next match, Black faced fellow Iowan, #7 ranked (USA Wrestling-58 kg/128 pounds) Lauren Louive of the Hawkeye Wrestling Club and gave up a 6-9 loss by decision. In her final match of the day, Black notched a 12-2 techfall win over #10 ranked (USA Wrestling-53 kg/116.5 pounds) Shelby Morrison of Oklahoma City University/Aries Wrestling Club. Black finished 7th for the tournament and earned a qualifying spot for the Senior World Team Trials!
Lauren Louive of Massilon, Ohio and currently residing in Iowa City, wrestled for University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, KY from 2008-2013. She is a 4-time WCWA All-American and current volunteer Assistant Wrestling Coach at Cornell College (Mount Vernon, IA). Louive was a 2012 Senior Pan American Silver Medalist at 67 kg and is currently ranked #7 (USA Wrestling-58 kg/128 pounds). Louive is training out of the Hawkeye Wrestling Club in Iowa City.
Louive, who was also seeking to qualify for the Senior World Team Trials, began the day with a 0-10 techfall loss to #1 ranked (WCWA 136 pounds)/ #3 ranked (USA Wrestling-58 kg/128) Kayla Miracle of Campbellsville University/Sunkist Kids. Louive followed that up with a 9-6 win by decision over fellow Iowan #5 ranked (USA Wrestling-55 kg/121 pounds) Megan Black and a 0-11 techfall loss to #2 ranked (USA Wrestling-58 kg/128 pounds) Randi Beltz of Titan Mercury. Louive finished the day with a win by forfeit over Trinity Griffin of Sunkist Kids. Louive finished 5th for the tournament and also earned a qualifying spot for the Senior World Team Trials!
69 kg/152 Pounds
Rachel Watters of Ankeny is a freshman at Oklahoma City University and is the current UWW Junior Freestyle National Champion (Body Bar) and UWW Junior World Team member at 72 kg. Watters is ranked #5 at 155 pounds in the WCWA College Rankings (December 6). Watters is also ranked #6 at 69 kg/152 pounds in the USA Wrestling Senior Women’s Freestyle Rankings (November 16).
Watters began the tournament with a 7-3 win over #8 ranked (WCWA-155 pounds) Andrea Sennett of McKendree University. In her second match, Watters gave up a 0-11 techfall loss to #1 ranked (WCWA-155 pounds)/#1 ranked (USA Wrestling-69 kg/152 pounds) Tamyra Mensah of Wayland Baptist/Titan Mercury. Watters sustained an injury during the match and gave up injury forfeits for her remaining two matches taking 6th for the day. Watters qualified for the Senior World Team Trials at Body Bar (Junior World Team Trials) last May as well as the NYAC/Bill Farrell Memorial International Tournament (November 10)!
Be sure to root on Iowa’s collegiate women January 5-6 at the NWCA (National Wrestling Coaches Association) Multi Divisional National Duals in Fort Wayne, IN.
High School Girls:
Highlights from our High School girls since our last update include a couple impressive 106 pound varsity wrestlers from Eastern Iowa:
Tateum Park, a freshman from Davenport North, went 1-1 in week #3 which included a nice second-period win by fall (2:50). In week #4, Park went 2-0 notching a first-period fall (1:50) and a forfeit. Park’s varsity record improved to 14-6 for the season and her JV record stands at 1-0.
Alaina Sunlan, a freshman from Monticello captured a first-period fall at 1:29 to go 1-1 in week #3 of competition. In week #4, Sunlan picked up two additional first-period falls (0:31, 1:24) to go 2-1 at varsity for the week. Sunlan’s varsity record improved to 6-6 for the season and her JV record sits at 2-3.
Alaina Sunlan of Monticello, 106 pounds. Photo by Casey Reyner.
