Jaycee Foeller was always ‘going to work her butt off,’ and Iowa women’s wrestling now reaping rewards

IOWA CITY — Jaycee Foeller scored the point that ensured a National Duals championship for Iowa women’s wrestling.

“Shoot, I'm not even sure if she really knew what that meant,” Iowa Coach Clarissa Chun said this week, looking back at Saturday’s monumental moment in Cedar Falls.

Had Foeller not scored the point, North Central College would have won the national title via a tiebreaker. With the point, Iowa walked away with a 21-20 championship victory.

The point, which came against the second-ranked 191-pound wrestler in the country, was especially significant considering the whirlwind of a week Foeller experienced leading up to Saturday’s championship dual.

Foeller, a two-time transfer, found out less than a week before her crucial title-winning point that she could compete with the Hawkeyes immediately after NCAA rules previously required her to redshirt the 2023-24 season.

“My coaches talked to me a lot about being able to step in if it came up, and luckily it did,” Foeller said.

Foeller participated in individual competitions unattached, but she could not wrestle officially as a Hawkeye while redshirting until the recent rule change.

Chun found out about Foeller’s ability to compete shortly before the Soldier Salute, but Chun “wasn’t going to throw that on her right before” the tournament.

Chun told Foeller the good news last Monday, which prompted a decision that involved “a lot of questioning” for Foeller in the following days.

“If I really should pull my redshirt or if I should just kind of take this as a build-and-adapt year,” Foeller said.

Chun, going back to her time as an assistant coach at USA Wrestling, has emphasized "always being ready.” Foeller has undoubtedly embodied that.

“A lot of people I feel like tend to take a redshirt year as kind of like a relax year,” Foeller said. “I took it as a year to get better.”

Foeller, who has a restaurant job along with her athletic and academic responsibilities, has “always worked hard” and had the “mentality of trying to catch up and be better,” Chun said.

“I knew with her she was always going to work her butt off and challenge herself to be better,” Chun said.

Chun has a long history with Foeller, going back to Foeller’s participation in the USA Wrestling development system. The De Soto, Mo., native almost transferred to Iowa a year earlier after a coaching change at McKendree, where she was an NCWWC runner-up.

Chun was “really wanting to work with her, knowing her work ethic,” but the timing didn’t work out.

“I always had it in my head like, ‘Ugh, how did we let that one go?’” Chun said.

Foeller instead competed at Central Methodist University in 2022-23 and finished second in the NAIA national tournament. She reached out again after her year at Central Methodist, and the Chun-Foeller reunion worked out this time.

“Don’t drop the ball twice,” Chun said.

As Foeller practiced at Iowa while intending to redshirt the past few months, she faced formidable competition. Alivia White — Iowa’s 191-pound wrestler in its early duals — is ranked No. 9 nationally in her weight class despite being a freshman.

“We have great upper weights,” Chun said. “They all make each other better, give each other different looks. … They push each other.”

Along with White, other upper-weight wrestlers for Foeller to compete against include Sam Calkins at 191 pounds and Rose Cassioppi, Kylie Welker and Haley Ward at 170 pounds. Welker is the No. 1 wrestler at 170 pounds, and Ward is the No. 3 wrestler at 170.

“It’s been really good getting different looks in,” Foeller said.

Foeller appears to be Iowa’s go-to wrestler at 191 pounds for the final two months of the 2023-24 season. When Foeller wrestled against White at the Soldier Salute last month in Coralville, Foeller won both times — by a 4-0 decision and a technical fall.

“She’s experienced at the collegiate level,” Chun said of Foeller.

In Foeller’s first weekend competing officially as a Hawkeye, she competed in three of Iowa’s four duals. She pinned her opponents from No. 11 Presbyterian College and No. 3 King University before losing via decision to No. 2 North Central while gaining the crucial match-clinching point.

“They told me that they believed in me and that I can be here, and here I am,” Foeller said as she talked about the decision not to redshirt.

Standing on the same mat where she scored her match-clinching passivity point after Saturday’s duals at the UNI-Dome, Foeller did not seem to have any regrets about that decision.

“100 percent paid off,” Foeller said Saturday, moments after helping the Hawkeyes secure a NWCA National Duals title.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com