CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – On Friday night, second-place Iowa knew it had a difficult road to win the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships. The Hawkeyes trailed returning champion North Central by 14.5 points. North Central had the edge on semifinalists, 11 to 10, and had more All-Americans, 14 to 12.

But there were five head-to-head semifinal matches where Iowa could take its fate into its own hands.

With a historic run of clutch wrestling, before a loud and supportive Iowa fan base, Coach Clarissa Chun’s Hawkeye won all five of their semifinals matches over North Central, and had a 23.5 lead over North Central, 175.5 to. 152.

It started right at 101 pounds, with No. 1 seed Emilie Gonzalez and No. 2 seed Sterling Dias getting wins. Dias scored a second-period takedown over returning NCWWC champion Madison Avila of North Central, for a clutch 3-2 win.

Ava Bayless of Iowa tossed returning NCWWC champion Jaslynn Gallegos to her back and came through with a 5-2 win at 109 pounds. On the other mat, Kaelani Shufeldt of Lock Haven stunned top-seed Kendra Ryan for a pin in 3:53 at 109.

At 116 pounds, Iowa swept both semifinals, with a key 10-1 decision by Brianna Gonzalez over North Central’s Sydney Petzinger of North Central. On the other mat, after trailing much of the match, 2021 NCWWC national champion Felicity Taylor fired up the crowd with a stunning pin of No. 1 seed Samara Chavez in 5:58.

In the middle weights, Iowa and North Central went back and forth with which team was leading in the team score at the time. With two more matches left in the upper weights, Iowa had a chance to take control, and it did.

At 155, returning national champion and top-seed Marlynne Deede scored a 10-0 technical all over London Houston. But the biggest win of the streak came at 191-pounds, where Jaycee Foeller pinned No. 1 seed Traeh Haynes of North Central in 42 seconds, blowing up the partisan crowd.

In all, Iowa placed nine of their 10 semifinalists into the finals, and will have two matches where Iowa teammates will compete for the national title. North Central put three of their 11 semifinalists into the finals. King, which moved up into third place close to North Central, has five in the finals.

The two three-time NCWWC national champions have reached the finals, Cameron Guerin of McKendree at 130 and Yelena Makoyed of North Central at 170.

The lead that Iowa took in the semifinals disappeared during the consolation rounds, which went all the way through to the third, fifth and seventh place matches. With more athletes competing on the backside, and some strong performances by the Cardinal wrestlers, North Central led the standings with 193.5 points, with Iowa in second with 176.5 points and King in third with 157.5 points. Based upon scoring, Iowa has a chance to win the tournament with a very strong finals round.

The finals are set for 7:00 p.m. CT, live on FloWrestling

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE WOMEN’S WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 9

Finals pairings

101 - Emilie Gonzalez (Iowa) vs. Sterling Dias (Iowa)

109 - Kaelani Shufeldt (Lock Haven) vs. Ava Bayless (Iowa)

116 - Felicity Taylor (Iowa) vs. Brianna Gonzalez (Iowa)

123 - Virginia Foard (King) vs. Amani Jones (North Central)

130 - Maria Victoria Baez Dilone (King) vs Cameron Guerin (McKendree University)

136 - Yele Aycock (North Central) vs. Claire DiCugno (King)

143 - Aine Drury (King) vs. Reese Larramendy (Iowa)

155 - Marlynne Deede (Iowa) vs. Cheyenne Bowman (King)

170 - Kylie Welker (Iowa) vs. Yelena Makoyed (North Central)

191 - Jaycee Foeller (Iowa) vs. Sandra Guerrero (New Jersey City University)

Semifinals results

101

Emilie Gonzalez (Iowa) dec. Lizette Rodriguez (McKendree University), 6-3

Sterling Dias (Iowa) dec. Madison Avila (North Central), 3-2

109

Kaelani Shufeldt (Lock Haven University) pin Kendra Ryan (North Central), 3:53

Ava Bayless (Iowa) dec. Jaslynn Gallegos (North Central), 5-2

116

Felicity Taylor (Iowa) pin Samara Chavez (King University), 5:58

Brianna Gonzalez (Iowa) dec. Sydney Petzinger (North Central), 10-1

123

Virginia Foard (King University) tech fall Shelby Moore (McKendree University), 11-0

Amani Jones (North Central) pin Montana Delawder (King University), 5:26

130

Maria Victoria Baez Dilone (King University) dec. Sara Sterner (North Central), 7-4

Cameron Guerin (McKendree University) tech fall Alexis Janiak (Aurora), 12-1

136

Yele Aycock (North Central) dec. Jade Trolland (Simon Fraser University), 6-1

Claire DiCugno (King University) dec. Viktorya Torres (McKendree University), 10-2

143

Aine Drury (King University) dec. Alara Boyd (North Central), 7-4

Reese Larramendy (Iowa) tech. fall Maddie Kubicki (Presbyterian),

155

Marlynne Deede (Iowa) tech. fall London Houston (North Central), 10-0

Cheyenne Bowman (King University) dec. Bella Mir (Iowa), 6-0

170 semifinals

Kylie Welker (Iowa) tech. fall Kami Senlycki (Wartburg), 10-0

Yelena Makoyed (North Central) tech. fall Tristan Kelly (McKendree University), 13-3

191

Jaycee Foeller (Iowa) pin Traeh Haynes (North Central), 0:42

Sandra Guerrero (New Jersey City University) pin Alexa Garcia (King University), 8-1

Standings leading into finals

1 North Central, 193.5

2 Iowa, 176.5

3 King, 157.5

4 McKendree, 102.0

5 Colorado Mesa, 68.5

6 Sacred Heart, 61.0

7 Lock Haven, 59.0

8 Presbyterian, 50.5

9 Mount Olive, 39.5

10 Wisconsin Stevens Point, 38.0

11 Aurora, 35.0

12 East Stroudsburg, 33.5

13 Simon Fraser, 33.5

14 Emmanuel, 33.0

15 Adrian, 27.5

Update: Iowa wins NCWWC Nationals semifinals, but North Central leads heading into finals

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