Iowa women’s wrestling achieves familiar postseason success with help of different contributors

INDIANOLA — Not long after taking the top spot on the medal platform during NCWWC Regionals on Saturday, Iowa’s Cali Leng recalled a much different feeling from a year earlier.

“I was watching my teammates compete, and I wanted to be here so bad,” Leng said. “I’ve been dreaming about being in this position since this time last year, and so that really fueled me this summer.”

That seemed to be more than enough motivation as Leng had one pin, two tech falls and a 7-0 decision en route to taking the regional crown at 124 pounds in her postseason debut.

“How she took that and how she performed and competed today was no different than how she’s competed all season,” Iowa Coach Clarissa Chun said. “It’s great. It didn’t take over her. She didn’t put pressure on herself in that way. She just competed.”

It was part of an overall wildly successful day for Iowa, which went 43-5 in Saturday’s national qualifier. Take out the five matches where Iowa teammates were wrestling against each other, and the Hawkeyes were 38-0.

Leng’s individual title also was emblematic of how the Hawkeyes have achieved sustained success with many wrestlers who were not contributors in last year’s national championship run.

Five of the 10 Iowa wrestlers who claimed individual titles — yes, Iowa swept all 10 weight classes — were not part of Iowa’s NCWWC lineup last year. That includes Emmily Patneaud at 131, Nanea Estrella at 138, Macey Kilty at 145 and Kennedy Blades at 160.

Blades and Kilty — two high-profile offseason additions with Olympic backgrounds — have lived up to their billing. Kilty, a two-time U.S. Olympic alternate, went into Saturday’s regional with a 19-0 record. Blades, a 2024 Olympic silver medalist, had a 16-0 record ahead of Saturday’s regional.

Patneaud was on last year’s team, but appeared in only one dual in 2023-24. Estrella had a strong start to the 2023-24 season, but a season-ending injury kept her from contributing to the Hawkeyes’ postseason success.

While not first-place finishers in Iowa’s region (after losing to highly-touted teammates in the finals), Rianne Murphy and Naomi Simon also have made an immediate impact as freshmen and earned spots in the lineup for NCWWC.

As for Leng, her sweet opportunity to contribute in the regional was coupled with the chance to savor how much progress she has made not only in the last year.

When Leng wrestled against Wartburg’s Liannette Ortiz during NWCA National Duals last month, Leng won on criteria. Then on Saturday, she easily defeated Ortiz with a 12-1 tech fall to secure a regional title.

“Showing myself, ‘Yeah, I’ve gotten better in the last month,’” Leng said. “The work I’m doing is — it’s there, it’s showing up.”

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