Iowa women’s wrestling commit Nanea Estrella gets head start competing in front of Hawkeye fans

CORALVILLE — Iowa fans got their first look at Nanea Estrella during USA Wrestling’s 2022 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament on Saturday at Xtream Arena.

The Iowa women’s wrestling commit advanced to the event’s quarterfinals via a 10-0 win over the Utah Valley Regional Training Center’s Hailey Corona.

“Today just felt really special,” Estrella said. “I felt really ready to go and really loaded up. I’m just so pumped that I can just get a little bit of a head start wrestling around this community. I hope they recognize freestyle because it’s a little bit different than folkstyle. But I’m really excited and really pumped up for it.”

Estrella is the No. 1 seed at 59 kilograms in the World Team Trials women’s freestyle bracket. She was automatically awarded a top seed after she won her weight class at the U.S. Open in Las Vegas on April 29.

“I knew this year I wanted to come out with a bang,” Estrella said. “I wanted to do something special. At the same time, I didn’t really know how far I could take myself. Like, what I’ve been saying since the open is, ‘just be delirious.’ That’s my motto. I went in there not thinking much of myself, not thinking I was going to do very well ... I ended up winning it, which is wild.”

Estrella committed to Iowa on April 6. She competed at Menlo College, an NAIA school in Atherton, Calif., during the 2021-22 season.

Estrella said her relationship with Iowa head coach Clarissa Chun played a big role in her decision to transfer. The 130-pounder added that some of the coaches she had as a prep wrestler in Hawaii helped connect her with Chun, who was also born and raised in the state.

“It was a bittersweet decision,” Estrella said. “Once I saw Clarissa was the coach, I decided that I wanted to take a shot on myself ... I decided that it was time for me to change, time for me to grow. I had to take a risk and kinda bet on myself. So, I decided to come to Iowa.”

Estrella’s desire to become one of the nation’s best college wrestlers wasn’t the only thing that led her to Iowa. She feels like wrestling with the Hawkeyes will give her the best chance to succeed on world championship and Olympic stages.

“I’m so ready to grow and be the best athlete I can be under Clarissa and experience everything,” Estrella said. “It’s going to be awesome.”

Estrella will wrestle unattached from the UI in 2022-23. Hawkeye women’s wrestlers will begin competing as a team in 2023-24.

She will wrestle the Spartan Mat Club’s Lexie Basham in the World Team Trials women’s freestyle semifinals Sunday. If Estrella wins the 59-kilogram bracket, she will advance to a Final X tournament in Stillwater, Okla. Final X tournament winners are added to the U.S. national team’s roster.

The U.S. national team will compete in the 2022 Senior World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on Sept. 12-18.