3 takeaways for Iowa women’s wrestling from first day of NCWWC national championships

CORALVILLE — New year, new venue, same level of success for Iowa women’s wrestling at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships this week in Coralville.

The Hawkeyes sent 10 of their 15 wrestlers to the semifinals, with the other five losing in the quarterfinals. That’s the same number of semifinalists as last year, when the Hawkeyes ended up winning the team title and six individual titles.

“I am so proud of the efforts our women put in from the morning to this evening,” Iowa Coach Clarissa Chun said. “Put points on the board. They got bonus points, a lot of them in the morning. And then this evening, great effort up and down. Some hard losses, but it didn’t come from a lack of trying by any means.”

Here are some takeaways for Iowa following Friday’s early session:

Hawkeyes have favorable path to team title

Iowa ended Friday’s second session in second place despite going a combined 30-0 in the first two rounds and 10-5 in the quarterfinals:

Iowa’s team score does not prompt too much concern at this point, though, given the Hawkeyes’ relatively favorable path to scoring more points on Saturday.

Iowa has 10 semifinalists, and the other five wrestlers are still alive in the consolation bracket. (In the three weight classes with multiple Hawkeye semifinalists, they would not have to face each other until the final round.)

North Central, on the other hand, has seven semifinalists and another six still in the consolation brackets. McKendree, in a close third place, has seven semifinalists and four wrestlers still in the consolation bracket.

Freshmen continue to show promise

Iowa’s two true freshmen in the NCWWC lineup — Rianne Murphy and Naomi Simon — made strong first impressions in their NCWWC national championship debuts.

“They know how to take care of business and fight and wrestle through everything,” Chun said.

Murphy, one of Iowa’s 103-pound wrestlers, won via a 17-6 tech fall in her first-round bout against Chadron’s Brianna Vollendroff. Then against Wartburg’s Carissa Hersom, Murphy needed only 36 seconds to win via fall.

The Crown Point, Ind., native then advanced to the semifinals with a 10-0 tech fall over King University’s Avery Kibelbek. Her NCWWC success is not much of a surprise after she went 27-3 heading into this week’s action in Coralville.

“She knows how to compete and has that competitive fire in her to get points on the board,” Chun said.

Simon, meanwhile, had pins in the first two rounds as she eased her way to the quarterfinals. She then won by a 9-6 decision against North Central’s Brittyn Corbishley to advance to the semifinals.

“Naomi, oh my gosh, that fight off her back,” Chun said. “That will to say I’m not giving up and I’m coming back. Yeah, you should be afraid of her when she gets back on her feet because she’s going to put points on the board.”

The Decorah native went 33-3 this season ahead of the national championships, with two of the three losses coming to teammate (and reigning national champion) Kylie Welker.

Sterling Dias is on the rise again

Sterling Dias has experienced some ups and downs in 2024-25 — she was 15-8 before the postseason began — but she is clearly wrestling at a high level at a crucial time of the year.

Dias won all three of her bouts on Friday with pins — 39 seconds against Lock Haven’s Summer Batts, 1:57 against Lindenwood’s Sienna Caruso and 1:54 against Colorado Mesa’s Jennesis Martinez.

“It’s Sterling finding herself again,” Chun said. “If anyone knows who Sterling is and what she’s capable of, you are seeing Sterling Dias today.”

She also pinned Wartburg’s Hersom at last month’s regionals. Her only postseason match that didn’t end in a fall was when she defeated her teammate Murphy via an 8-2 decision.

Other notes

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