Here are the complete results since the start of the season:
| Wt | First | Last | Gr | School | Class | District | Weekly Varsity Record | Weekly JV Record | Weekly Results | Overall Varsity Record | Overall JV Record | Total Forfeits |
| 106 | Jade | Bitting | So | Southeast Polk | 3A | 1 | ||||||
| 106 | Tateum | Park | Fr | Davenport North | 3A | 6 | 2-0 | V wins by fall 1:50 & a forfeit | 14-6 | 1-0 | 3 | |
| 106 | Chloe | Clemons | Fr | Center Point-Urbana | 2A | 1 | 6-2 | 3-3 | 3 | |||
| 106 | Elizabeth | Amigon | Jr | Columbus Community | 2A | 2 | 1-0 | 0 | ||||
| 106 | Kenzie | Shackelford | Fr | Clarinda | 2A | 3 | 1-3 | JV win by fall in 5:49 | 1-4 | |||
| 106 | Alaina | Sunlin | Fr | Monticello | 2A | 6 | 2-1 | V wins by fall in 0:31 & 1:24 | 6-6 | 2-3 | 1 | |
| 106 | Ali | Gerbracht | Fr | AGWSR | 1A | 2 | 5-4 | 2-0 | 4 | |||
| 106 | Katie | Julius | Jr | St. Edmond | 1A | 2 | 1-3 | V win by forfeit | 1-3 | 1 | ||
| 106 | Kaitlyn | Guy | Fr | Woodbine | 1A | 3 | 0-5 | |||||
| 106 | Hannah | Payne | Fr | South Central Calhoun | 1A | 3 | 3-12 | 3 | ||||
| 106 | Shae | Muecke | So | Kingsley-Pierson | 1A | 4 | 6-3 | 0-3 | 6 | |||
| 106 | Felicity | Taylor | Jr | South Winneshiek | 1A | 6 | 10-3 | 6 | ||||
| 106 | Gracie | Bluml | Fr | Riverside Oakland | 1A | 7 | ||||||
| 113 | Hannah | Perkins | Fr | Ankeny | 3A | 1 | ||||||
| 113 | Autumn | Sharp | Fr | Boone | 3A | 3 | 2-0 | 2 | ||||
| 113 | Myla | Mayo | Jr | Sioux City East | 3A | 4 | 1-2 | JV win by forfeit | 1-2 | 1 | ||
| 113 | Yan | Chen | Jr | Iowa City, City High | 3A | 5 | 0-3 | 0-3 | ||||
| 113 | Morgan | Lawson | Jr | Ottumwa | 3A | 5 | 0-2 | 0-4 | ||||
| 113 | Courtney | Six | So | Fort Madison | 3A | 5 | 0-4 | |||||
| 113 | McKenzee | Kempker | Fr | Burlington | 3A | 6 | 1-1 | 1 | ||||
| 113 | Britany | Flockhart | So | Keokuk | 2A | 2 | ||||||
| 113 | Chloe | Krebsbach | So | Osage | 2A | 4 | 3-6 | |||||
| 113 | Corby | Webb | Jr | Aplington-Parkersburg-GC | 2A | 4 | ||||||
| 113 | Dakotah | Selby | So | Albia | 2A | 5 | 5-0 | V wins by forfeit | 7-3 | 7 | ||
| 113 | Kim | Hendrian | Jr | Roland-Story | 2A | 8 | 2-4 | 4-4 | 2 | |||
| 113 | Sam | Brown | Jr | St. Edmond | 1A | 2 | 0-1 | 0-1 | ||||
| 113 | Mykenzi | Brinkman | Sr | Westwood | 1A | 3 | ||||||
| 113 | Emma | Cochran | So | Moravia | 1A | 5 | 1-0 | 1 | ||||
| 113 | Nayely | Martinez | Fr | Riverside Oakland | 1A | 7 | 3-0 | 3 | ||||
| 120 | Annatastacia | Larpenter | So | Des Moines Lincoln | 3A | 1 | 0-4 | 0-6 | ||||
| 120 | Chloe | Pearson | Fr | Des Moines Lincoln | 3A | 1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-11 | |||
| 120 | Chloey | Santee | So | Cedar Rapids Jefferson | 3A | 2 | ||||||
| 120 | Camrae | Schakel | Fr | Nevada | 3A | 3 | 1-1 | |||||
| 120 | Amaya | Graham | So | Oskaloosa | 3A | 5 | 3-3 | |||||
| 120 | Brittany | Ferrell-Harris | So | Des Moines East | 3A | 7 | 1-0 | V win by forfeit | 1-0 | 3-3 | 1 | |
| 120 | Shelby | Blake | So | Osage | 2A | 4 | 0-1 | 2-6 | 0-7 | 2 | ||
| 120 | Mollie | Greve | So | Colfax-Mingo | 1A | 5 | 4-5 | 4 | ||||
| 120 | Sarah | Moorman | Fr | Wayne | 1A | 5 | 3-4 | 3 | ||||
| 126 | Alanah | Vetterick | Jr | Norwalk | 3A | 1 | 4-7 | |||||
| 126 | Natasha | Rojas | Fr | Muscatine | 3A | 6 | 0-1 | 0-6 | ||||
| 126 | Grace | Massier | Jr | Des Moines Roosevelt | 3A | 7 | ||||||
| 126 | Kennadi | Colbert | Fr | Clear Lake | 2A | 8 | 1-0 | JV win by fall in 3:09 | 2-5 | 1 | ||
| 126 | Keona | Ries | Fr | Algona | 2A | 8 | ||||||
| 126 | Emily | Thomason | Fr | Dike-New Hartford | 1A | 1 | 0-4 | |||||
| 126 | Grace | Meier | Jr | Alta-Aurelia | 1A | 4 | 1-0 | V win by forfeit | 1-0 | 1 | ||
| 126 | Kyla | Lampman | So | Colfax-Mingo | 1A | 5 | 6-5 | 6 | ||||
| 132 | Eh | Ku Ku | Sr | Des Moines Lincoln | 3A | 1 | 0-9 | |||||
| 132 | January | Paw | Sr | Des Moines Lincoln | 3A | 1 | 0-1 | 1-8 | ||||
