NCWWC brackets on TrackWrestling

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The big news for NCAA women’s wrestling this season was the announcement by the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics, which recommended that all three NCAA divisions create legislation to make women’s wrestling an official championships sport. If everything goes according to plan, the first official NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships will be held in 2026.

Meanwhile, the coalition which achieved NCAA Emerging Sports status for women’s wrestling and conducts the sport during the regular season will continue to run the national championships for NCAA women, the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCWWC).

The NCWWC returns for a second year to an off-campus venue, the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 8-9. Coming into this year’s nationals, the top two favorites to win the team title are No. 1 North Central College and No. 2 University of Iowa.

In 2023, North Central make history by becoming the first NCAA Div. III institution to win a women’s college national title in wrestling. Going all the way back to the start of women’s college national events in 2004, the only NCAA colleges to win a national title were in NCAA Div. II. A majority of the athletes on North Central’s NCWWC championship team has returned this year.

Iowa is also making history this year, as the first NCAA Div. I Power Five program to compete in women’s college varsity wrestling. The Hawkeyes took a redshirt year in 2022-23, competing only in open tournaments and USA Wrestling events. This year, Iowa started its first official season with a lineup loaded with highly-ranked athletes from two strong recruiting classes.

North Central and Iowa have gone back and forth as the No. 1 ranked team all season, in both the tournament rankings and the dual meet rankings. They had a legendary finals match at the 2024 NWCA NCAA Women’s National Duals, where Iowa edged North Central, 21-20. In a crazy outcome, Iowa won only four of the 10 matches in the dual meet, but every athlete who lost for the Hawkeyes scored one team point by getting at least one technical point in their match.

Wrestling fans are fired up about the prospect of North Central and Iowa going at it again in a tournament format. Both Iowa, the Region 5 champions, and North Central, the Region 4 champions, qualified full 15-athlete teams to compete at the NCWWC. Fans also understand that all of the top five teams are capable of making a run at the title if Iowa and North Central falter.

No 3 King, the Region 2 champion, No. 4 McKendree, the Region 5 runner-up and No. 5 Colorado Mesa, the Region 6 champion, all have strong lineups with athletes capable of making a run to championship finals.

Returning individual champions include Maddie Avila of North Central (101), Jaslyn Gallegos of North Central (109), Cameron Guerin of McKendree, Marlynne Deede of Iowa (155) and Yelena Makoyed of North Central (170).

Ironically, Deede is the only returning champion with a No. 1 seed this year. Deede won her 2023 NCWWC title for Augsburg, and transferred to the Hawkeyes. She won her match at the NWCA All-Star Classic this fall and has taken off from there.

Guerin and Makoyed are both three-time NCWWC champions, aiming to become four-timers. Only two athletes have won four titles, Emily Shilson of Augsburg and Sydnee Kimber of McKendree, both who won their fourth titles last year.

Guerin is seeded No. 2 behind Marie Victoria Baez Dilone of King, who was a junior college national champion at Umpqua CC last year, and competes internationally for Spain.

Makoyed was the USA Wrestling Women’s College Wrestler of the Year last season, with an undefeated season. She is No. 2 seed behind Kylie Welker of Iowa, a past U20 World champion and a Senior World Team member.

Gallegos, who is down a weight from last year when she won the national title at 116, has the No. 3 seed at 109. Avila is also a No. 3 seed this year going into nationals.

The big news this week is that two-time NCWWC National champion and 2023 Senior World Team member Emma Bruntil of McKendree scratched from the tournament, a big blow to McKendree’s hopes to make a run at the team title. Bruntil lost in the Region 5 finals to Iowa’s Reese Larramendy, 4-2. Larramendy is the No. 2 seed this week. Bruntil has had injury issues in the past, and returned to college this year after focusing on international wrestling the last few years.

Other past NCWWC champions in the field are 2020 champion Pauline Granados of McKendree (109),2021 champion Alara Boyd of North Central (143) and 2021 champion Felicity Taylor of Iowa (116).

Boyd was a previous star for McKendree and was out of the college scene, but came back this season and is a leader on the North Central team. Boyd is the No. 1 seed ahead of Larramendy.

Taylor is the No. 4 seed, and is behind teammate and No. 3 seed Brianna Gonzalez, who defeated her in the Region 5 finals, 9-3. Taylor is a past Senior National Team member, earning a spot in Final X. Granados does not even have a top four seed.

Other No. 1 seeds in the tournament are Emilie Gonzalez of Iowa (101), Kendra Ryan of North Central (109), Samara Chavez of King (116), Shelby Moore of McKendree (123), Yele Aycock of North Central (136) and Traeh Haynes of North Central (191).

What makes this tournament special this year is that it is a qualifier for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Wrestling at Penn State, April 19-20. The champion in each of the 10 weight classes advances to the Trials. If the champion is already qualified, there will not be any athletes qualifying from that weight class.

Many of the women in this tournament are already among the nation’s best wrestlers on the Senior level and have already qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

Of those already mentioned, Chavez, Ryan, Moore, Guerin, Welker, Makoyed, Deede have qualified for the Olympic Trials, as have Kaelani Shufeldt of Lock Haven, Sydney Petzinger of North Central, Amani Jones of North Central, Alexis Janiak of Aurora and Aine Drury of King.

Besides North Central, King and Colorado Mesa, the other regional champions were Sacred Heart (Region 1) and Tiffin (Region 3)

This will be the fifth NCWWC Nationals events. The only other team besides North Central to win is McKendree, which won the first three national titles (2020, 2021, 2022).

In the history of women’s college wrestling, the NCAA schools which have won national titles when the event included NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA athletes are King, which won WCWA titles four times (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) and Simon Fraser (2013).

Event Schedule

(Central Time Zone)

Friday, March 8

10:35 a.m. - Opening Ceremonies

11:00 a.m. – First Round

4:00 p.m. – Quarterfinals and Consolations

Saturday, March 9

11:00 a.m. – Semifinals, Consolation Semifinals and medal matches (3^rd, 5^th, 7^th place)

6:30 p.m. – Parade of All-Americans

7:00 p.m. – Championship finals

North Central, Iowa are favored at NCWWC Nationals for NCAA women in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 8-9

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