Iowa women’s wrestling makes statement with rout over Life University in ‘our house’

IOWA CITY — As Lilly Luft took the wrestling mat on Sunday, the Flo Rida hit song “My House” blared from the Carver-Hawkeye Arena speakers.

“Welcome to my house,” the song repeated.

It was a fitting choice considering what Luft was about to do.

The Iowa freshman from Charles City pinned Life University’s Zaynah McBryde, who had defeated Luft a few weeks earlier, in front of several-thousand happy Hawkeye fans.

“She showed her opponent that this is her house,” Iowa Coach Clarissa Chun said. “That was awesome.”

Luft’s pin at 136 pounds put an exclamation point on a statement day for Iowa women’s wrestling as the top-ranked Hawkeyes blew out Life University, 35-6, on Sunday in a dual pitting the top teams in the NCAA and NAIA.

It was the biggest win for any team against Life University since 2018.

“It’s (Luft’s) house,” Iowa’s Kylie Welker said. “It’s our house, too.”

Iowa’s nine match wins came via two pins (by Luft and Brianna Gonzalez), four technical falls and three decisions.

Welker — she went into the match with a mindset of “have fun, let it fly” — made her technical fall look especially easy, racking up 10 points against Life’s Margaret Graham in 23 seconds.

"She’ll end matches fast and then wonder why there wasn’t as much photos or something,“ Chun said of Welker. ”Well, the match was so fast it was over before they could even click it.“

Luft was not the only Hawkeye avenging a past loss to one of Life’s McBryde wrestlers. Iowa’s Reese Larramendy, after losing to Jamilah McBryde, won via a decision.

“We had a really good game plan going into the match,” Larramendy said afterward, “and sticking to it was the biggest thing.”

Life only won one bout — a technical fall by Sarah Savidge against Iowa’s Emily Frost at 130 pounds.

“They really were not taken lightly on our end,” Chun said of Life. “They have strong competitors on their team.”

Iowa cruised to a 42-0 shutout win against Missouri Valley College — Chun’s alma mater — earlier during the Iowa Duals. It was the Hawkeyes’ second shutout dual victory of the season, following their 43-0 win over Lindenwood during the Trailblazer Duals in November.

Like at the Trailblazer Duals a couple months earlier, the Hawkeyes competed in front of a sizable crowd. Iowa had 6,656 scanned tickets for Sunday’s duals, according to a team spokeswoman.

“Play that music too loud,” Luft’s preferred Flo Rida song goes. “Show me what you do now.”

In Luft and the Hawkeyes’ case, what they did was win big. And they did it in their house.

“It was right the song for me,” Luft said.

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