| 132 | Kaia | Graham | So | Oskaloosa | 3A | 5 | ||||||
| 132 | Alex | Chapman | Fr | Pleasant Valley | 3A | 6 | 0-1 | 0-5 | ||||
| 132 | Shelby | Lee | So | Pleasant Valley | 3A | 6 | ||||||
| 132 | Alisha | Smith | Jr | Pleasant Valley | 3A | 6 | ||||||
| 132 | Aziza | Bell | So | Des Moines East | 3A | 7 | ||||||
| 132 | Katie | Johnson | Fr | Waukee | 3A | 7 | 0-8 | |||||
| 132 | Matti | Pladsen | Jr | Waukon | 2A | 1 | 2-1 | V wins by forfeit | 4-13 | 3 | ||
| 132 | Kyla | Devilbiss | Sr | Perry | 2A | 3 | 1-0 | 0-4 | 1 | |||
| 132 | Cailee | Henning | Jr | West Fork Sheffield | 1A | 2 | ||||||
| 132 | Sheyenne | Jochims | Fr | Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto | 1A | 3 | 2-4 | 0-6 | 2 | |||
| 132 | Madison | Kafton | So | Westwood | 1A | 3 | ||||||
| 132 | Keagan | King | So | South Central Calhoun | 1A | 3 | 3-3 | 2 | ||||
| 132 | Brittany | Shumate | Jr | Woodbine | 1A | 3 | 2-10 | 1 | ||||
| 138 | Jolynn | Harris | Jr | Des Moines Lincoln | 3A | 1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 3-0 | |||
| 138 | Donny | Bradburn | So | Dubuque Hempstead | 3A | 2 | 2-1 | |||||
| 138 | Alyssa | Zinke | Fr | Clinton | 3A | 2 | 1-4 | |||||
| 138 | Allison | Aguilar | Fr | Sioux City West | 3A | 4 | ||||||
| 138 | Hope | Johnson | So | Urbandale | 3A | 7 | ||||||
| 138 | Dominique | Mosier | So | Clear Creek-Amana | 2A | 2 | 2-6 | |||||
| 138 | Soledad | Castaneda | Sr | Riverside Oakland | 1A | 7 | ||||||
| 145 | Jocelyn | Hernandez | Sr | LeMars | 3A | 3 | 1-4 | |||||
| 145 | Jesse | Lo | Jr | Denison-Schleswig | 3A | 4 | ||||||
| 145 | Sarah | True | Sr | AHSTW | 1A | 7 | 0-2 | |||||
| 152 | Emma | Cockerham | Sr | Ankeny | 3A | 1 | 0-1 | |||||
| 152 | Gabby | Swarts | So | Des Moines North Hoover | 3A | 1 | ||||||
| 152 | Eden | Highland | Fr | Nevada | 3A | 3 | 0-4 | |||||
| 152 | Zowie | Strough | So | Perry | 2A | 3 | ||||||
| 152 | Ciana | Sonberg | Jr | Charles City | 2A | 4 | 3-0 | |||||
| 152 | Nicole | Watters | Jr | Ballard | 2A | 4 | ||||||
| 152 | Leila | Seaton | So | Roland-Story | 2A | 8 | 0-5 | |||||
| 152 | Teodora | Leopold | Jr | Starmont | 1A | 6 | ||||||
| 160 | Sabina | Halleman | Sr | Tipton | 1A | 8 | ||||||
| 170 | Ashley | Blackwood | Fr | Davenport North | 3A | 6 | ||||||
| 170 | Liliana | Garcia | Sr | Davenport Central | 3A | 6 | ||||||
| 170 | Shelby | Wilke | Jr | Northeast Community | 2A | 6 | 1-0 | 0-2 | 1 | |||
| 170 | Erica | Halferty | Sr | Wayne | 1A | 5 | 1-0 | 0-4 | 1 | |||
| 182 | Annette | Casino | So | Northwood-Kensett | 1A | 2 | ||||||
| 195 | Aliya | Gurganus | Fr | Ames | 3A | 3 | 0-3 | |||||
| 195 | Kimberly | Valdez | Jr | Perry | 2A | 3 | ||||||
| 195 | Haley | Snyder | Jr | Northeast Community | 2A | 6 | 0-1 | |||||
| 220 | Kali | Zufall | Sr | Estherville Lincoln Central | 2A | 7 | 1-3 | |||||
| 220 | Rachel | Dreeszen | Sr | Kingsley-Pierson | 1A | 4 | 0-2 | |||||
| 220 | Julia | Smith | Jr | Griswold | 1A | 7 | 2-5 | 0-3 | 2 |
SDSU Bonofide Intensive Girl’s Camp w/Women’s National Team Coach, Terry Steiner
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the South Dakota State University Girls Intensive Wrestling Camp June 11-17 at SDSU in Brookings, SD. The camp will be run by USA Wrestling Women’s National Team Coach, Terry Steiner and SDSU Head Coach, Chris Bono. These coaches are highly respected leaders in the wrestling community who have stepped up to support the growth of wrestling and the growth of girls wrestling. They are creating opportunities for our wrestlers to receive solid coaching and see exponential growth in technique, mindset, and the fundamentals of wrestling.
Full details are available here. The camp brochure is available here.
For updates, be sure to follow us on Twitter: @watters_ia, @FewTeamIowa, and @IAwrestle!
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.