Iowa’s Nanea Estrella battles through a mountain of challenges on her way back to the mat

IOWA CITY — Nanea Estrella says she is not where she was before, but she’s working at it.

The Iowa women’s wrestling senior — whose 2023-24 season was cut short due to injury — has returned to the mat for the top-ranked Hawkeyes and judging from her performance over the past two weekends, it’s difficult to find any shortcomings.

“There has been a lot of challenges,” Estrella said after posting a pin and a technical fall at 138 pounds in Iowa’s lopsided wins over Cornell College (47-0) and No. 25 William Jewell (43-3) at the Iowa Duals before 4,810 fans Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “Just working through multiple injuries and trying to find the right mindset to be able to come back and just getting stronger.”

At the start of last year’s debut season for the Iowa women’s wrestling program, Estrella was one of just two Hawkeyes ranked by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Less than two months later, her season abruptly ended when she tore the Lisfranc ligament in her left foot at the 2023 Senior Nationals in Texas.

“It’s been really tough,” Estrella said. “It has come with a bunch of pain and a bunch of tears, but also with a lot more strength and being able to find my power again and find the explosiveness from my feet again.”

Rehabilitation involved relearning how to walk, how to run, and become accustomed to putting pressure on her feet via a litany of challenging leg and foot exercises. The injury and rehabilitation compounded a rough second half of 2023 for Estrella, a native of Makawao, Hawaii. Just as she was set to fly to Iowa to begin the 2023-24 academic year, wildfires began to wreak havoc on the island of Maui, affecting the lives of her family and friends.

Estrella donated a sizable portion of her clothing and belongings before leaving for Iowa, then organized on-campus donation and fundraising efforts to continue the effort. Following the injury, she focused on being the best teammate she could be.

“I knew that I couldn’t really focus on putting my efforts into the mat,” Estrella said. “I shifted my focus to try and stay engaged in school and just try to do healthy things for my mind and taking away from competition. I couldn’t compete, but I could be there for my team in ways that I couldn’t before. I was able to watch, show up, support, yell, scream, be the loudest, most annoying person out there. Just be able to be there for them.”

Estrella — currently ranked fifth at 138 — returned to competition last week in Georgia. In duals against two ranked NAIA schools, she posted a pin and a technical fall. The following day at the Eagle Madness Open, Estrella won all four of her matches — two by pin and two by technical fall — and won the 138-pound title.

“I see growth,” Iowa Coach Clarissa Chun said. “She has grown from last year to this year, as far as her patience. Her injury last December was not a new injury she sustained. She had a very similar injury on the other side of that. When it happened, it was pretty devastating to think she had to go through that again. But she was very smart and diligent in her comeback of not trying to rush it and being patient and it pretty much transferred how she presents herself on the mat. Today may have looked a little different because she was just freight-training through her double-leg (takedowns), which was awesome. But in previous throughout the season, you can see a lot of tactical growth and mental growth.”

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Iowa junior Kennedy Blades — a silver medalist at the Paris Olympics this past summer — made her Carver-Hawkeye debut and scored a rousing 12-1 technical fall over William Jewell's Nylease Yzagere at 160 pounds.

"It felt really good having those nerves again," Blades said. "It felt very, very similar to when I was walking out at the Olympics in the finals. Just having that huge crowd, that spotlight. ... The place was amazing. The crowd was amazing."

Defending national champions Reese Larramendy (145) and Kylie Welker (180) recorded technical falls in their lone matches. In the one ranked-vs.-ranked matchup of the afternoon, Iowa's No. 1-ranked 117-pounder Brianna Gonzalez scored a 12-2 technical fall over William Jewell's Alex Waitsman, who is ranked fifth at 124.

Iowa (4-0) will compete at the Missouri Valley Open in Marshall, Mo. Nov. 22-23. The Hawkeyes will not compete in the Iowa City Area until the Dec. 29-30 Soldier Salute at Xtream Arena in Coralville, and do not return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena until Jan. 18.

"One of my biggest things is that I wanted to compete in Carver again," Estrella said. "I wanted to be able to put on a show. These fans are the best fans in the world and I want nothing more than to wrestle for them. Being out there and feeling the energy that they give and the cheers and everything and knowing that they always have my back, I want to put on a show for them. This is definitely something I have dreamt about and wanted to come back for."

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